Talk:Multicultural London English/Archive 1

Nature of article
If this is merely an "extremely minor article explaining a viewpoint of King's College researchers", as Mackan has put it, then perhaps the article should be renamed accordingly.--CaptainSurrey 17:36, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

The Jafaican article should state the known facts, which probably shouldn't include fresh research outcome. If I don't get any significant objections, I'm going to start restructuring this article, but not actually remove any content. The part which talks of King's College research is going to be titled "Left Wing Research", because that's what it is. No amount of leftwing censorship can change that.--CaptainSurrey 17:36, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

The Blank Slate
I've just requested The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (Penguin Press Science S.) (Paperback) from the city library. When I've finished reading that and photocopied the necessary pages, I shall post some references for a counter argument, in order to make this article more neutral; this article clearly is biased in favour of the left, but that's okay, as long as a counter presentation for centrism, is presented as well.--CaptainSurrey 12:59, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * This article has nothing to do with either "left" or "right". What gain could possibly Labour or Tories gain from this extremely minor article explaining a viewpoint of King's College researchers? What makes you, who's bulk of edits concern made up Star Trek entities and some vague edit on the "human penis size" article, think that you have higher moral standards, and as you stated somewhere, "love for truth", than those researchers? Please refrain from editing, and protesting about the state of, articles you know nothing about. If you still have an interest in Wikipedia, maybe you should keep on improving the article you wrote on Verterons "a fictional subatomic particle mentioned in (but not necessarily created specifically for) the Star Trek canon".Mackan 16:46, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Once again, your leftwing personality is trying to goad me into getting banned again.


 * Labours and Tories would gain anothing. But, just think, a leftwing individual such as yourself has everything to gain! My edit choices are irrelevant, and to mention them here is a clear act of provocation with view to getting me banned aagin . My edit choices are none of your business, really!


 * If I believe that I have higher moral standards due to my centrist location politically, then that's enough for me; your own opinion is inconsequential.


 * You think I know nothing about this article? I hear kids talking in Jafaican, not only in the streets of my city, but at the university too. Work that one out. If I can witness people showing off and succumbimg to peer pressure, then I have plenty of business posting here.


 * Once again, I politely request that you refrain from using leftwing bully tactics and tyrannical truth distorting rhetoric.--CaptainSurrey 17:31, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
 * First of all, I'm not leftwing, for what it matters. No, it doesn't matter if you hear people talking Jafaican at your university, Wikipedia is not about your experiences as an individual See Verifiability. "Information on Wikipedia must be reliable. Facts, viewpoints, theories, and arguments may only be included in articles if they have already been published by reliable and reputable sources". Mackan 05:03, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Mackan
Mackan, your edit reverts seem very aggressive and tyrannical. You should discuss the Non NPOV issue with myself, before you show leftwing agression in your rash editing. Why should it be such a problem for you, that there is a Non NPOV message at the top of this article? Are you trying to censor any challenge to this socialist propaganda?--CaptainSurrey 23:23, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I would discuss with any honest editor, but considering the kind of stuff you write on this talk page it seems apparent you have nothing to contribute to a linguistic article. Mackan 05:01, 29 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm not requesting that you discuss it with me. You shall discuss it with me, regardless of your gripes. And just because you think I'm some sort of racist, and because you are quite seriously vexed by my political views (which incidentally are none of your business), doesn't mean you can use barely acceptable, agressive behaviour towards me. I have a quite serious Non NPOV dispute with this article.--CaptainSurrey 16:53, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Dude, I don't care if you're a racist, black, or indian. Your gripes with this article are ridiculous and unfounded and you have yet to make a valid point, and you have yet to make a comment without calling people names. That's why I can see no reason to discuss this page with you. Who's the one with a problem regarding political views? You have, for whatever reason, called me leftwing several times on this talk page.Mackan 17:21, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Proposal to remove the examples all together
The example list has been a problem ever since it was first included. While I think that there at some stage probably was a source included for the few words which were first included, it has apparently been lost somewhere along the road, and even though I put a disclaimer before the list, unsourced additions have continued. Not only is the fact that the sources are unreferenced a problem, but the actual list is not compliant with Wikipedia policies. I propose, in accordance with the official policy, What Wikipedia is not, to remove the entire list (even if a source were presented). As stated in the official policy;

Wikipedia is not a dictionary, usage or jargon guide. Wikipedia articles are not: 1) Dictionary definitions. (...) 2) Lists of such definitions. (...) 3) Usage guides or slang and idiom guides. (...)

(see the link for further information) If nobody opposes, I will eventually remove the entire list. Mackan 19:14, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Misleading Words
"Used completely" by young inner-city working class Londoners? I think not. Those not of white-british extraction perhaps (and a fair amount that are), but completely? No way.
 * Changed it to "mainly", but I think the intended meaning was "exclusively by...". Mackan 19:57, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

African And African-Caribbean Dialect
Would suggest looking up Jamaican Creole or West African Pidgin pages.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.100.174.95 (talk) 18:37, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Dialectics are not a political issue
The articles by newspapers I have read about this dialect have been poorly researched and suggest cultural snobbery, so should not be sited as neutral reference points. I am not saying this about the university research on the subject.

So perhaps leave politics alone in this discussion and move on to a better researched and more accurate definition of what "Jafaican" actually constitutes if anything. OK, socio-politics may have a bearing on the origins of this dialect and perhaps could be neutrally researched. I doubt it is the only factor in the evolution of the dialect. In fact that the term appears to be in itself a slang word, which has been mainly used in a derogatory sense in the newspaper articles sited and rarely, if ever, by the people who speak this dialect. Perhaps it doesn't really have a place on Wikipedia at all.

I do think that the term "Jafaican" IS derogatory. Regardless of if it is a blend of the words African and Jamaican (Which I see as tenuous at best), I have rarely seen it used in this context and it will definitley get picked up as a way to describe how certain people speak as a derogatory term (It already is by newspapers). I actually find it slightly offensive. In the same way I find the word "pikey" offensive or "chav". So in some senses I agree with CaptSurrey's standpoint.

I also totally disagree with the word list. Which someone seems to be rather tyrannical about editing back to simple Jamaican patois or cockney street slang which appears elsewhere. Whoever is doing this seems as though they "know best". Not the case. I live in South East London (Which is perhaps the best place to hear the dialect) and have rarely heard half the words in this list used.. "Jafaican" is categorically not simply patois or Cockney.

What is most fundamentally ignored in the Wiki is that "Jafaican" is a BRITISH STREET LANGUAGE (predominantly from London, but not strictly) - And not actually a dialect at all. Much like Anthony Burgess' "droog" language in A Clockwork Orange it is built up of codes and metaphors which are created to seperate one subcultural tribe from another. Not only that, but it can be (and often is) affected. People who use it can often speak in many different ways, to suit their surroundings. The same difference as between "Rapped" English and spoken English. See what I'm getting at?

I would put forward the idea that whilst "Jafaican" does have some origin in African and Jamaican accenting and word use, it has mainly sprung up from subcultural youth tribes as a way to belong and identify with each other. I don't believe that the stated fact in the wiki that it springs from "inner city" youth is correct, as it's usage is far more widespread, across many (sub)cultural groups and classes than this. Speculation of this kind is the sort of thing that you will see on "Chavscum" and is not relevant to the DIALECT, which, after all is what we are dealing with here. So should be revised.

Phrases that you will DEFINITELY hear in modern (especially London subcultural) street slang:


 * Ya Get Me/Ge' me - Do You Understand
 * Ait - Alright/hello
 * Blud - Mate
 * Cuz - Mate (This is most certainly an Americanism)
 * Big ups - Respect to

So therefore it could be stated that "Jafaican" also constitutes American street slang, British (Dance culture) street slang and not strictly simply Jamaican and African blended as seems to be asserted in the article.

It is also worth noting something about it's grammatical usage. Rather than just stating individual words out of context. (Perhaps from some conducted field research - of which there is absolutely nothing sited)

EG.

"I was seein' my blud 'uvva week, ya ge' me cuz"

However you cut it, this above phrasing, whilst it does have a tinge of Jamaican phrasing to it, in the way that the words are spoken phonetically is most certainly more based around Cockney or Estuary English. But also has some origin in American Street slang and the phrasing used in Rap and Hip Hop music.. I think what we are really talking about here is a subsection of British street slang, and as such should be in that section of Wikipedia and not have it's own section at all.

That newspapers have called something "Jafaican" as a derogatory and rather middle class term to describe the way people they (a) don't really understand and (b) seek to put down by pidgeonholing them into a quatifiable entity, in order to then ridicule is not, in my opinion, a good enough reason to put it on Wikipedia. I'm not going to go into a political standpoint here, as CaptainSurrey has hit the nail on the head elsewhere. If we were taking about the STRUCTURE OF THE DIALECT, some ACCURATELY RESEARCHED ORIGINS, GRAMMAR, PHONETICS and other such useful and unbaised material it would be a lot more valuable as an article than it is in its current state. As it stands it is nothing more than speculative and innaccurate and as an Wiki entry is pretty uninformative.

Thanks

199.229.190.200 16:15, 13 February 2007 (UTC) Ash Whiting


 * I can't be arsed responding to all of your comments, but I'll just respond to this, in case it's me you're referring to when you say "the word list. Which someone seems to be rather tyrannical about editing back to simple Jamaican patois or cockney street slang which appears elsewhere. Whoever is doing this seems as though they "know best"."
 * Well, no. The reason I've been reverting the many additions that have been made to the list I made because they were all entirely unsourced. Also, this article is not supposed to be a list of every word that "Jafaikan" consists of. I have had no direct experience of jafaican, nor have I ever claimed so. As for the words you mention and added into the article, I'm not gonna delete them, but you do need verifiable sources to support that those words are actually used, your personal knowledge in the question is unfortunately not enough. (The original list of words was taken from a newspaper). See WP:V for further information on verifiability.Mackan 21:47, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

199.229.190.200 15:53, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

OK, fair enough, but seeing as that Daily Mail article is stuffed full of innacuracies and misrepresentations I would say that it isn't a particularly accurate source.

I would say that university DIALECTIC research would be a far better source of information.

And stop taking this so personally. I don't think you have researched this subject very well. And I think you maybe ought to before adding a WIki entry which is predominantly based on a Daily Mail article, which is almost certainly a scathing, middle class view.

199.229.190.200 15:53, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * What are you talking about, I'm not taking this personally. I've never claimed that I've researched the subject very well, but nor should I have to, Wikipedia is a collaborative effort, and if there's something I've missed, anybody else is free to add that information. I haven't been actively contributing to this article since I started it, basically, nowadays I only remove some spam from time to time. I'd also like to add that I've never acted as if I own this article (see OWN. Any well-founded, verifiable edit to the article is more than welcome. All I'm saying is you need verifiable sources for any statements you include in the article. Instead of wasting time arguing that the article is of poor quality, feel perfectly free to improve it. Mackan 17:54, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * User:199.229.190.200, don't go sticking words like dialectic in capitals until you understand them. Dialectic is a Hegelian term used in philosophy, and has nothing at all to do with linguistics. For future reference, the word you mean is "dialectal". 80.254.147.52 14:29, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

To Ash Whiting

You make some true statements, but the language you are refering to is a simplified and standarized version of what the language really is.

"Wha gwaan, blud, wah yu seh? weh ya deh? yo cuz, set me sum p's fa gi de man dem, till ma jam man soon come an bunks yu dat bak, ite bless, man go speak to yu bak"

if spoken quick enough, I FIND, that non-blacks easilly get lost and tell me to repeat my self, however, black people are to keep up. Sentence structure is an issue and variates, by levels. Surrounded by white people, one might tone it down, but surrounded by Black Jamaicans, for instance, the language will take another form and become more complex and sway towards its natural influence. This is true of most black people. Most white people adopt the language in secondary school, whereas most black children are already speaking this in Nursary. It is an adaptation. But what you are saying is true to some degree. And the best place to hear this language in its truest form would be in areas like Harlesden or Brixton where there is a high concentration of West Indian, mainly Jamaican people.

Sarkz —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.100.174.95 (talk) 18:49, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Title of Article
I think the title of the article should be changed to "Multicultural London English". That sounds more technical and therefore appropriate for an encyclopedia article. Thegryseone (talk) 04:28, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Future Edits
Hello, I'm going to be doing lots of editing on this article. I have lots of sources and I'll add them eventually. Thanks. Thegryseone (talk) 02:46, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Sounds great, and I agree with the name change. Itsmejudith (talk) 07:04, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Uvular plosive in English!!
Any accent of English that uses /q/ gets respect from me. Grover cleveland (talk) 06:00, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This article stinks of namby pamby sociology
This article is clearly POV based in favour of namby-pamby liberal sociology. I demand that a counter argument be presented that offers some counter evidence that Jafaican is just a natural merging of existing diverse language cultures in London. I am quite aware that many of these little punks ARE trying to 'be cool' with this stupid little gangster talk.-- CaptainSurrey talk


 * The article is not POV, it's simply based on an article which referred to research done by Queen Mary College. If you want a counter argument to be presented, find a reliable source and put it in the text, but don't delete a verifiable source just because you don't like it, that's censorship. If you remove that section again I'll report you to a moderator. Also, if you're gonna put something in, it had better be a damn good source and not some random blog or guestbook. Mackan 14:04, 26 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Your attitude totally stinks, Mackcan. And don't think that, just because you're some sort of bleeding heart liberal, that your thuggish behaviour will seem any less degenerate. Left wing thugs can wield pick axe handles and go round beating up Xenophobic Party members in Sweden, just as much as fascist thugs can commit brutish acts of violence. The way you accused me of vandalising this article was, not only childish, but ridiculously unfounded. - CaptainSurrey [[Image:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg|20px]]


 * I never altered the page. Don't accuse me of doing that; I'm certainly not that stupid. I may have gripes about its twisted-liberal theme, but I'm no vandal.-- CaptainSurrey [[Image:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg|20px]]


 * Sorry, I assumed you were the anonymous user who twice removed a part of the article without stating any reason. Mackan 12:30, 2 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't think this article has been properly researched. The word list is completely incorrect, as it is mainly Jamaican Patois. Jafaican is not strictly patois. It is a blend of many different dialectical sources. Also. Siting the Daily Mail article, is also a bit foolish, as it is also mainly incorrect... Perhaps get on the streets of London and do some stronger dialectical research into the subtleties of it... Thanks. Ash - 13th Feb 2007


 * A counter argument to what? It's an inner-city dialect spoken by lower class scum of all races, it's the result of the melting pot in inner-cities and this dialect can be seen not only in London but also Birmingham and Bristol, to say that people that use it are just "doing it to be cool" is like saying people that speak with received pronunciation are "trying to be posh" which is rarely the case, it is the result of one's upbringing and the social environment around them. - [[Image:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg|20px]] AngryAfghan(Are you talking to me?)

Indeed, pretentiousness is not a modern invention and has probably played a role in language development since humans began speaking (Chaucer mocks the Anglo-French speech of one of his characters in the Cantebury Tales for instance.) If enough people speak a certain way, then pretentious or not, it takes on a reality and is a legitimate subject for an article. 92.235.178.44 (talk) 16:14, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


 * So what you're saying is that "because those who speak with RP are not playing it cool, then consequently, lower class scum of all races must not be playing it cool either. That reeks of left wing hopefulness, and pseudo intellectualism. What direct corelation do you cling to? Is there a corelation between aspiring intellectuals who speak with RP, and lower class plebs who speak in Jafaican? I don't think so. The intelligentsia may speak in RP through conditioning, but to the deduce from such, that plebs speak in Jafaican because of conditioning, is flawed logic. One could argue that people of lower intelligence are more susceptible to peer pressure and meme transfer. I've never seen a bespectacled Geek flicking his fingers like Ali G, and that gladens me. - CaptainSurrey [[Image:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg|20px]]


 * Captain Surrey could you provide a link to the counter arguments you talk about as you will need there evidence if this article truly is POV like you say (i personally doubt it is this sort of thing in languages is very common). There is also no need to demand changes you can make the additions and provide the links yourself. --Goatan 14:35, 18 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I'm sorry, but I don't have those links that you desire. Yes, this article is very POV based, in favour of vangard propaganda sociology. Unfortunately, due to the tyrannical trends of namby pamby liberalism (Labour UK, for example), not much genuine research can be done in the subject, because it's quite politically incorrect these days. For example, when a university professor says that on average Black people score lower in IQ tests than white people, said professor gets voted out of tenure 600 to 1. So it's not good practice for libertarian capitalists to bother trying to counter argue against all this namby pamby left wing crap. Labour UK is a twisted experiment, which, although capitalist and ostensibly right wing, has introduced very bizarre left wing projects in to the political playing field: such as, teaching young children about homosexuality in schools, trying to make gay hate a crime like race hate, trying to make condemnation of monotheistic religions a crime, with use of the truth distorting term 'incitement to religious hatred' etc. We are on the losing side, those of us who love truth. Left wing politics can be just as dirty and obfuscatory as right wing politics. - CaptainSurrey [[Image:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg|20px]]


 * Um ok you do know that Tony blair is more right wing than margeret thattcher and that apart from a few old guard like roy hatersley (if he’s still alive) and tony benn Labour is very much a Right wing authoritarian party and those things you describe such as attemtps to block comdenation of religion and your other examples authoritarianism are usually the right wing style (especially to do so then blame the left who aren’t even in power) the only real exeption being communist states. Quite simply it looks like you can’t defend your views and instead attack those who are in power despite them being overtly of the same political ideals as you claim to have, for example I learned about homosexuality at school under the thatcher governemnt bet then she was more left wing than Blair is.


 * I'm also wary about the professor who has had there tenure removed again you proved no links (something like that would be on the news) The whole point of tenure is that it gives someone accademic freedom to say what they want because under the terms of tenure they CANNOT BE REMOVED unless they have commited a crime and even then it has to be serious or against the university/college itself or they lied about there qualifications to get the job. Even if they did have a vote on wheter they should be removed it doesn’t meen jack squat because they couldn’t, by the way that’s a huge university to have 600 proffessors (oxford had about 150 in 2005) as they are the only ones who would/could vote on such an issue. Of course if you can provide evidence of what you say it would help a lot to show good faith.


 * Calling this Article POV is like calling an article about Cockney ryming slang POV. People do talk like this and people do talk in Cockney. --Goatan 11:50, 27 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, I know Tony Blair is more Right Wing than Thatcher was, at least in most public issues. But I never said otherwise. However, there does seem to be a new parallelism, with a staunchly rightwing regime introducing some leftwing policies.--CaptainSurrey 18:01, 28 July 2006 (UTC)


 * To block condemnation of Islam, is specifically leftwing. Consider the BNP. They are authoritarian, and economically, centrist, but they are condemning Islam. Labour, which is a economically extreme-right but socially moderate party, is condemning the BNP for their supposed "incitement to religious hatred". None of it makes sense. But if you compare Labour's actions with those of the college-state in Sweden, you can see that policies protecting Islam against race-hate and religion hatred are leftwing in nature.--CaptainSurrey 18:01, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

NPOV
I've added the NPOV warning header, as I feel that this article does not have a neutral point of view, but actually is written in favour of the left wing flank of politics. I have not changed anything else.

Just because a bunch of professors at a university, produce a left wing theory that Jafaican is a natural language and not a trend, doesn't mean that this article should jump on the socialist band wagon.--CaptainSurrey 19:48, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Well actually its a good indication. Unless you can provide a source to contradict it, the duty of the Wikipedians is to provide verifiable, sourced information, whether they agree with it or not. And a university study is a rather good source, whether or not you agree with its findings. -Tim-THobern 19:09, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
 * To say that university research is a good indication is disingenous at best. There have numerous "controversial" university research studies (to found easily after a simple 'Googling').--Panzer71 (talk) 12:15, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

Phonetics - Examples
Could someone in the know please add examples to the phonetics section? For instance, what word(s) exhibit the "fronting of /ʊ/ less advanced in London than in periphery" pattern? Thanks in advance. --Mattmm (talk) 13:07, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Structure of article
I recommend that the element that diretcly makes a leftwing proposition that Jafaican is a merging of other speech styles and languages, be moved to a section on research, and then the content at the very beggining should merely state the facts about the bizarre phenomenon. A left wing piece of biased research is NOT evidence or fact, but opinion.--CaptainSurrey 20:00, 25 July 2006 (UTC)


 * There is no NPOV in this article, it merely reflects what a study made by King's College says. If you want to dispute the neutrality of King's College, I'd suggest you give up straight away. You have no rationale, other than a conspiracy theory that they've jumped on the "socialist bandwagon", well that's deep. If you find another study stating it is fake, sure, but it in, put if it's just gonna be your opinion that all of the universities in England carry out flawed research, I recommend you to start elsewhere than this article to correct that problem... Mackan 01:24, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh no, I don't think it's fake; I'm quite sure it's genuine. It's just that I think that this genuine scum language is being used to show off, and not because the people using it, don't have any control over what they do.--CaptainSurrey 18:30, 28 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Bizzare phenomenon of languages merging? it happens all the time You do know that English is a combination of Languages Saxon-Latin-Greek  "The industrial and scientific revolutions created a need for neologisms to describe the new creations and discoveries. For this, English relied heavily on Latin and Greek. Words like oxygen, protein, nuclear, and vaccine did not exist in the classical languages, but they were created from Latin and Greek roots. Such neologisms were not exclusively created from classical roots though, English roots were used for such terms as horsepower, airplane, and typewriter"
 * Plus it has been heavily influenced by foreign languages
 *  "Also, the rise of the British Empire and the growth of global trade served not only to introduce English to the world, but to introduce words into English. Hindi, and the other languages of the Indian subcontinent, provided many words, such as pundit, shampoo, pajamas, and juggernaut. Virtually every language on Earth has contributed to the development of English, from Finnish (sauna) and Japanese (tycoon) to the vast contributions of French and Latin."
 * It is anything but a bizarre phenomenon. And here’s a http://www.anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm Link for more information--Goatan 12:12, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I disagree that a merger of dialects of dialects is a left wing theory. It is an occurrence that happens when different groups interact. Moreover you calling this dialect a "scum language" reeks of prescriptive grammar (e.g. telling other people your dialect of English/any other language is better than another dialect). The fact is English has many different dialects, especially in the UK where the language has had the most time to diverge in different directions. In Linguistics we use descriptive grammar and analysis. It describes the way a language or variety of a language works, and how it is different from other varieties.

Received Pronunciation has its own quirks that my dialect of English, Pacific Northwest English, spoken in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California in the USA, does not have, and which are divergent from older varieties of English too. According to Lodge (2009), Shockey (2003), and Roach (2009) RP realizes the interdental fricative /ð/ (the "th" in "this") as /nn/ whenever it occurs next to an "n". For example "pure RP" speakers would pronounce in this as "in nis" [ɪn̪ n̪ɪs]. If I did this in my dialect of English I would sound like I have a serious speech problem, and I probably would have been sent to speech therapy in grade school.

My dialect of English also does very strange things (from the perspective of English in its entirety that is). I pronounce the sound /æ/ (the "a" in cat) as [eɪ] when before a /g/ or /ŋ/ (the "ng" sound). Thus, I pronounce beg, and bag the same way. Sometimes I even shift the stress of my words to word-final position (e.g. I emphasize the "y" in "Totally" to "e"). I have been asked if I am a foreigner in other areas of my own country, because it is also something many immigrants, whose first language does not have the /æ/ sound do (e.g. Spanish). British people did not even know I was an American, and assumed I was an ESL person even though English is my first language because of it. I also have been told that I sound stupid/like a surfer when I shift the stress to word final position, so I do not do it except for when I am on the West Coast.

Basically every dialect does everything differently in most languages. The only exceptions are languages which are spoken in such a limited geographical area and by so few speakers that they can't vary very much dialectally (e.g. Icelandic). They still change through time, just not into different dialects (at least in the case of Icelandic). I think that the way you pronounce "in this" makes you sound like you have a speech impediment to be honest, and the way I pronounce "a" before "g" and "ng" makes me, and other Pacific Northwest English speakers sound like we learned English as a second language. The fact is there are different varieties of English, which may sound stupid to other speakers, but that is no reason to say one is better than another. I cannot see how this article is POV. And the fact that it has normal phonological rules suggests that it is a sociolect (a dialect spoken by a certain social group) and not just a trend. Brianc26 (talk) 07:14, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Please use the correct amount of colons to nest your reply properly, Goatan.--CaptainSurrey 18:30, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Fronting of u
Article directly contradicts itself, isn't it? I would really like some examples of this. As an estuary speaker, I don't know if I front u or not, can't understand what it means in reality. Itsmejudith (talk) 20:52, 11 November 2011 (UTC)


 * See front vowel. —Wiki Wikardo 15:00, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Rewrite?
Assuming there are no objections I'd like to start working on at least a partial rewrite here and try to bring the page up to the standard of some of the better linguistic articles on this site. A lot of the data here is unsourced or sourced to online articles and not completely encyclopedic. The article presumes a fair amount of familiarity, too - the opening section in particular is probably confusing to someone outside of London/the UK. TheGreenRock (talk) 19:57, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Great if it is treated as a linguistics article and not a coatrack for social prejudices as it was at one point. Itsmejudith (talk) 22:53, 13 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Be bold! No one’s going to object to good faith efforts to bring a page up to the standards of better articles in this encyclopædia.
 * And thanks! —Wiki Wikardo 20:10, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Black London accent
Yo I'm going to start a new page, because this page is wrong .No such thing as a "multicultural accent" .I live in london and I have only heard "black london accents" never a multicultural one. No matter how many studies and test you do there is definitely a black accent here especially in london. —Preceding unsigned comment added by London Black Man (talk) 11:45, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


 * We welcome your enthusiasm and help on the project! However, please be advised that is not how Wikipedia works. If you believe there to be incorrect information on this page, you can replace it with reliably sourced information; if you were to start a new article it would have to have references from linguists as well. Any potentially contentious deletions should probably be brought up on the talk page first. Also I would point out that while this lect does certainly have Afro-Caribbean origins, it is not exclusively used by black Londoners—just as you may find someone of, say, Filipino or Salvadorean descent who grew up in an African-American neighbourhood speaking AAVE, or vide Paul Wall. —Wiki Wikardo 15:00, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

black london accent? are you nuts? bare man talk like this and they aint black. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.183.123.74 (talk) 01:02, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

Quotation marks
Why is "every second" word in this "article" in quotation "marks" like "South" English, "less advanced in London" etc.? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.30.152.223 (talk) 21:16, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Requested move
I think we should proceed to make the change, to a term used in the scholarly (linguistics) literature. Itsmejudith (talk) 15:35, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I think I mentioned that earlier. Because this is actually a real dialect; it's not just white kids trying to "play cool".  I think "Multicultural London English" would be more appropriate.  Thegryseone (talk) 15:59, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Oppose the proposed move to Multicultural London English. I agree that more encyclopedic terms should be used but "Multicultural London English'...sounds more technical and therefore appropriate for an encyclopedia article" has no basis in Wikipedia policy. In most cases it is preferable to use the common name of something (per WP:UCN) and it is not appropriate for editors to create a name for a subject (per WP:OR). All of the external links cited in the article refer to Jafaican or Jafaikan though one mentions that "academics prefer 'multicultural English'." Please present evidence that "Multicultural London English" is more common, more preferred, or considered by others outside of Wikipedia to be more correct (WP:VERIFY) and I might change my position but, as it stands, the proposed target is vague (as a descriptive, it's fine but it doesn't serve to designate a particular dialect) and doesn't seem to be the most common name. —  AjaxSmack   00:39, 6 December 2008 (UTC)


 * You're a little late, buddy. Here's another example of the use of the term "Multicultural London English".  And another.  And another.  Thegryseone (talk) 01:16, 6 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the citations. They should have been in the original nomination.  As far as being too late, it's within your purview to boldly move an article at any time but the request was posted at the requested moves page and the normal procedure is to allow at least five days of discussion before proceeding with the move. —   AjaxSmack   01:25, 6 December 2008 (UTC)


 * My mistake. See the problem with this dialect is that it's so new, and there really isn't a lot of good information about it.  I mean, I know it exists, but I don't know how long it's going to last or if the adolescents who speak it now will continue to do so when they become adults. Thegryseone (talk) 02:16, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

M.I.A really doesn't talk with this accent though. Preceding comment was unsigned CapnZapp (talk) 15:17, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Suggested layout
''I have copied the text from the article and marked in bold sections which do not appear to be in the most suitable location. The first paragraph seems correct, however.''

Jafaican, also called Tikkiny, is a fairly recent dialect (and/or sociolect) of English spoken mainly in inner city London. According to research by London University's Queen Mary College, Jafaican is gaining territory from Cockney/Estuary English.

The word (also written Jafaikan) is a neologism which became prominent in 2006, coined as a portmanteau of the three words "Jamaican", "African" and possibly, "fake".


 * Paragraph describing etymology, should be moved to its own section

It is said to contain many elements from the languages of Jamaica, West Africa and the Indian subcontinent.


 * That element does not appear to be correct location

It was popularized by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as the gangster-wannabe Ali G.


 * That element seems as though it should be moved to a "trivia" section

Although the name "Jafaican" implies it's "fake" Jamaican, researchers indicate that it's not the language of white kids trying to "play cool" but rather that "[it is] more likely that young people have been growing up in London exposed to a mixture of second-language English and local London English and that this new variety has emerged from that mix.


 * That section is the non NPOV part, and for the time being should be moved to a "research" section

Preceding comment was unsigned CapnZapp (talk) 15:18, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Man like Mobeen
In the examples section at the bottom, Man Like Mobeen is said to showcase MLE, however, this show is set in or just outside Birmingham...
 * I'm not familiar with Man Like Mobeen but, as discussed in the article, MLE is spoken in Birmingham and other urban centres in England. It's not specific to London, despite the name.Madbrad200 (talk) 19:59, 14 April 2021 (UTC)