accent and dialect Flashcards
Multicultural London English- MLE
-MLE is a dialect of London English which has emerged since the early 1980s in parts of London where there has been a relatively high level of immigration. it is based on the traditional East End Cockney dialect, but has a number of different sounds and grammatical constructions
-relatively few of the features of MLE can be proved to be Jamaican - it’s mainly the slang that reveals any Jamaican ancestry. MLE certainly isn’t ‘fake Jamaican’ as the name ‘Jafaican’ suggests: it’s home-grown
-This foreign accent formed part of the linguistic melting pot that made up the input to MLE
-youthful, urban
-spoken by young, working class in London~ now spread across country
–MLE is generally conceptualised as a ‘repertoire of features’ drawn from, or influenced by, various input languages and varieties. This means that the speech of individuals and groups of individuals will vary considerably
-TH sounds are either /f,v/ ‘fanks’ or /t,d/ ‘brother’
-DH-stopping ~ using ‘d’ for ‘th’ in words such as them and TH-stopping ~ using ‘t’ for ‘th’ in words such as three
-Sue Fox~ people in London are using features of MLE, regardless of their race/ethnic background
Multicultural British English- MBE
-The term Multicultural British English (MBE) describes the idea of an over-arching variety of English that is related to, and which arguably emerged from, Multicultural London English (MLE).
-The concept was originally developed following research carried out in Manchester, where it was observed that young people were using MLE speech features within their otherwise typical local or supralocal varieties.
-MBE is, therefore, a variety of English used by people in the UK which incorporates features associated with MLE alongside features from their local accent or dialect.
-it is widespread, particularly among young people involved in specific social practices, such as grime music. MBE is the language of grime, and grime itself is a possible mechanism by which MBE has spread across the country.
-MBE is characterised by its combination of features of MLE alongside features of the local variety
-the speech of individuals and groups of individuals will vary considerably
-The extent to which MBE can be viewed as a vernacular (a natural, unconscious way of speaking), or as a style (consciously or subconsciously used to enact particular identities) is partly dependent on your own view of language and its relationship to other social behaviours
-MBE features are available to be used as a stylistic resource, especially alongside particular social practices
-Rob Drummond~ features include; dental fronting ‘dem’ for ‘them’, pragmatic markers ‘you get me?’ used at the end of sentences, differences in vocal articulation
