1.04 English: Language and Ethnicity Flashcards
Also an Age and Gender theory
Researched the English usage of Punjabi-speaking Indians in the West London district of Southall
Sharma and Sankaran (2011)
Found that: Older men had a broader repertoire and code-switched more than younger men
Younger men had a narrower repertoire, used fewer Indian-English forms and code-switched less than older men
Older women had a narrower repertoire and used more Indian-English forms than older men
Younger women had a broader repertoire and code-switched more than younger men
Sharma and Sankaran findings (2011)
Is a sociolect of English that emerged in the late 20th century
Predominantly spoken by young, working class people in the multicultural neighbourhoods of inner-city London and it’s suburbs
Combines elements from Cockney, Jamaican and other Caribbean Englishes
Uses loanwords - EG: man/gyaldem and dutty, which both come from Jamaican Creole
As it gains popularity beyond London, it’s relevance starts to diminish
Kerswill: MLE
Kerswill (2014) describes media’s response to it - they referred to it as ‘Jafaican’ and that ‘it sounds black’
Researches at Lancaster University disagree and say it isn’t white kids trying not to sound black, it’s young people who’re exposed to different English varieties and they grow up and incorporate these into their speech
He also refers to comments from David Starkey - who made an explicit link between this type of language, violence and black culture
Starkey also stated that white people had bought into it, becoming black in the process
Attitudes to MLE
Two examples:
‘Man’ as a pronoun
• Sometimes meaning general ‘you’ (‘anyone’) and sometimes meaning ‘I’
• Also used as a plural noun
• Using ‘man’ to mean ‘I’ implies solidarity
• Used almost exclusively by males
‘Th-stopping’
• ‘thing’ → ‘ting’
• Different to EE ‘thing’ → ‘fing’
• In Manchester among speakers connected with urban culture, rap and grime (Drummond)
• Used in contexts promoting ‘toughness’
• Not linked to ethnicity
MLE: Salient features
Two examples:
Bare (EG: “This time is bare sick”)
In Standard English, this means sparse however, in MLE it has the opposite meaning
• It means ‘very’ or ‘lots of’
Hench (EG: “That bodyguard is hench, man”)
Means that someone is strong-looking or muscular
MLE: Lexical choices
Studied the MEYD in London
Claims it’s a new dialect that’s emerging from a combination of different ethnicities across London
MLE is still used by teenagers across London, but MEYD is spreading
Code-switching was a prominent feature due to the influence of the education system
Its use by the youth shows no one language is superior and that society is now embracing new dialects from different cultures
• Shows that prescriptivist views have less impact
Sue Fox: Multi-Ethnic Youth Dialect
Replacing MLE due to MLE’s relevance diminishing as it spreads outside of London
A variety of English that incorporates features associated with MLE alongside features from the user’s local accent or dialect
The youth’s own language
• Isolates outsiders (older people etc.)
• The word ‘urban’ has garnered negative connotations from the media - later dropped from the name
Rob Drummond: Multi-Cultural Urban British English
‘Urban’ removed due to its negative connotations
Variety of English that arguably emerged from MLE
“The language of grime”
Speakers may reject hyper-local features
Rob Drummond: Multi-Cultural British English
A contact language
No native speakers
Simple grammar
Can undergo creolisation - but they don’t always become creoles
They form a temporary communication bridge
Vocabulary is drawn from a dominant language (superstrate)
Pidgins
Develop out of pidgins
Becomes a native language
Grammar and pronunciation influenced by substrates
Can undergo decreolisation
Vocabulary is drawn from a dominant language (superstrate)
Creoles
Its roots stretch back to the impact of the British colonists of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the use of West African slaves to work the sugar plantations of the island
In the 21st century, most Jamaicans speak a version of Creole with a varying degree of Standard English
Official language of Jamaica is Standard English however, many also speak Patois, which is a separate dialect/language
Jamaican Creole
Based on a Jamaican Creole spoken by Caribbean communities, mainly in London
Some of their culture appeals to young native English speakers who in turn adapt features of BBE speech mixed with their native Cockney
Black British English
Phonology:
• Changes in stress patterns (all syllables made equal)
• Consonant clusters reduced (EG: help → hep)
Lexis:
• Repetition used for emphasis in normal speech
• Phonetic rather than standard spelling is used
Grammar:
• Changes in pronoun use - personal used for possession (EG: her child → she child)
• Copula “to be” omitted: he very good looking
Features of Black British English
Practice of moving back and forth between two languages or between two dialects or registers of the same language at one time
Study in Dudley, West Midlands
Speakers of Jamaican descent and Patois speakers studied
Contexts of the study:
• Formal interview with white researcher
• Discussion in black peer group
• Informal conversation with black fieldworker
Viv Edwards: Code-switching
