Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor)

E274558

Multicultural London English is a contemporary urban dialect of English spoken in London, shaped by diverse ethnic and linguistic influences and now widely used by younger generations across the city.

All labels observed (3)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (67)

Predicate Object
instanceOf contact variety
dialect of English
sociolect
urban dialect
youth language
alsoKnownAs MLE
Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor)
surface form: Urban London English
contrastsWith Received Pronunciation
traditional Cockney
country United Kingdom
developedFrom British Black English
Cockney
London Jamaican English
emergedFrom multiethnic urban neighborhoods
post-war immigration to London
hasDomain popular culture
hasFeature distinct vowel system compared to Cockney
frequent use of quotative "this is me" or "I was like"
innovative diphthong pronunciations
innovative prosody and intonation patterns
lexical items from Caribbean English
lexical items from Jamaican Creole
lexical items from South Asian languages
lexical items from West African languages
reduction of consonant clusters
use of discourse markers like "innit"
use of pragmatic marker "you get me"
use of slang terms like "bare" meaning "a lot"
use of slang terms like "mandem"
use of slang terms like "peng" meaning "attractive"
use of slang terms like "ting"
use of slang terms like "wasteman"
influencedBy Arabic
Caribbean English
surface form: Caribbean English varieties

Cockney
Jamaican Patois
Received Pronunciation
South Asian languages
Turkish
West African languages
influences contemporary British slang
youth speech in other UK cities
languageFamily Germanic languages
Indo-European language family
surface form: Indo-European languages
recognizedAs major variety of contemporary London English
region Inner London
Outer London
researchedBy linguist Jenny Cheshire
linguist Paul Kerswill
linguist Sue Fox
socialFunction alternative to traditional Cockney for London youth
marker of multiethnic peer group membership
marker of urban youth identity
spokenIn London, England
surface form: London
spreadTo other urban centers in the United Kingdom
subfamily English
surface form: English language

West Germanic languages
timePeriod late 20th century
typicalSpeakers middle-class youth adopting urban styles
second-generation immigrant youth in London
working-class youth in London
usedBy multiethnic communities in London
young people in London
usedIn British urban television and film
UK rap
drill music in the UK
grime music

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Cockney culturalAssociation Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor)
Cockney influenced Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor)
this entity surface form: Multicultural London English
Estuary English relatedTo Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor)
this entity surface form: Multicultural London English
Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor) alsoKnownAs Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor)
subject surface form: Multicultural London English
this entity surface form: Urban London English