LEXICAL-PHONETIC FEATURES OF THE COCKNEY SOCIAL DIALECT ON THE EXAMPLE OF CH. DICKENS’ NOVEL “THE POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF THE PICKWICK CLUB”

Vorchakova Iryna Y.

Email: iryna.vorchakova@nuos.edu.ua

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4334-1793

Ph.D. in Рolitical science, Associate Professor

Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding

Fomenko Ksenia А.

Email: kfm29461@gmail.com

Student

Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/StudLing2025.26.19-29

PDF (UKRAINIAN)

ABSTRACT

The features of the use of lexical units of the Cockney social dialect in literary works are analyzed. The linguistic features of the latter in the work of Ch. Dickens’s “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Papers”. Using this work as an example, the distinctive phonological and lexical characteristics of the Cockney accent are revealed, its features in terms of word choice and idioms, including Cockney slang, are considered.

Dispelling research disputes about whether to consider Cockney an accent or a social dialect, we insist that it can be used in both interpretations, since Cockney as an accent is a phonological production of language and as a social dialect also includes, for example, lexical and syntactic features. In addition, Cockney can also be called a sociolect, based on the fact that it can reflect social identity. Thus, Cockney in fiction acts not only as a linguistic marker, but also as an important sociocultural code through which authors reveal social inequality, the originality of the characters and the local flavor of the depicted world. This study once again confirmed the sociolinguistic conclusion that there is a close connection between social class and language. Language, social dialects, accents and slang are all components of identity that can provide information about the speaker. The speaker can change their way of speaking depending on circumstances, such as family ties, social relationships, work, and education. This work demonstrates that the use of Cockney social dialect in literary vocabulary serves as a stylistic device and a form of representation of the conditions of communication, the characteristics of character behavior in a specific time and place, and their location within a particular literary work.

We see further prospects for the study in an in-depth examination of possible variant approaches to translating Cockney lexical units and their improvement, to facilitate the understanding of literary texts in the original.

Key words: Cockney, social dialect, accent, rhyming slang, works of Charles Dickens.

References:

  1. Garashhuk, L. A. (2009). Socіolekt koknі u tvorah anglіjs’kih pis’mennikіv 19-20 st. [Cockney sociolect in the works of English writers of the 19th-20th centuries]. Vіsnik Zhitomirs’kogo derzhavnogo unіversitetu іmenі Іvana Franka, 48, 160-164 [in Ukr.] .
  2. Panchenko, O. (2018). Cockney dialect as a part of english literature. Anglistics and Americanistics, 15, 21-27. https://anglistika.dp.ua/index.php/AA/article/view/152
  3. Alharbi, A., Alqreeni, G., Alothman, H., Alanazi, S., & Omar, A. (2021). A contrastive analysis of southern welsh and cockney accents. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(4), 2200-2209.
  4. Crystal, D. (2005). The Stories of English. https://cdn.bookey.app/files/pdf/book/en/the-stories-of-english.pdf
  5. Mikhaleva, E., Abramova, G. (2021). An internal and external influence of extralinguistic factors on cockney dialect. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences. 723-731. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356730609_An_Internal_And_External_Influence_Of_Extralinguistic_Factors_On_Cockney_Dialect
  6. Mott, V. (2012). Traditional cockney and popular london speech. Dialectologia, 9, 69-94.
  7. Oskina, N., Martynova, R. (2019). On the issue of rendering stylistic coloring of Cockney dialect in translation. Naukovij vіsnik Pіvdennoukraїns’kogo nacіonal’nogo pedagogіchnogo unіversitetu іmenі K. D. Ushins’kogo, 29, 216-230.
  8. Radová, L. (2021). Morphosyntactic Differences between Standard English and Cockney. https://digilib.k.utb.cz/bitstream/handle/10563/46896/radov%C3%A1_2021_dp.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
  9. Vettore, G. Cockney: An Overview of the London dialect and its representation in fictional works. https://www.academia.edu/21557287/_Cockney_An_Overview_of_the_London_dialect_and_its_representation_in_fictional_works
  10. Dickens, Ch. Oliver Twist (1695). https://www.scribd.com/document/357890126/Charles-Dickens-Oliver-Twist-pdf
  11. Dickens, Ch. The posthumous papers of the pickwick club (1836). https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47535/47535-h/47535-h.htm