 The term estuary English was coined by David Rosemont in 1984. He defines estuary English as a variety of modified regional speech. It is a mixture of non-regional and local southeastern English pronunciation and intonation. This English variety is associated with the middle ground society and is characterised by the following phonological markers. Glottling as in statement for statement, vocalisation as in people, dropping as in news for news and the diphthongal realisation as in me for me. Estuary English should not be considered as a closed variety, but rather as a variety on a continuum between cockney and received pronunciation. These similarities between received pronunciation, estuary English and cockney were outlined by Wells. He claimed that the most significant difference between estuary English and received pronunciation is the fact that received pronunciation is regionally neutral, while estuary English is located in the southeast of England. Estuary English has quickly gained ground as a leading variety in England. In short, received pronunciation considered to be an educated accent and cockney, spoken by the working class, represent the two opposite ends of the London accent continuum. Estuary English is placed somewhere in the middle.