Multicultural London English Research Articles

Still Changing: Semantic Innovation and Change in Multicultural London English

We attempt to further our understanding of the beginnings of language change by analyzing a semantic innovation in Multicultural London English: the use of still as a discourse-pragmatic item in utterance-final position. We show that the change follows well-attested processes of semantic change, so it could have occurred at any time and amongst any group of speakers. Its emergence now, amongst young men in inner city London, can be explained by considering not only well-known external factors such as population change but also by analyzing the interactional contexts in which the new meaning emerges and by relating this to the local peer group culture. In this way we gain insights into how speakers can be motivated to use a form with a new meaning during interactional moves that are especially important for them in their everyday lives.

‘Learn Jafaikan in two minutes’ – Multicultural London English, enregisterment and ideology in English newspapers

This paper delves into the concept of ‘enregisterment,’ which defines processes and practices linking linguistic repertoires with social meanings, by examining meta-linguistic commentary in newspapers. Focussing on ‘Multicultural London English (MLE),’ the study analyses 200 articles from major British newspapers (2006–2022) qualitatively and quantitatively. The research uncovers recurring linguistic shibboleths, indexically linked social meanings, and prevalent language ideologies concerning MLE and other London dialects. Results reveal a consistent emphasis on specific linguistic shibboleths repeated in articles. Indexical links for ‘MLE’ are constructed through evaluative comments, alarmist metaphors employing xenophobic immigration tropes, and loaded keywords. ‘Cockney’ and ‘Estuary English’ are portrayed more favourably and, together with ‘Received Pronunciation (RP)’, serve to stigmatise MLE. This study underscores the role of media discourse in shaping the enregisterment of dialects, contributing to social stratification and the ‘othering’ of certain linguistic varieties.

Using social media to infer the diffusion of an urban contact dialect: A case study of Multicultural London English

AbstractSociolinguistic research has demonstrated that ‘urban contact dialects’ tend to diffuse beyond the speech communities in which they first emerge. However, no research has attempted to explore the distribution of these varieties across an entire nation nor isolate the social mechanisms that propel their spread. In this paper, we use a corpus of 1.8 billion geo‐tagged tweets to explore the spread of Multicultural London English (MLE) lexis across the United Kingdom. We find evidence for the diffusion of MLE lexis from East and North London into other ethnically and culturally diverse urban centres across England, particularly those in the South (e.g. Luton), but find lower frequencies of MLE lexis in the North of England (e.g. Manchester), and in Scotland and Wales. Concluding, we emphasise the role of demographic similarity in the diffusion of linguistic innovations by demonstrating that this variety originated in London and diffused into other urban areas in England through the social networks of Black and Asian users.

МУЛЬТИКУЛЬТУРНЫЙ АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК ЛОНДОНА В ЯЗЫКОВОМ КОНТИНУУМЕ БРИТАНИИ

The article explores the role and significance of Multicultural London English (MLE) in the linguistic context of modern London and Britain. The paper analyzes the features and unique characteristics of MLE, the history of its formation as a result of long-term immigration of various ethnic groups to the capital city. MLE serves as a vivid example of interaction and interpenetration of various cultures and linguistic traditions, reflects the ethnocultural diversity of modern British society. The study of this phenomenon contributes to the development of intercultural communication, tolerance, respect for other cultures and languages. The author emphasizes the relevance and importance of studying this multiethnic language in the context of modern linguistics.

L-Vocalisation in London English

Linguists argued that the Cockney dialect, in London, is expected to be replaced by Multicultural London English in the years to come. However, this does not imply that Cockney is dead, as recent research revealed that it just moved to Essex. This paper aims at examining whether (l) vocalisation, a common feature of Cockney, is still present in the London district of Bermondsey. Ten working-class English speakers, stratified by age and sex, have been recorded by means of sociolinguistic interviews. The results, discussed both quantitively and qualitatively, show that: (a) (l) vocalisation is present in all age cohorts, with young speakers favouring the non-standard feature; (b) preceding long vowels trigger (l) vocalisation.

L-Vocalisation in London English

Linguists argued that the Cockney dialect, in London, is expected to be replaced by Multicultural London English in the years to come. However, this does not imply that Cockney is dead, as recent research revealed that it just moved to Essex. This paper aims at examining whether (l) vocalisation, a common feature of Cockney, is still present in the London district of Bermondsey. Ten working-class English speakers, stratified by age and sex, have been recorded by means of sociolinguistic interviews. The results, discussed both quantitively and qualitatively, show that: (a) (l) vocalisation is present in all age cohorts, with young speakers favouring the non-standard feature; (b) preceding long vowels trigger (l) vocalisation.

Individual profiles amidst a multiethnolect: Acoustic hetereogeneity in London English

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.

The search for linguistically coherent accents

Abstract Linguistic research refers to many related accents in Southeast England: Standard Southern British English (SSBE), Received Pronunciation (RP), Estuary English (EE), Cockney and Multicultural London English (MLE). However, there is inconsistency and imprecision in the demarcation of these accents based on linguistic and social factors. This paper delineates accents in Southeast England based on patterns of linguistic co-variation which we then relate to social predictors. We applied functional Principal Component Analysis to F1 and F2 measurements for diphthongs extracted from wordlist and passage productions for 193 young, south-eastern speakers. Principal Components were entered into a clustering analysis that identified patterns of linguistic co-occurrence. Three clusters emerge, broadly aligning with SSBE, MLE and EE for both linguistic and social factors. We illustrate the linguistic centre of gravity of the three diphthong systems for use as reference points in future research, and we discuss the need to make explicit how accents are defined.

Multicultural London English and New-Dialect Formation

Peter Trudgill has suggested that a number of the processes involved in new-dialect formation may be of a widespread or universal type. Multicultural London English (MLE) is a new dialect that emerged in a different and more complex sociolinguistic situation than those considered previously, so it provides an opportunity to further consider the extent to which the processes are widespread or universal. I argue that the characteristic features of MLE emerged as a result of dialect mixture, including traditional London English, colonial and creole-influenced varieties of English, and many different interlanguage varieties of English. Some MLE features confirm the relevance of the levelling of minority forms, and perhaps also of simplification. There is also evidence of drift. Above all, their emergence confirms the importance of linguistic accommodation in face-to-face interactions. In this, as for so many sociolinguistic issues, Peter Trudgill was right!

The recontextualisation of Multicultural London English: Stylising the ‘roadman’

AbstractThough research on the multiethnolect spoken in London—Multicultural London English (MLE)—has described the social distribution of the variety, the stylistic potentials of MLE remain poorly understood. This article explores the enregisterment and subsequent ‘recontextualisation’ (Bauman & Briggs 1990) of MLE by analysing the linguistic and aesthetic components of a stylistic identity—the ‘roadman’. Specifically, I explore a corpus of TikTok videos to analyse the ways in which linguistic features characteristic of MLE (e.g. pronominal man, discourse-pragmatic styll, fronted /uː/) are co-opted and stylised in parodic performances of the roadman. I demonstrate that these linguistic features co-occur with tropes of personhood (e.g. participation in grime music, overt heterosexuality, a streetwear aesthetic) that are ideologically associated with a particular type of gendered, classed, and racialized identity. Concluding, I reflect on the status of the roadman persona with reference to contemporary patterns of language variation in the UK. (Multicultural London English, personae, digital culture, TikTok, stylisation, performance)*

Multicultural London English (MLE) as perceived by the press, on social media, and speakers themselves

This paper aims to contribute to the study of Multicultural London English (MLE) by focusing on the perceptions of MLE speakers of their own linguistic production and, also, by exploring the reactions and responses to this variety in the British press and on social media. The results indicate that most of the MLE speakers feel that they use a kind of slang. The majority of accounts found in the media depict MLE as foreign, associated with grime music and bad behaviour. Opinions garnered from social networks show more diverse views; while some reiterate the perceived negative aspects, others highlight its multicultural nature and uniqueness. The paper also suggests measures that could be adopted to change negative attitudes towards MLE.

Cockney moved East: the dialect of the first generation of East Londoners raised in Essex

Abstract This paper provides a dialectological account of the variety spoken by the first generation to grow up in a community in Essex populated by East Londoners after World War II. The dialect spoken by 15 speakers (female = 9; male =6) born between 1944 and 1969 is detailed in terms of vowels, consonants, morpho-syntactic features, and a brief discussion of Cockney Rhyming Slang. Comparisons are made with previous accounts of the working-class, East London dialect, Cockney, as well as the dialects of Essex (East London’s neighbouring county), East Anglia, South East England and Multicultural London English, the dialect now prevalent in the speech of young East Londoners. There are remarkable similarities between the English spoken in this Essex community and previous accounts of Cockney, including its most defining features. This Essex dialect is certainly encapsulated within the natural range of variation within Cockney and far surpasses the Cockney influences observed in other areas of the South East. Conclusively it can be determined that Cockney did move to Essex along with the communities who relocated.

Recent changes in London English. An overview of the main lexical, grammar and discourse features of Multicultural London English (MLE)

This paper is intended to provide an overview of the main lexical, grammar and discourse features of the so-called Multicultural London English (MLE), a recent multiethnolect that can be regarded as a new development of London popular speech with the addition of traits from a pool of other sociolects and varieties of English, namely Caribbean and Jamaican English, and with a high proportion of young speakers. The data here analysed have been extracted from multiple sources, such as the London English Corpus (LOE), the Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language (COLT), dictionaries, magazines, films, TV series, song lyrics and social media, mainly Twitter.
 Particular attention is paid to those grammar and discourse features which can be considered as the most innovative, such as the quotative this is + pronoun, man used as a personal pronoun, the overuse of a set of vocatives (brother, mate, boy, guy(s), bastard, dickhead), the invariant tags innit and you get me, the adjectives proper and bare used as intensifiers, a high presence of negative vernacular forms (ain’t, third person singular don’t), never as negative preterite and a high proportion of negative concord structures. As regards lexis, a wide range of borrowings and loan words from other varieties and languages are recorded together with an excessive amount of general vague nouns and general extenders.

Style-shifting in Multicultural London English in an all-girls homework club

This study investigated whether and how pre-adolescent girls style-shift in Multicultural London English (MLE), a variety of English that is relatively new and potentially still changing. We looked at the extent to which five 11-year-old girls in a homework club in East London, where MLE is spoken, changed their pronunciations in different speech contexts. The results showed that the girls did indeed change their pronunciations in the different contexts (i.e. they style-shifted), and that the patterns of style-shifting varied between both the individual participants and the three vowels which were examined.

Phonetic variation and change in the Cockney Diaspora: The role of place, gender, and identity

AbstractRecent research has suggested that two linguistic processes are displacing Cockney: the emergence of Multicultural London English (MLE) in inner London and dialect levelling (e.g. Kerswill & Williams 2005). This study investigates firstly whether Cockney phonetic features have ‘moved East’ to Essex (Fox 2015), and secondly the features’ indexicality in relation to place and identity. Fifty-four participants from Debden, an outpost of the Cockney Diaspora, completed a sociolinguistic interview. Vowel measurements were made from a wordlist and passage, and quantitative attitudinal and qualitative data were extracted from a questionnaire and interviews. Overall, changes in identity as a result of social change exceeded linguistic changes, and linguistic labels were not interpreted uniformly across the community. Whilst Cockney variants were largely maintained in young speakers, they were transposed onto an ‘Essex’ accent. Furthermore, some young women but no young men considered themselves Cockney, likely due to the matrifocal nature of Cockney. (Cockney, phonetic variation and change, dialect levelling, identity, indexicality, gender)

Impact of British accents on perceptions of eyewitness statements

The current study looked at the impact of British regional accents on evaluations of eyewitness testimony in criminal trials. Ninety participants were randomly presented with one of three video recordings of eyewitness testimony manipulated to be representative of Received Pronunciation (RP), Multicultural London English (MLE) or Birmingham accents. The impact of the accent was measured through eyewitness (a) accuracy, (b) credibility, (c) deception, (d) prestige, and (e) trial outcome (defendant guilt and sentence). RP was rated more favourably than MLE on accuracy, credibility and prestige. Accuracy and prestige were significant with RP rated more highly than a Birmingham accent. RP appears to be viewed more favourably than the MLE and Birmingham accents although the witness’s accents did not affect ratings of defendant guilt. Taken together, these findings show a preference for eyewitnesses to have RP speech over some regional accents.

Taking the longer view: Explaining Multicultural London English and Multicultural Paris French

AbstractThe article explores the perplexing outcomes of comparative research projects in London and Paris on language change in multilingual areas of the cities populated by large numbers of recent immigrants with very diverse language backgrounds. In London, as in many other northern European cities, language contact on such a large scale has resulted in the emergence of a “multiethnolect”: a repertoire of innovative linguistic forms used by young people of all ethnicities, including monolingual non‐immigrant speakers. In Paris, however, there was no such repertoire. I propose four factors that are necessary for a multiethnolect to emerge and that explain why similar processes of population movement, immigration, and globalization have produced such different linguistic outcomes in London and Paris. These factors remind us that language evolution, like language use, is constrained not only by the social characteristics of individuals but also by the socio‐cultural historical contexts in which individuals live.

Multicultural London English and its speakers: a corpus-informed discourse study of standard language ideology and social stereotypes

ABSTRACT The research presented here constitutes the first investigation of the standard language ideology (SLI) in Great Britain that takes account of a multiethnolect – namely Multicultural London English (MLE). A corpus-informed discourse study was conducted to explore representations of MLE and its speakers in two corpora: one containing data from non-MLE-speaking Londoners and one consisting of data from MLE speakers themselves. The data included in these corpora had been collected by means of an online questionnaire. The discourses in both corpora clearly reflected the SLI that prevails in the British context – but much stronger evidence of this was found in the non-MLE speakers’ discourses. The non-MLE speakers were also found to hold much stronger, and very negative, social stereotypes of multiethnolect speakers. There was evidence of their use of iconisation and erasure in order to create linguistic (and social) differences between themselves and MLE speakers. Given the current political climate in Great Britain, it is hypothesised that the non-MLE speakers’ negative views of the multiethnolect and its speakers helped them reaffirm their own prestige, which they perceived to be threatened. Notably, the MLE speakers themselves were not complicit in the negative stereotypisation of their own group.

The relationship between implicit and explicit attitudes to British accents in enhancing the persuasiveness of children’s oral health campaigns

Abstract This paper seeks to improve the persuasiveness of oral health campaigns by investigating the relationship between implicit and explicit attitudes to British accents. Forty-seven participants from Tayside, East Scotland, first completed an implicit task which asked participants to judge the truth value of 120 trivia statements, divided into six different accents, as quickly as possible. This was complimented by an identical written task at the end of the experiment in less pressurised conditions. Both audio and written responses to the statements were analysed using signal detection theory, which revealed that Estuary English was more persuasive than the local accent, Dundee English (p = 0.039), and the stigmatised multi-ethnolect, Multicultural London English (p = 0.002). Participants also completed an explicit task involving two matched-guise tests with the same six accents in a neutral and dental context. Results update our knowledge of explicit attitudes to British accents in a modern linguistic landscape, and shed light on correlations between implicit and explicit attitudes. Using Bassili and Brown’s (2005) Potentiated Recruitment Framework, it is argued that the relationship is mediated by participants’ self-presentation concerns and the perceived social penalties of expressing bias. Sociolinguistic implications of implicit measurement procedures are discussed regarding the development of oral health campaigns.

The impersonal gets personal

Multicultural London English (MLE) has developed a new pronoun, man, with a number of interesting properties. It can be interpreted as any person and number combination (1sg, 1pl, 2sg, 2pl, 3sg, 3pl), and at first blush appears the allow a generic impersonal reading. One central strand of analyses of the ‘generic’ or ‘quasi-universal’ interpretation of impersonal pronouns involves treating them as featurally impoverished pronouns which act as variables bound by a generic operator either high in the clause (Moltmann 2006; Sigurðsson and Egerland 2009, a.o.) or at the top of the DP (Ackema and Neeleman 2018). What is interesting about MLE man is that it seems to allow a generic reading while being generally resistant to binding: the pronoun never behaves as a bound variable, and so it could not reasonably be assumed that a generic operator can bind it. I show, however, that a closer look at the facts reveals that the quasi-generic interpretation, and all other possible interpretations of the pronoun, can be explained instead by assuming that it has a featureless person head, which introduces the full lattice of possible referents including speaker and addressee (following Harbour 2016), and then allowing contextually determined subsets of that full lattice to be picked out by a choice function, modelled on the epsilon operator of von Heusinger (2004). This novel data from MLE suggests that generic-like interpretations can arise even where generic binding is not possible, but that the traditional strategy of generating these interpretations are still needed to capture the full typology of impersonal pronouns.