1. Cockney has always been thought of as vulgar. False
2. The pronunciation of thrust in Cockney in Elizabethan times was /θ/. False
3. The pronunciation of chain in Cockney in Elizabethan times was /tʃeɪn/. False
4. The pronunciation of mother in Cockney in Elizabethan times was /ð/. False
5. In the late 18th century speech became a class marker. True
6. Johnson believed it was possible to fix language. True
7. Public schools are private. True
8. No formal guidance about spelling and pronunciation of English before the 19th century. False
9. RP speakers today have a more relaxed way of pronouncing certain vowels. True
10. RP speakers today normally use the glottal stop in the middle of the words butter and later. False
11. RP has been influenced by Cockney. True
12. At public schools boys are forced to use RP. True
13. One in twenty people in England speak what Burchfield calls received standard. False
14. The invention of television turned public school English into BBC English. False
15. People who spoke public school English were considered more intelligent, more trustworthy, and even better looking. True
People to Remember
1. Professor, Sir. Randolph Quirk – I. Grammarian and linguist
2. Bob Barletrop – C. An expert on Cockney
3. Jonathan Swift – D. He proposed an Academy to regulate English
4. George Bernard Shaw – G. Playwright and spelling reformer
5. J.C. Wells – B. An expert on accents of English
6. Dr. Robert Burchfield – E. Editor of the OED
7. James Boswell – J. Johnson’s biographer
8. Henry Machyn – F. He kept a diary.
9. Samuel Johnson – H. Author of a dictionary
10. Pat Butler – A. BBC announcer