This article explores an instance of dialect levelling in South East England, the reversal of Cockney diphthong shift. We trace this reversal through an apparent-time analysis of 52 speakers from Debden, a community in Essex with East London heritage. Dynamic vowel analyses of word-list and passage data suggests a reversal of the diphthong shift towards SSBE targets which has occurred most abruptly in those born after 1992 potentially as a result of increased social mobility in this generation. We compare the results in Debden to previous findings in the south-eastern towns of Milton Keynes and Reading where apparent-time change was also observed away from a shifted vowel system and towards SSBE targets (Kerswill & Williams 2000, 2005). In diverse areas of South East England, a common process of levelling towards the pan-regional standard is present which is not occurring exclusively as a result of dialect contact or face-to-face interaction. Nonetheless, each community exhibits a distinct trajectory and timing of language change which can be attributed to different patterns of movement and resettlement and, in particular, access to social mobility and the retention of community networks.

本文探讨了英格兰东南部方言调平的一个实例，Cockney diphthong shift 的逆转。我们通过对来自埃塞克斯郡东伦敦传统社区 Debden 的 52 位演讲者的表观时间分析来追踪这种逆转。单词列表和段落数据的动态元音分析表明，双元音向 SSBE 目标的转变发生了逆转，这在 1992 年之后出生的人中最为突然，这可能是这一代人社会流动性增加的结果。我们将 Debden 的结果与之前在东南部城镇 Milton Keynes 和 Reading 的调查结果进行了比较，在这些调查中，还观察到明显的时间变化，从移动的元音系统转向 SSBE 目标 (Kerswill & Williams 2000, 2005)。在英格兰东南部的不同地区，存在一个向泛区域标准拉平的共同过程，这不仅仅是方言接触或面对面互动的结果。尽管如此，每个社区都表现出不同的语言变化轨迹和时间，这可以归因于不同的移动和重新安置模式，特别是获得社会流动性和社区网络的保留。