“河口英语”是由Rosewarne在1984年提出的。它有明显的语音和语法特点,在英国广为流传。自“河口英语”一词的出现并被模糊性地解释为是英语的一种变体,介于标准音和伦敦音之间后,引起了公众的广泛注意。很多语言学家就河口英语的定义,所处地理位置,显著特点及社会地位展开了激烈的讨论。本文以世界范围内语言学家的研究成果为基础,介绍河口英语的基本状况,并讨论其未来的发展趋势。 “Estuary English ” was proposed by Rosewarne in 1984. It has obvious phonetic and grammatical features and is widely circulated in the UK. The emergence of the word “estuary English” has been vaguely interpreted as a variant of English that has drawn the attention of the public since it was between standard and London tones. Many linguists have heated discussions on the definition, geographical location, distinctive features and social status of estuary English. Based on the findings of linguists around the world, this article introduces the basic situation of estuary English and discusses its future development trend.