Multicultural parts of London; variants in other cities
Ethnicity
Various (see Ethnic groups in London)
Language family
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
North Sea Germanic
Anglo-Frisian
Anglic
English
British English
Multicultural London English
Early forms
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Germanic
Old English
Middle English
Early Modern English
Writing system
Latin (English alphabet)
Sources
Various, including Caribbean English (in particular Jamaican Patois), African dialects of English, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Arabic, Somali and Cockney
Language codes
ISO 639-3
–
Glottolog
None
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Multicultural London English (abbreviated MLE) is a sociolect of English that emerged in the late 20th century. It is spoken mainly by young, working-class people in multicultural parts of London.[1][2][3]
Speakers of MLE come from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and live in diverse neighbourhoods. As a result, it can be regarded as a multiethnolect.[4] One study was unable "to isolate distinct (discrete) ethnic styles" in their data on phonetics and quotatives in Hackney and commented that the "differences between ethnicities, where they exist, are quantitative in nature".[5] Linguists have suggested that diversity of friendship groups is a contributing factor to the development of MLE; the more ethnically diverse an adolescent's friendship networks are, the more likely it is that they will speak MLE.[5]
Variants of MLE have emerged in diverse neighbourhoods of other cities, such as Birmingham and Manchester, which fuse elements of MLE with local influences.[6] This has led to some linguists referring to an overarching variety of English known as Multicultural British English (MBE), also known as Multicultural Urban British English (MUBE) or Urban British English (abbreviated UBE), which emerged from and is heavily influenced by MLE.[6][7][8]
^"UrBEn-ID Urban British English project". Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
^"Argot bargy". The Economist. 2 November 2013. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
^"How Is Immigration Changing Language In the UK?". www.vice.com. 24 February 2016. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
^Cheshire, Jenny; Nortier, Jacomine; Adger, David (2015). "Emerging Multiethnolects in Europe" (PDF). Queen Mary Occasional Papers in Linguistics: 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
^ abCheshire, Jenny; Fox, Sue; Kerswill, Paul; Torgersen, Eivind (2008). Ethnicity, friendship network and social practices as the motor of dialect change: Linguistic innovation in London(PDF). Vol. 22. pp. 1–23. doi:10.1515/9783484605299.1. ISBN 9783484605299. S2CID 10973301. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2020. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
^ ab"Multicultural British English – Rob Drummond". Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
^Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies (MEITS) (21 May 2017). "Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies (MEITS)". www.meits.org. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
^"Big up MLE – the origins of London's 21st century slang". www.newstatesman.com. 26 August 2017. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
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