Vanja Kavgić Dialects of London East End and their representation in the media. Cockney dialect and Multicultural London English in British sitcoms. MASTER THESIS submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Programme: Master's programme English and American Studies Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt Evaluator Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Alexander Onysko Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Klagenfurt, June 2018 Affidavit I hereby declare in lieu of an oath that - the submitted academic thesis is entirely my own work and that no auxiliary materials have been used other than those indicated, - I have fully disclosed all assistance received from third parties during the process of writing the thesis, including any significant advice from supervisors, - - any contents taken from the works of third parties or my own works that have been included either literally or in spirit have been appropriately marked and the respective source of the information has been clearly identified with precise bibliographical references (e.g. in footnotes), - to date, I have not submitted this thesis to an examining authority either in Austria or abroad and that - - when passing on copies of the academic thesis (e.g. in bound, printed or digital form), I will ensure that each copy is fully consistent with the submitted digital version. I understand that the digital version of the academic thesis submitted will be used for the purpose of conducting a plagiarism assessment. I am aware that a declaration contrary to the facts will have legal consequences. Vanja Kavgic e.h. Klagenfurt, 28.06.2018 1 Table of Contents AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... 4 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER 1– INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2- THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .............................................................................. 12 2.1. Language variation and change ................................................................................................. 12 2.1.1. Age ...................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1.2. Ethnicity .............................................................................................................................. 14 2.1.3. Social class .......................................................................................................................... 16 2.2. Language - (dialect) Contact ...................................................................................................... 17 2.3. Dialect Levelling and geographical diffusion ............................................................................ 18 CHAPTER 3- LANGUAGE IN THE MEDIA ..................................................................................... 19 3.1. Dialect in Film ........................................................................................................................... 21 3.2. The appearance of MLE as ‘Jafaican’ in print media ................................................................ 22 CHAPTER 4- THE DIALECT OF LONDON EAST END ................................................................. 23 4.1. Traditional Cockney Dialect ...................................................................................................... 24 4.2. London East End and Social Change ......................................................................................... 25 4.3. Dialect Contact and Change ....................................................................................................... 26 4.3.1. Emergence of Multicultural London English (MLE) .......................................................... 29 4.4. MLE as New Cockney? ............................................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 5: LINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF COCKNEY .................................................................... 33 5.1. Rhyming slang ........................................................................................................................... 33 5.2. Phonological features ................................................................................................................. 34 5.2.1. The vowel system................................................................................................................ 35 5.2.2. TH-fronting ......................................................................................................................... 35 5.2.3. H-dropping .......................................................................................................................... 36 5.2.4. Glottal stop .......................................................................................................................... 36 5.3. Grammar .................................................................................................................................... 37 5.4. Vocabulary ................................................................................................................................. 38 CHAPTER 6: MLE (THE ‘NEW’ COCKNEY) LINGUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS ...................... 39 6.1. Phonological features ............................................................................................................ 39 6.2. Grammar ............................................................................................................................... 42 6.3. Pragmatic markers ................................................................................................................ 42 CHAPTER 7- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 43 2 7.1. Overview, Research Questions and Hypothesis......................................................................... 43 7.2. Data Collection, Subjects and materials .................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 8 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ......................................................................................... 45 8.1. Till Death Us Do Part and the Cockney dialect ......................................................................... 46 8.1.1. Vocabulary .......................................................................................................................... 46 8.1.2. Grammar ............................................................................................................................. 48 8.1.2.1. Ain’t ............................................................................................................................. 48 8.1.2.2. Double negation ........................................................................................................... 49 8.1.3. Phonology ........................................................................................................................... 50 8.1.3.1. Glottal stops ................................................................................................................. 50 8.1.3.2. TH-fronting .................................................................................................................. 51 8.1.3.3. H-dropping ................................................................................................................... 53 8.2. The Phone Shop and MLE ......................................................................................................... 53 8.2.1. Vocabulary .......................................................................................................................... 54 8.2.2. Crossing .............................................................................................................................. 56 8.2.3. Phonology ........................................................................................................................... 57 8.2.3.1. Glottal Stop .................................................................................................................. 57 8.2.3.2. TH-fronting .................................................................................................................. 58 8.2.3.3. H-reinstatement ............................................................................................................ 60 CHAPTER 9- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................................. 60 9.1. Interpretation of the results ........................................................................................................ 62 9.2. Applications ............................................................................................................................... 68 9.3. Limitations ................................................................................................................................. 69 CHAPTER 10- CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 70 APPENDICES .....................................................................................................................................