On Prediction Of Modern British English Evolution From The Perspective Of Sociolinguistics

As we know, British English can be classified into several varieties due to geographical reasons, and they are Received Pronunciation (RP), Estuary English (EE), Cockney English, etc. The universally accepted standard British English is Received Pronunciation, and this so-called Standard English can be divided into several kinds, in which Queen's English is often in the spotlight of discussion.This paper is trying to interpret the existence and especially the evolution history of English with solidarity and accommodation theory. EE is an accent between RP of upper class and cockney English of lower class, which is used to blur the social status, thus EE is replacing RP, and considered a new form of RP by the upper class, and also favored by the lower class people. The reason lying behind is that Britain still has distinct social stratification, and it is no longer a class-ridden society as before. The royal family on the top is no longer the most powerful political and economic controller of the whole country, on the contrary it is only a symbol of Monarchy, and as a result the royal family members are adopting EE instead of Queen's English.Based on the real cases and theories above, one can reach a conclusion and predict for the major British accents: Queen's English will decline in the end; RP English is not the only form of Standard English, EE will definitely take its place; moreover EE will absorb more elements of Cockney English; Cockney English will change with the East End reconstruction, and it will be cockneyfied and Cockney English in the opposite way.