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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 348

Part of Session 191: Language variation, identity and urban Space (Other abstracts in this session)

Shifting identities: A longitudinal study of children of immigrants in modern urban settings

Authors: Torgersen, Eivind (1); Fox, Sue (2)
Submitted by: Torgersen, Eivind (Soer-Troendelag University College, Norway)

Recent work on London English suggests that both language and dialect contact have played an important role in the emergence of innovations found in inner city areas (Cheshire et al. 2008). These innovations are shared by speakers of different ethnic backgrounds and are brought about, we assume, by young people as they interact with immigrant and non-immigrant friends. The term ‘Multicultural London English’ (MLE) is used to refer to the overall range of distinctive language features used in multiethnic areas of London.

 

However, the degree of use of MLE features has only been analysed between groups of speakers and we have yet to fully develop an understanding of how individual speakers fit into this scenario. In contemporary urban societies such as London, which have been subject to the impact of migration, individuals often have to negotiate a range of identities as they position themselves among their peers and family members. Many young people in this situation construct dynamic identities that often straddle cultural, linguistic and national boundaries (Bucholtz and Skapoulli 2009). In addition, we have no information yet on how individual speakers use MLE features as they become older, as they move from childhood into adolescence.

 

Here we report on data collected from a Nigerian family, a mother, daughter and younger twins (a boy and a girl). Recordings were made of the children at school and then at home with their mother in 2008, when the daughter was 11 years old and the twins were 8 years old, and again three years later in 2011. We have examined a number features such as H-hypercorrection, glottalised /t/, vowel variants and pragmatic markers. Based on a synthesis of our findings we suggest that boys adopt MLE features at an earlier age than girls and use them within a repertoire of styles which lay claim to multiple identities.

References

Cheshire, J., Fox, S., Kerswill, P. & Torgersen, E. (2008) Linguistic innovators: The English of adolescents in London. Final report submitted to the ESRC.

Bucholtz, M. & Skapoulli, E. (2009) Youth language at the intersection: From migration to globalization. Pragmatics 19:1-16.