The Cockney accent, a working-class dialect from East London, was once a defining characteristic of the city. But now, it is fading. This is because a new dialect is replacing it. It’s called Multicultural London English (MLE).
A recent study by The University of Essex analysed the dialects of young people in the capital and found that Cockney is no longer as common as it used to be, with a quarter of the participants speaking MLE.
MLE is primarily recognisable based on its borrowing of Jamaican Patois in its grammatical and lexical structure.
Christian Ilbury, a sociolinguistics lecturer at University of Edinburgh says that the popularisation of Grime music, which uses MLE slang, plays a significant role in the way Londoners speak.
“If you think about it, what is Stormzy rapping in? MLE.”
Where did this accent originate?
After the Second World War, people from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries started immigrating to London.
This is known as the ‘Windrush Generation’, named after the ship that brought the first Jamaicans to Britain. Afterwards, in the 1960s and 1970s, people from other Commonwealth countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh also started to arrive.
These immigrants brought their language and culture with them, and as they began settling in East London, their children started attending school and speaking Cockney.
They mixed what they heard at home with what they heard at school. This sowed the seed that would eventually become Multicultural London English.
The study by the University of Essex found that 49% of the participants spoke standard Southern British English, and 25% spoke Multicultural London English, meaning that Cockney is slowly being replaced by MLE.
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HeadlineMulticultural London English is overtaking Cockney according to a study
Short HeadlineMulticultural London English is overtaking Cockney
StandfirstStudies have shown that as Cockney is receding in London, it is being replaced with a new dialect - Multicultural London English (MLE)
The Cockney accent, a working-class dialect from East London, was once a defining characteristic of the city. But now, it is fading. This is because a new dialect is replacing it. It’s called Multicultural London English (MLE).
A recent study by The University of Essex analysed the dialects of young people in the capital and found that Cockney is no longer as common as it used to be, with a quarter of the participants speaking MLE.
MLE is primarily recognisable based on its borrowing of Jamaican Patois in its grammatical and lexical structure.
Christian Ilbury, a sociolinguistics lecturer at University of Edinburgh says that the popularisation of Grime music, which uses MLE slang, plays a significant role in the way Londoners speak.
“If you think about it, what is Stormzy rapping in? MLE.”
Where did this accent originate?
After the Second World War, people from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries started immigrating to London.
This is known as the ‘Windrush Generation’, named after the ship that brought the first Jamaicans to Britain. Afterwards, in the 1960s and 1970s, people from other Commonwealth countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh also started to arrive.
These immigrants brought their language and culture with them, and as they began settling in East London, their children started attending school and speaking Cockney.
They mixed what they heard at home with what they heard at school. This sowed the seed that would eventually become Multicultural London English.
The study by the University of Essex found that 49% of the participants spoke standard Southern British English, and 25% spoke Multicultural London English, meaning that Cockney is slowly being replaced by MLE.
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