A consideration of whether EE could conceivably be an alternative to RP as a teaching model.
Since David Rosewarne first coined the term in
1984, much has been written about Estuary
English (EE). The definition usually given of
Estuary English is that if we can imagine a continuum
with Received Pronunciation (RP) at
one end and Cockney (an urban accent of London)
at the other, then Estuary English is in the
middle. This definition is restated by Wells
(1998-9) as ‘Standard English spoken with the
accent of the southeast of England. This highlights
two chief points: that it is standard
(unlike Cockney) and that it is localized in the
southeast (unlike RP)’. The book English Language
for Beginners (Lowe & Graham 1998)
contains on p. 156 a diagram giving the actress
Joanna Lumley as an example of RP, the boxer
Frank Bruno for Cockney, and the comedian
and writer Ben Elton for EE. This is ironic, in
that Ben Elton himself denies that he is a
speaker of EE (John Wells, personal communication).