Why now?
London English has never been studied in this way
London has never been subjected to large-scale, real-time multigenerational analysis: this project will bring British dialectology in line with multi-generational projects in New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Scotland, and Australia.
The project addresses both this lack of a large-scale picture of generational change, and a gap in our understanding of how people develop their speech over their lifespan. This is a crucial factor in social mobility, yet still a less well-studied area.
A unique moment and opportunity
This is a particularly timely moment for such work. Several new varieties of English have emerged recently in London and the South-East of England.
Multicultural London English (MLE) emerged with the generation born circa 1980 and exhibits innovation at all levels of language structure (vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar).
The original users were primarily adolescent, male, working-class, and Black and Asian, but recent research has shown there is actually substantial ethnic diversity among MLE speakers. This project will develop an intersectional approach to the evolution and spread of new forms of London English speech.
In the same period, we see British Asian English (BAE), traditional and changing Cockney and other innovations across the South East. The project will examine the progress of this range of new ethnic and class-linked language forms in London, a region with a unique role in driving changes in British English more widely.
A more complete picture of how new dialects evolve
Because they are so recent, it has so far been impossible to predict the future of these new language forms. Will they retain their class and ethnic associations, and become a passing youth style left behind as people age? Or are they the seeds of new mainstream British English?
Previous research has shown that non-standard features often become the new mainstream or standard variety over time. Sometimes, however, vernacular-speaking groups remain marginalised and socially disadvantaged for generations.
How and why new London vernacular speech might spread has remained unknown, due to a lack of generational data. Now, real-time data from the first two generations of MLE speakers will not only inform the empirical picture of where British English is headed, it will inform long-standing theoretical debates, such as the role of different age groups in language change, and competing theories of change in complex social environments.