I recall some years ago there was a series of programs on PBS about the origins, development, and variations of the English language. One of the interesting bits of information put forth in the series was the assertion that Cockney was the "Standard English" spoken up until the formalization of the language in England to what is now known as the "King's/Queen's English". Apparently, the persons involved in the standardization/formalization of the language were of the "upper crust" and nobility and they sought to distinguish themselves from the "hoi polloi" by discarding Cockney as the norm and enforcing their rather stiltied and rigidly structured spoken forms as the "new" and "proper" English...
Here is something to mull over:
http://www.humnet.unipi.it/slifo/articolosantipolo.pdf
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