University:
Boston University
Course:
CAS LX 790 | Intermediate Topics in Linguistics
Academic year:

2022
Views:

284

Pages:

11
Author:

StellarSymphony

Globalising the local: migration, media and "crossing" population % total population % ethnic minority population 1,053,411 1.8 22.7 Pakistani 747,285 1.3 16.1 Bangladeshi 283,063 0.5 6.1 Other Asian 247,664 0.4 5.3 Black Caribbean 565,876 1.0 12.2 Black African 485,277 0.8 10.5 Black Other 97,585 0.2 2.1 CHINESE 247,403 0.4 5.3 OTHER 230,615 0.4 5.0 MIXED 677,117 1.2 14.6 UK 2001 Census, min. ethnic group ASIAN OR ASIAN BRITISH Indian BLACK OR BLACK BRITISH Minorities in the Greater London area (1) Minorities in the Greater London area (2) Minorities in the Greater London area (3) The "white British" population of London 1948-1980s: from Jamaican Creole in England to Black British English • full native-language use of JamC marginal in Britain  "a post-native variety" (Patrick 2004: 232; Sebba 1993) • BUT: JamC fails to disappear in the 2nd and 3rd generations • "crossing" ("strategic code-switching which is symbolically related to ethnicity/race and which is used politically in boundary maintaining practices" – Rampton 1995: 126) •  covert prestige – within and, increasingly, beyond the Jamaican community 1990s to date: from BBE to Multicultural London English (Kerswill, Torgersen & Fox 2008) "Safe, man. You lookin buff in dem low batties. Dey's sick, man. Me? I'm just jammin wid me bruds. Dis my yard, innit? Is nang, you get me? No? What ends you from then? If this language sounds familiar, the chances are you're from inner-city London, where a new multicultural dialect is emerging. But wherever you live, it's coming to you soon. The 'cor blimey, guvnor's of those born within the sound of Bow bells are fading into oblivion as a new Jamaican-inspired language takes hold. In a not too distant future, the familiar EastEnders twang of the market seller ('Cam and git your tasty apples!') will be replaced by an Ali G-style patter ('Dem apples is sick, innit?')." (Emily Ashton, "Learn Jafaikan in two minutes," Guardian 12 April 2006) Linguistic polyphony in contemporary multicultural fiction … Maybe he should change tack with her [Helena]. Maybe he wasn't bad enough. Perhaps he should drop the dress of his Queen's grammar and go for pure ragga blather? Or maybe for the vulnerable, Woody Allen, mildly tortured tip? (Diran Adebayo, Some Kind of Black, 38-9) He [Dele] couldn't get a fix on her [Andria's] background. The accent was mostly a familiar east London one, but with a tinge of somewhere else that he couldn't pinpoint. The strangest thing was when she had talked about getting permission from her boss, she had pronounced 'ask Mrs Walms' as 'aaaks...', the way Jamaicans did. Very peculiar for an English girl. (ibid., 141) Linguistic crossing in pop culture TV comedy: "Ali G" (Sebba 2003) Asian Dub Foundation Gentleman/Jahcoustix, Junkio Kudo (2002) • [add pics]