It's week two of our Fun Facts about Languages series, and today we're back with five titbits of information about an emerging dialect of the English language in the UK - Jafaican. Give it a read and let us know what you think by tweeting us @BloomsburyLing.
1) Jafaican (from a blend of ‘Jamaican’ and ‘fake’) is a term used to describe an emerging dialect of English which combines Cockney, Jamaican, and other Caribbean, West African and Indian varieties of English. Linguists, however, prefer the term ‘Multicultural London English’, or ‘MLE’.
2) Made famous by figures such as Ali G, who used his own comic variant, experts believe that Jafaican will have replaced more traditional dialects such as Cockney by 2030. Variants are also spreading outside of London, to such exotic places as Milton Keynes, Reading and Ashford.
^ Cockney is being replaced by Jafaican ^
3)The increasing use of Jafaican by kids (and some adults) from pretty much all ethnic and social backgrounds is commonly blamed on a cultural infatuation with ‘the ghetto’. Researchers at Lancaster University believe it is actually a natural result of young people growing up in close proximity to a greater variety of Englishes, and not due to simple imitation.
4) There has been a strong backlash in some quarters against this spread of Jafaican. Some people see it as an undignified distortion of English. However, linguistics have long recognised that languages are always in a state of flux and that ‘standard’ English is just another dialect. Jafaican, linguistically, is just as good and grammatical as 'standard' English, so we should all ‘allow it’.
5) At first, some Jafaican phrases can seem baffling and impenetrable. To help out, here are some Jafaican terms commonly heard around London:
• Allow it/him: Leave it/him alone, don’t worry. “Wot you sayin’?” “Nah, it’s bare funny, allow it!”
• Bare: Very, a lot. "Dat was bare jokes", “Dat exam was bare hard.”
Remember: it's bare, not bear...
• Blad/blud/blood: Friend; a Jamaican term coming from the meaning of brother. ''Wat u sayin blad?''; ''Blaaaad this boy gettin me vex!''
• Chat: Talk. “Don’t chat to me.”, “What you chattin bout?”
• Creps: Trainers. ‘Dem creps are sick.’
Creps are trainers Crepes are French pancakes
• Safe/easy: Greeting or to indicate that something is good. ‘Yea, he’s safe bruv.’
• Sick: Good. "Dat Nando’s was sick, man."
• Yard: Home or area you live, probably deriving from ‘back yard’. ''Do you want to go out tonight?'' ''Nah im relaxin at my yard.''
Yard, sweet yard...
Make sure to come back next Thursday for five fun facts about Spanish!
Andrew Wardell
Editorial Assistant | Linguistics
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