Individual profiles amidst a multiethnolect: Acoustic hetereogeneity in London English

Abstract

Multicultural London English (MLE; Kerswill and Torgersen 2008; Cheshire et al., 2011) arose in working class areas of London around 30 years ago through intensive, multiethnic social contact (Kerswill and Torgersen, 2021). The variety’s highly systematic phonological system has been seen as displacing traditional London vernacular varieties including Cockney, which have moved further East (Fox, 2015). MLE and Standard Southern British English are two strands among many, interwoven with features of the earlier London vernacular and features of non-MLE varieties (Sharma and Sankaran, 2011). Using preliminary data from a new project, Generations of London English, we present an acoustic analysis that shows both the stability and emerging maturity of MLE as well as strands of continuity from the past. The GOAT vowel shows a diverse range of variants indexing social class, ethnicity, age, and gender. By contrast, all Londoners participate in GOOSE-fronting, which is thus primarily an index of age, and women lead FOOT-fronting, a city-wide change showing less ethnic and social class sensitivity. A generalized use of labels such as MLE risks mischaracterizing the sociophonetic reality. We argue for analysis of individual phonetic profiles as unique intersections of historically layered features, diffusing differently through a heterogeneous population.