Cycles of language change in London

The study in a sentence

This case study uses the Generations of London English website, to explore the cyclical nature of accent and dialect change in London over the centuries.

The conclusion is that patterns of language change in London have always involved periods of relative stability followed by periods of notable change.
The emergence and embedding of Multicultural London English represents just the latest period of rapid change in the dialects of the UK's capital city.
London dialects we now view as 'traditional', like Cockney, were once 'new', and themselves developed in the same way in previous centuries.

The question

The question at the heart of this case study is: how does language change?

We explore this by examining the stages of language change:

a given set of linguistic features are initially adopted by a group
before becoming specifically associated with that group.

By mapping the development of different dialects in London over centuries, the Generations of London English website resources allow us to trace how a range of different ways of speaking have become a marker of 'being from London'.

Key concepts

Language change is typically cyclical. This means that it moves through a cycle from ‘actuation’ (something triggers change) to completion.
Language change can be either above or below the level of consciousness, but usually a change passes unnoticed at first.
- In combination these two concepts mean that the present is the next past, and present day language may not be as exotic as it appears!

How has language changed in London over centuries?

How can looking at change over a long period of time help us understand current varieties of London English?

Methods

The approach here is to see what we learn about present day language patterns (synchronic variation), by looking at language in the past (diachronic variation).

Generations of London English looks at language in London in three ways:

over the centuries - with a century-by-century timeline (12th to 19th)
over generations - zooming in to key changes in the 20th century
across London today - a resource bank of audio clips from across the city
- More resources will be added to the Generations of London English website as project results are published.

The answer

Sociolinguistic theory argues that a range of social structures form the context for different stages of the language change cycle, and for the different levels of awareness at each stage. Different social structures may interact: