Estuary English Q

would u omit the "t" in water or jus say wa'er... or is that more cockney?

Generally speaking, it is pretty hard to say exactly what somebody who speaks Estuary would say, because Estuary is somewhat sketchily defined (similar to GenAm). It's more of a cluster of cockney-influenced dialects than a single, clearly delineated accent.

However, most Estuary speakers would probably not say "wa'er" unless they were speaking very informally.

so your saying that its generally pronounced "water?" and what you consider very informal?

sorry, i mean what you would consider informal?

What I mean is that most English speakers tend to "informalize" their speech from time to time to subtely switch to tone of what they're saying. I know in my own speech that I will occasionally drop the "g" at the end of words like "running," although it's a somewhat subconscious choice--I'm not sure what the psychological reason is. Perhaps so I sound a bit more forceful.

I think that almost anyone has an "informal" mode to their dialect that slips in and out of how their everyday conversations. Listen to most native New Yorkers talking and you'll hear this--oftentimes, they'll speak with an accent fairly close to GenAm, but then slip into stronger, non-rhotic accent when they're angry or joking around.

In Estuary it's invariably "wa'er" perhaps more closely "woe-(h)err". As a Scot a few miles - give or take a couple of hundred - North of the Estuary stronghold that's the closest I can put it in print...the "h" is there very, very, very, very imperceptibly but all the same it's there in Estuaryspeak "water"......and it makes a difference if you know wo'(h) I mean. As I type this I can hear Becks (David Beckham) speaking.....he's just said words like "be'(h)er" ....for better.....if you could hear him as well it would give you a be'(h)er idea of what I'm blathering on abou'. (No (h) when the redundant "t" comes at the end of a word.

thanks... i have one more question though. i've noticed that when some people say I've they actually say "I've" and some people say "I'ff" and some say never as neva and some say neffa. are all ways correct?

and like if you want to say, "I've never asked you that."
Would you say:

I've neffa ahst you that

I'ff neffa ahst you that (a little awkward to say)

I'ff neva ahst you that

or are all of these correct 2?

personally, i find myself using the "ff(s)" when i'm emphasizing what i'm tryin to say