Background of the Study

B. Problem Formulation

There are three problems which are the major concerns of this study. The three problems are formulated as follows: 1. What are the characteristics of cockney rhyming slang? 2. What is the possible background explanation for the cockney rhyming slang words found in A Dictionary of Cockney Rhyming Slang 2010? 3. What are the phonological similarities between the slang words and their targeted words?

C. Objective of the Study

The purposes of this study are to help us to understand more about cockney rhyming slang and to see the etymology of cockney rhyming slang expressions. How the background of those people has connection with those expressions and finally, this study will analyze the phonological similarities between the slang words and non-slang words.

D. Definition of Terms

In order to avoid the misunderstanding of the terms used in the study the writer feels important to give the definition of the terms.

1. Cockney

According to Mandy Barrow in British Life and Culture article, cockney is a person who was born within hearing distance of the sound of Bow bells, meaning within the sound of the bells of the Church of St Mary Le Bow in Cheapside, London, and refers to an East London accent. http:www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.ukcustomsquestionscockney.htm March 13, 2012 Geographically and culturally, the term Cockney refers to working class Londoners particularly those in the East End. Linguistically, it refers to the form of Engish spoken by this group.

2. Slang

Based on Keith Allan and Kate Burridge 2006, p.70 in the book Forbidden words: taboo and the censoring of language , Slang is a marker of in-group solidarity, and so it is a correlate of human groups with shared experiences, such as being children at a certain school or of a certain age, or being a member of a certain socially definable group, such as hookers, junkies, jazz musicians, or professional criminals 2006: 70. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines slang as very informal words and expressions that are more common in spoken language, especially used by a particular group of people, for example, children, criminals, soldiers, etc.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW

This chapter covers three parts; review of related studies, review of related theories, and theoretical framework. The first part includes reviews of other studies which also discuss similar topic with this analysis. The second part contains some theories about Cockney rhyming slang including theory of rhyming slang, theory of sociolinguistics, theory of etymology, theory of distinctive features, and theory of syllable structure.

A. Review of Related Studies

The writer gets two references from online articles. The first source is taken from suite101.com The genuine article. Literally. According to Jenny Ashford, Cockney rhyming slang, also known as “Rabbit,” was purposely developed as a code by shady merchants and other members of the criminal element in order to confound customers, the authorities, or anyone else who happened to be listening. Rhyming slangs in general are fairly common in many languages; even American English has a few lingering examples, such as “brass tacks” being possibly derived from a rhyme with “facts,” and the colloquial term “bread” meaning money coming from the rhyming phrase “bread and honey.” http:languagestudy.suite101.comarticle.cfmorigins_and_structure _of_cockney_rhyming_slang. March 3, 2010. Rhyming slangs are common in many languages, even American English has a few lingering examples, such as brass tacks being possibly taken from a rhyme with facts, and the spoken term bread meaning money coming from the rhyming phrase bread and honey. Historically speaking, a “Cockney” is anyone born within the sound of the bells of St. Mary-Le-Bow in the Cheapside area of London, but many expressions that started out as Cockney rhyming slang have infiltrated the speech of other Britons, sometimes without the speakers even being aware of the derivation of the expression. The second source is taken from www.helium.com. According to Rena Sherwood, The best way to understand Cockney rhyming slang is to be around people that use it every day. New rhyming phrases are added all of the time, so native speakers are the best people to learn new phrases from. You begin to see the strange twists where a nun and habit really means rabbit. Then you have to determine whether rabbit means the small furry mammal or the act of running on at the mouth http:www.helium.comitems1621937-learning-cokney-rhyming- slang. March 3, 2010. In the second article, Sherwood tries to explain that cockney rhyming slang is a daily language which is used only in certain group or community. In other words, cockney rhyming slang is not as same as universal language. In addition, there is only the member of certain group or community who can understand about cockney rhyming slang.