The River of Constant Change!

[Mr T.]

Already-so-soon-my-life! A farewell to Scouse, Geordie, Brummie and the chirpy Cockney??! Da times, dey is a changin' - innit! 'Tha' noz'


Globalisation 'creating dialects that replace regional accents'
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 01/04/2004)


Regional accents are being replaced by new dialects created through globalisation, say linguistic experts.

Greater social mobility is significantly reducing the vernacular from places such as Yorkshire and the North-East.

At the same time immigrants to Europe, America and Australia are creating new dialects by mixing their native tongue with the new languages they speak.

The trend, resulting in varieties of English with Caribbean or Asian influence, will be discussed at an international conference at Newcastle upon Tyne University today.

Examples of cross-fertilised language include black English terms such as irie (nice, good, or pleasing) and "big something up" (recommend or praise something). Other West Indian terms in the Oxford Dictionary of English include facety (rude, arrogant, or excessively bold) and bad-minded (malicious, unsympathetic, or cynical).

Asian English terms include gora (a white person), and chuddies (underpants).

Four hundred of the world's leading linguists will attend the four-day conference arranged by the universities of Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Durham, and Newcastle Gateshead Convention Bureau.

Dr Karen Corrigan, a linguist at Newcastle University, who is one of the organisers, said: "Language has always developed over time, but at the moment it is changing much faster than it ever has done as a result of increased opportunities for social and geographical mobility."

Dr Mark Garner, a linguist at Northumbria University, and Dr Charley Rowe, of the University of Newcastle, co-organisers of the event, said new communities quickly developed their own version of their host country's mother tongue, which was reinforced when conversing with their peers.

Dr Garner said: "This type of dialect is unlikely to stay the same through the generations. Offspring start to move in new spheres of society and may move out of the area in which they grew up, leading to a further multiplication of dialects as they mix with new people from all over the country and the world."

Judy Pearsall, publishing manager of English Dictionaries at Oxford University Press, said its research suggested that global media, particularly television, played a large part in popularising particular dialect vocabulary or forms of expression.

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So 'big up' you regional accent and dialect wallahs! No doubt the Jockanese, if they've anything about them, will steadfastly refuse to lose their unique patter!?

In a statement from Buckingham Palace, a spokesman for the Queen was reported as saying: "It'll be reet. Na bruvvas gonna diss mi bitching fine lines and keep his tweeds. We'll go large against any massive wot finks they're ard enough, innit!"

Whilst the assembled press pack agreed that the statement was indeed sincerely rendered, they were at a collective loss as to what the f*ck it meant.

[Moray]

*ROFL* Bren...

do you remember the esperanto phase?