Pronunciation of "ευ" - "Cockney belt"

Greek Learning Greek
1

The JACT “Speaking Greek” CDs and the “Oxford grammar of Classical Greek” assert that the proper pronunciation of “ευ” is something like the “el” of “Cockney belt”. Yet, listening to the JACT CD, I don’t hear anything resembling what I think “el” sounds like. In the first chapter (The Insurance Scam) for “δευρο” and “φευγω”, I hear separate sounds in one syllable gliding from epsilon to upsilon, and nothing like “el”. In “Introduction to Attic Greek” (D. Mastronarde), I see that the diphthong should be pronounced as in English “pool” or “feud”, yet, in the online tutorial pertaining to that book, I hear “φευγω” the same way as mentioned above.
So then, what is this business of “Cockney belt”? I’m very puzzled.

Thank you.

Asterisk

2

You need to head a bit east of Oxford. Cockney belt

3

OK thanks -
Now I think I understand : your signature is in German, fair enough. And I appreciate the sound clip - and the explanation - but I still don’t see (Hear) how that fits with what I hear for “ευ” every where else. But thanks anyway.

4

So, it shouldn’t sound like RP “el”. And not even precisely like Cockney “el”. Here is the advice from Allen in Vox Graeca, page 80, which is where the Morwood and JACT advice comes from, I think:

There is no parallel for such a diphthong in English RP, though something like it may be heard in the Cockney pronunciation of > el(l) > in words such as > belt, bell> . It is to be noted that it is a genuine diphthong, i.e. a glide from [e] towards [ u ], and not, as is commonly heard from English speakers, a sequence of semivowel and long vowel like the [yū] in English neuter (cf. p. 146 and VL, p. 63).

Anyway, here’s my best guess at what the advice works out to. (It would be better to get a real linguist in here though.)

belt (RP NOT ευ), belt (diphthongized), φεύγω

5

OK, thanks for your replies.
Based on said replies, I think I will simply blissfully ignore this “belt” thing and continue to pronounce it as I hear it in the CD’s anecdote and the on-line tutorial of “Introduction to Attic Greek”. Not that I ever have occasion to speak Greek, my main interest is learning to read it.
So thanks again and best regards.
Asterisk