United Kingdom

Abstract

This chapter deals with contact varieties of English that have arisen following large-scale immigration to the UK since the end of the Second World War. Early immigrants came from the Caribbean, the Indian Subcontinent, Africa and elsewhere. The focus is on London, the most multilingual/multiethnic city by far, where Multicultural London English (MLE) has emerged. MLE shows a restructuring of the London vowel system, and some morphosyntactic changes are specific to MLE. In these respects, MLE diverges from other varieties in the Southeast. Although MLE is a shared repertoire, people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds may use different features. For some people, MLE is their vernacular, while for others it is a style. MLE is often subject to negative attitudes, and media discourses see MLE as ‘foreign’, ‘pushing out Cockney’ (the traditional dialect of London) and being associated with bad behaviour. Positive images and identities are portrayed through hip-hop music, and as such reflect youth culture.