Mind your slanguage, and don't be an erk. YOLO | Mind your language | Media The borderline-cult film Mean Girls contains an amusing insight into young people's eagerness to leave their linguistic trademark on the world. Schoolgirl Gretchen Wieners describes any pleasant situation as "fetch" in an attempt to coin a new term for cool: "It's, like, slang from … England." Anti-hero Regina George shoots her down: "Gretchen, stop trying to make 'fetch' happen. How many potential new slang words have been dumped for not being sufficiently cool? Yes, yoof speak can be well annoying. Yoof slang is often regarded as attention-seeking, dramatic, lazy, neurotic and puerile. It's refreshing, then, that the new fourth edition of Tony Thorne's Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (Bloomsbury) takes a different approach: "Slang, considered objectively, is not a defective or substandard form of language, but one that creatively mobilises all the technical potential of the English language." Scoff we may, but Thorne has a point. Etymologies for older slang terms are fascinating.
Les Misérables - Official Clip [HD]: Who Am I - Jean Valjean Pidgin, patois, slang, dialect, creole — English has more forms than you might expect There are probably as many terms for different kinds of English vernacular as there are vernaculars themselves: pidgin, patois, slang, creole dialect and so on. But while we usually think of the vernaculars as oral versions of the English language, they're making their way into the written word as well. “There's a really interesting paradox going on, where you're taking something that's constantly changing — and that people don't expect to see written down — and you're making it codified and setting it down for a wider audience," says Dohra Ahmad, editor of an anthology of vernacular literature called "Rotten English." M. “You can’t write it exactly as the person speaks it," she says. She writes both in dialect and in standard English, with her characters switching back and forth between the Englishes. “As people from the Caribbean, we inhabit a spectrum of language, and you actually hear it when you go into the cultures," Philp says.
From the mouths of teens - This Britain - UK - The Independent "Check the creps," says the other. "My bluds say the skets round here are nuff deep." "Wasteman," responds the first, with alacrity. "You just begging now." The pair exit the vehicle, to blank stares of incomprehension. Later, this dialogue is related to Gus, a 13-year-old who attends an inner London comprehensive; he wastes no time in decoding it. ''Safe just means hi,'' he says briskly. There's more: butters means ugly, hype is excitement, bare is a lot, cotching is hanging around, and allow it is a plea to leave something or someone alone. Sick? "No, sick is good," he says patiently. Gus and his ilk have been caught up in an emerging linguistic phenomenon. The dialect is heavy with Jamaican and Afro-Caribbean inflections; words are clipped, as opposed to the cockney tendency to stretch vowels (thus face becomes fehs, as in "look a' mi fehs"), and certain words - creps, blud (thought to relate to blood, as in brother) and sket, are Jamaican in origin. And that's not nang? Air Bait Ballin'
Paul Baker - What is polari? What is Polari? Polari is a more recent spelling. In the past, it was also known as Palari, Palare, Parlaree or a variety of similar spellings. It is mainly a lexicon, derived from a variety of sources. Some of the most common include rhyming slang, backslang (saying a word as if it's spelt backwards), Italian, Occitan, French, Lingua Franca, American airforce slang, drug-user slang, Parlyaree (an older form of slang used by tinkers, beggars and travelling players) and Cant (an even older form of slang used by criminals). Polari can be classed as a language variety, a sociolect, or an anti-language. While it was mainly used as a lexicon, some of the more adept speakers were so good at it, that it resembled a language, with its own grammatical rules, distinct to English. Who used it? Mainly gay men, although also lesbians, female impersonators, theatre people, prostitutes and sea-queens (gay men in the merchant navy). How many words are there? What words were in it? Why did people use it?
CREOLE ENGLISH AND BLACK ENGLISH by Mark Sebba Department of Linguistics and English Language Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YT, England e-mail: M.Sebba@lancaster.ac.uk © 2002 Mark Sebba "Black English" can refer to two different language varieties: (1) the type of English used by people of African and Caribbean descent who live in Britain; (2) the language of African-Americans (negroes) in the United States. In another unit you were introduced to pidgin languages and their characteristics. When a pidgin becomes a creole, it may change its character somewhat. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Most of the creoles used in Europe (unlike the creole variety of Tok Pisin, for example) have their origins in the slave trade which involved four continents: Europe, Africa and North and South America. The Great Circuit Ships left English ports such as Liverpool, Lancaster, Bristol and Cardiff with cargoes of manufactured goods which they traded for slaves along the African coast. The African Element in Sranan Tongo lobi love /lVv/ bigi big /bIg/
Linguistics Research Digest: Multicultural London English London English has a new pronoun. Young people living in multicultural areas of the inner city use man as an alternative to I. Sometimes the meaning could be indefinite: in the caption to the picture Alex’ man pronoun could perhaps be replaced by you (in its general sense of ‘anyone’) or even one; but in other examples, like (1) below, man refers quite unambiguously to the speaker. Here Alex is telling his friend what he’d said to his girlfriend, who had annoyed him by bringing along her friends when he had arranged to meet her. (1) didn’t I tell you man wanna come see you . How has this new pronoun developed? (2) what am I doing with over thirty-six man chasing me blud (Alex) (3) and I ended up hanging around with bare bare man (Roshan) Man is not the only new plural form of the noun: mens, mans and mandem are also heard in London, as well as the expected men. (4) aah man that’s long that’s kind of long (Roshan)
Multicultural London English 'Oo' One of English’s most rapidly evolving dialects is what is known as Multicultural London English (MLE). In a nutshell, MLE is a ‘young’ dialect (one might mark the birthday cutoff at 1970) that incorporates elements of Caribbean English and other ‘non-native’ influences. Although it is associated with Britons of African descent, it is spoken by inner-city Londoners of many ethnicities. In some ways, MLE reverses the direction London English has been traveling for the past century. There is something clearly ‘London’ about this young man’s speech, yet he hardly speaks ‘classic Cockney.’ *In Cockney, the vowel in ‘face’ shifts toward the /ai/ in ‘price.’ *In Cockney, the vowel in ‘price’ shifts toward the /oy/ in ‘choice.’ *In Cockney, the vowel in ‘goat’ moves towared the /au/ in ‘mouth.’ Yet in one respect, Multicultural London English does not reverse Cockney trends. Why is this vowel so typically ‘London’ when most other vowels of MLE are different from Cockney? **Fought, C. (1999).
Why are so many middle class children speaking in Jamaican patois? A father of an 11-year-old girl laments a baffling trend By Nick Harding Published: 00:19 GMT, 11 October 2013 | Updated: 11:11 GMT, 11 October 2013 With her ear glued to her mobile phone, my 11-year-old daughter, Millie, was deep in conversation, her brow furrowed as she discussed some arrangement with a friend. I listened in, as I made jam in the kitchen. This indecipherable code-speak (‘sick’ means awesome, ‘DW’ is don’t worry and ‘yolo’ means you only live once) was delivered in an accent I could only place as somewhere between South London, downtown Los Angeles and Kingston, Jamaica. It certainly isn’t indigenous to our home village of Ashtead, in the rolling Surrey hills. It's not a'ight: Many youngsters are now adopting a bizarre hybrid of accents incorporating Jamaican patois, American west coast and London When Millie ended the call, she turned to me, smiled and asked: ‘What’s for supper please, Dad?’ ... than Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey Qualiteeee: Youth speak is lampooned by comedian Lee Nelson She replied: ‘I had, like, lasagne.’
Care home in Yorkshire told not to call residents 'love' as it is 'patronising' 'When you are living in a home away from your family I think it is positive at times to be called a term of endearment if it is something they are comfortable with...' - Stephanie Kirkman Meikle It follows controversy in last year over an online tutorial for volunteers recruited to welcome visitors to the Yorkshire legs of the Tour de France which advised against the use local greetings such as love or darling in case visitors were offended. Sir Michael Parkinson, the chat show host, and the cricketing umpire Dickie Bird, were among prominent Yorkshiremen to denounce that decision “daft”. But the use of affectionate terms such as “dear” and “chuck” in care homes was highlighted as an area of concern in the report of the Commission on Dignity In Care, a major review into the sector published in 2012. The commission concluded that patronising older people should be viewed as a form of abuse but emphasised that if people wished to be called dear or chuck they should be.
Language and occupation Introduction This guide is written for students who are following GCE Advanced level (AS and A2) syllabuses in English Language. This resource may also be of general interest to language students on university degree courses, trainee teachers and anyone with a general interest in language science. On this page I use red type for emphasis. Back to top of page What do the examiners say about this subject? Back to top What has language to do with occupation? Occupations are an important feature of society. Occupations develop their own special language features, and use those of the common language in novel or distinctive ways. Forms and functions of talk In studying language and occupation, you should consider particular forms (instruction, interview, discussion, conference, briefing, appointing, disciplining) in relation to their functions. Here are some general functions of language in occupational contexts: Can you think of others? Activity - understanding forms and functions of talk Come in.
Discourse Community Discourse Community by: Yaisah Granillo As my discourse communities I chose the most common ones for me which are facebook, school, and my home because they are part of my everyday life. Facebook is a social networking website and its main goal is for a fast and easy communication with friends and family. School is a very important part of my life because the goals and values are to get a better education so that in the future I can get the professional job that I desire. Finally, the last discourse community that I chose is my home.