Multicultural London English is a dialect (and / or sociolect ) of the English language that arose at the end of the 20th century. The original speakers of the dialect are representatives of the working class, as well as young people living in Inner and Outer London . In Outer London, the dialect is widespread in Brent, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Haringi and Anfield. Individual elements of the dialect are widely distributed throughout southern England . According to a study by Lancaster University , London's multicultural English is now gradually crowding out the Cockney dialect from London. [one]
London multicultural English contains many interspersed languages from the Caribbean (the languages of Jamaica , Trinidad and Tobago and other countries of the Caribbean Commonwealth), South Asian languages, [2] [3] African American English, and even traces of the traditional Cockney dialect. [3] Despite the fact that the unofficial name of this dialect is “ Yafaikan ” implies its connection with , some researchers have concluded that young people do not use this dialect to imitate the speech of the black population. According to the researchers, “probably the young people who grew up in London were influenced by both those who spoke English as their second language, and those who spoke local London English . As a result of mixing these two variants of the language, a new variety appeared - London multicultural English. ” [four]
Content
- 1 Features
- 1.1 Vocabulary
- 1.2 Grammar
- 1.3 Phonetics and phonology
- 2 notes
- 3 Literature
- 4 References
Features
Vocabulary
- “Oh my days!” (Exclamation)
- My Boy (Best Friend)
- Blood / Blud (Friend)
- “Fam” (Short for “family”, used to mean “friend”)
- “Aks” (Inversion of “ask”: - this metathesis is also found in the English West Country )
- “Manz” (Personal first person pronoun; used by men)
- “Safe” (Expression of approval, also used as parting)
- “Bare” (Enhancing Definition)
- “Better” (Comparative degree used instead of “better”)
- "Yard" (House)
- Endz (District)
- Baggamanz (Many)
- “Fit” (Attractive)
Grammar
The verb “to be” in the past tense is conjugated by the rules of regular verbs; the “was” form becomes the same for all affirmative sentences, and the “weren't” form for all negative sentences. Thus, the forms “I was, you was, he was” and “I weren't, you weren't, he weren't” are obtained. [5]
All forms of separation questions come down to “isn't it” (pronounced “innit”) and the opposite, “is it?”
Phonetics and Phonology
The speech of the older population of London in sound design is more reminiscent of the Cockney dialect. However, in the speech of London youth, the features inherent in Cockney are almost not observed. The main features of their pronunciation are almost not affected by such a phenomenon as dialect alignment: their pronunciation does not change in the direction of more common dialects and accents. Examples of dialectically aligned regions are Milton Keynes , Reading, and . The older population expects the youth to have a precisely aligned pronunciation, especially in light of the recent increasing influence of London on the dialectal picture of the country. In fact, the expectations are not true, and London multicultural English pronunciation is no less peculiar and unique than any other dialect and accent of Great Britain.
The features of the emphasis include:
- the sound / ʊ / is the back vowel in the speech of most of the inhabitants of Inner London. This feature combines London multicultural English with Caribbean English ;
- the extreme diphthong vowels / oʊ / are the back vowels in most of the population of Inner London of both sexes, and in the girls from Outer London they sound like front vowels;
- the same diphthong / oʊ / turns into a monophthong in the speech of representatives of visiting ethnic groups ( Afro-Caribbean , Black Africans ) and multi-ethnic social networks (in the case of the white population);
- diphthong sounds / aɪ / are front vowels . Among the black population, monophthongization / aɪ / is also common in addition to its transformation. It is believed that the process of remodeling in London multicultural English takes place gradually in the course of divergence . The changes began with a decrease in the internal inter-sound in diphthongs (presumably with [ɔɪ]), which reflects the return of the tongue to the times before the diphthong shift . This feature is more characteristic for Inner London than for the periphery;
- like / aɪ /, diphthong / eɪ / is monophthongized in the speech of the colored population. This phenomenon is also associated with the reverse shift of diphthongs;
- in Inner London, the combination / aʊ / is commonly pronounced [aː]. Black people (especially girls) can also pronounce it as [ɑʊ];
- the sound / k / moves back to [q] before the middle and lower vowels. [6]
Some features link London multicultural English with other dialects of southeastern England. Among them:
- lack of omission of H ( H-dropping ) at the beginning of words;
- reinforced translation / uː /, which leads to pronunciation close to [ʏː]. This phenomenon is most inherent in the colored population and white Londoners with black acquaintances;
- / æ / is the back vowel and is pronounced [a̠];
- / ʌ / is the back vowel and pronounced as [ɑ] or [ʌ], unlike the standard [ɐ];
- th redization ( Th-fronting ); [5]
- a variation of the th transformation is the unpronounceable h in th (“thing” is sometimes pronounced as “t'ing” rather than “fing”). So, “this” and “that” can be pronounced as “dis” and “dat”.
Notes
- ↑ Cockney to disappear from London 'within 30 years' , BBC News , 1 July 2010
- ↑ Paul Kerswill . The English slanguage , The Sun (July 3, 2010). Date of treatment April 5, 2011.
- ↑ 1 2 Harry Mount. Word on the street in London (link unavailable) . Evening Standard (1 Jul 2010). Date of treatment April 5, 2011. Archived on September 15, 2010.
- ↑ Clark, Laura . 'Jafaican' is wiping out inner-city English accents , Daily Mail (April 12, 2006). Date of treatment February 2, 2008.
- ↑ 1 2 Archived copy (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment March 15, 2009. Archived June 4, 2009.
- ↑ * Torgersen, Eivind; Kerswill, Paul & Fox, Susan (2007), "Phonological innovation in London teenage speech" , 4th Conference on Language Variation in Europe , < http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/uklvc/abstracts/presentations/Torgersen_et_al_paper .pdf >
Literature
- David Sutcliffe, Black British English , Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1982.
- Oxford Graduate Seminar, November 12, 2007: “Linguistic innovators: the English of adolescents in London” [ppt].
- Paul Kerswill and Eivind Torgersen. “Endogenous change in inner-London teenage speech ?: 'Diphthong Shift' reversal and other vowel changes” [ppt].