Ethnicity and Language Theorists Flashcards
What do Roger Herwitt (1986) and Mark Sebba (1993) suggest on ‘black cockney’?
Work by these two identified a new development in the late 1980s, that of ‘black cockney’, a style rather than a discrete variety used by young black speakers in London.
What does Ben Rampton (2004) suggest in terms of ‘patois’?
In simplified terms, it was used as an act of rebellion. This was due to the fact that youths felt they were mocked and neglected by society. Therefore, Patois gave young people a feeling of social cohesion, uniting them and creating a shared sense of belonging. Rampton’s argument also suggests that speaking in Patois was seen as something positive, as it gave males a feeling of masculinity.
What do Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004) suggest on ethnolects?
“Languages may not only be ‘markers of identity’ but also sites of resistance, empowerment, solidarity and discrimination.”
What did Jenny Cheshire (2008) identify?
Identified a new form of English (predominantly among young people) from London’s inner city and taking root far beyond: multicultural London English. Later renamed multicultural urban English.
What did Rob Drummond (2018) rename ‘MLE’ to be?
Went to Pupil Referral Units in Manchester (PRUs) and observed communication of 14–16-year-olds, analysing speech patterns and identified features of MLE (and MUBE): TH-Stopping, TH-Fronting ‘man’ as 1st person pronoun, non-rhetoric (don’t pronounce /R/).
MLE is a key part of the sociolect of young people in Manchester. Drummond has retitled MLE as ‘Multicultural Urban British English (MUBE) which reflects its spread.
What is MLE?
Multicultural London a English is a dialect of English that can be traced back to the 1980s. MLE was first heard in ethnically and linguistically diverse areas of East London and is similar to Cockney but also has influences from other languages and dialects of English from around the world. MLE is often considered a multiethnolect, meaning that it is a non standard, linguistic variety which is not spoken exclusively by any ethnic group.
What did Kircher and Fox study on MLE?
A common trend is that linguistic varieties from urban parts of the UK such as London tend to be judged as having low status, but relatively higher social attractiveness. The participants who spoke MLE had a more positive attitude towards MLE, and seemed to feel some loyalty and solidarity towards other people who spoke the dialect. People who did not speak MLE described it as a form of ‘broken language’, ‘language decay’, ‘secret language’, and ‘fake language’. MLE speakers were much less negative but were concerned that it might be an ‘obstacle to success and social mobility’.
What did Paul Kerswill find through his discourse analysis on MLE?
Kerswill was particularly interested in seeing how this multiethnolect was reported and described in the media, what he calls ‘mediatization’. The media describes MLE as a problem in various ways throughout time, describing it as ‘pushing out’ and ‘replacing’ a native dialect. It was also linked to criminal and anti-social behaviour in the London riots, to poor education performance and restricted speech.
What is enregisterment?
One or more linguistic features are associated with a specific dialect or a stereotyped social persona.
What does Christian Ilbury show within the enregisterment of MLE?
Shows that linguistic features of Multicultural London English have been enregistered as a ‘roadman’ persona. Ilbury documented the linguistic features and the characteristics, habits, and appearances that video creators draw on when parodying a roadman on TikTok. The parodies used MLE phonological features such as TH-stopping, DH-stooping and pronouncing vowels in a typically MLE way such as goose-fronting. The way a roadman is depicted often plays in negative and racist stereotypes of Black, working class, young men. The anti-Black and anti-working class representations of roadman probably also reflect the prejudice, biases and stereotypes in British society about MLE and its speakers.
What does Rob Drummond argue on the presentation of MBE speakers?
Drummond set out to understand which young people use MLE/MBE features outside of London and whether they might do so to present themselves as having a ‘street identity’ and a participation in ‘grime culture’. Drummond believes that th-stopping might have acquired a social meaning of toughness because it is commonly used in grime music which has gritty, street-focused lyrics. MLE/MBE features are used by some young people outside of London who wish to show that they are aligned with grime music and culture.
What did Shivonne Gates argue on MLE being ‘ethnically neutral’?
MLE was often describes as ‘ethnically neutral’ meaning that it was thought be to a multiethnolect, not spoken exclusively by any ethnic group. Gates argues if MLE is genuinely ethnically neutral, we would expect that working class teenagers in London from a range of ethnic backgrounds would speak fairly similar. Gates found that ethnic identity has a part to play in his the participants spoke. There was evidence of linguistic variation between the adolescents of different ethnic identities, ethnic identity and having heritage languages at home may be more important than having diverse friendship networks in determining whether a person speaks MLE or not.
What is a language ideology?
A language ideology is a belief or idea about language, and Standard Language Ideology is the belief that there is a standard, correct or neutral way of speaking a language.
