Part 2. The East End.

The East End is the industrial part of London. It grew with the spread of industry to the east of the City and the growth of the port of London. It covers a wide area, and there are many wharfs and warehouses along the river banks.

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The East End is one of those areas of London where people from abroad have come to find work. For centuries foreigners have made London their home. Some have had to leave their country for religious or political reasons. Others have wanted to find a better life. Some have brought new skills and started new industries. The immigrants have also brought their customs, traditions and religion into the East End, so you can see a mosque¹, a church and a synagogue² not very far apart.

The East End markets are famous throughout the world. Petticoat Lane market³ takes place every Sunday morning and has become one of the sights⁴ of London. The street-salesmen here will offer you all kinds of goods and promise that they are of the highest quality and much cheaper than those you can buy in the West End.

Traditionally, someone born in the East End is known as a cockney⁵ although this name is now given to anyone who speaks like a Londoner. Cockneys change certain vowel sounds⁶ so that the vowel sound in "light" becomes more like that in "light": that is they say [lait] instead of [leit]. They pronounce "day" as [dai] instead of [dei], "may" as [mai] instead of [mei], and "rain" as [rain] instead of [rein].

Another peculiarity of cockney pronunciation is dropping H's ['eitʃiz] at the beginning of words, so that "he" sounds like [i:], "head" like [ed] and "how" like [au]. These, and other peculiarities of cockney pronunciation are very well described by the great British playwright Bernard Shaw¹ in his Pygmalion².

QUESTIONS

1. What is the East End of London?

2. How do you explain the fact that in the East End you can find a Christian church, a synagogue and a mosque situated very near one another?

3. What is a cockney? What are the peculiarities of cockney pronunciation? What famous British playwright described the peculiarities of cockney pronunciation?

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