The acquisition of Multicultural London English: child and adolescent diphthong variation in West London
The acquisition of Multicultural London English: child and adolescent diphthong variation in West London
This study investigated Multicultural London English (MLE) diphthongs as produced by children and adolescents in the London borough of Ealing, UK. We conducted an acoustic analysis of the diphthongs face, price and goat in the speech of 24 young people aged 16–24 years and, 14 children aged 5–7 years. The results revealed different production patterns between the children and adolescents for some but not all the diphthong variables. We found that the children’s and adolescents’ diphthongs were similar in the quality of the onset, and similar to the MLE system described in East London, in the London borough of Hackney. However, the children had not acquired monophthongization of the diphthongs, with adolescents producing significantly more monophthongal tokens of price, goat and, to a lesser extent, face. These findings have implications both for the study of multiethnolects and MLE, and for research on children’s acquisition of sociophonetic variation.
Child acquisition, Diphthongs, Multicultural London English, Multiethnolect, Sociophonetics
Oxbury, Rosamund
6705a5cb-57ea-4f9a-a374-ad172f5539aa
Hunt, Matthew
bbe04f7d-80d0-4e89-ab04-56c4f8bab134
McCarthy, Kathleen M.
0ba80501-202a-4386-b3b4-2bf62810a931
1 March 2025
Oxbury, Rosamund
6705a5cb-57ea-4f9a-a374-ad172f5539aa
Hunt, Matthew
bbe04f7d-80d0-4e89-ab04-56c4f8bab134
McCarthy, Kathleen M.
0ba80501-202a-4386-b3b4-2bf62810a931
Oxbury, Rosamund, Hunt, Matthew and McCarthy, Kathleen M.
(2025)
The acquisition of Multicultural London English: child and adolescent diphthong variation in West London.
Journal of Phonetics, 109, [101388].
(doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2024.101388).
Abstract
This study investigated Multicultural London English (MLE) diphthongs as produced by children and adolescents in the London borough of Ealing, UK. We conducted an acoustic analysis of the diphthongs face, price and goat in the speech of 24 young people aged 16–24 years and, 14 children aged 5–7 years. The results revealed different production patterns between the children and adolescents for some but not all the diphthong variables. We found that the children’s and adolescents’ diphthongs were similar in the quality of the onset, and similar to the MLE system described in East London, in the London borough of Hackney. However, the children had not acquired monophthongization of the diphthongs, with adolescents producing significantly more monophthongal tokens of price, goat and, to a lesser extent, face. These findings have implications both for the study of multiethnolects and MLE, and for research on children’s acquisition of sociophonetic variation.
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PHONETICS-D-23-00062R3_13122024 Accepted
- Accepted Manuscript
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1-s2.0-S0095447024000949-main
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Accepted/In Press date: 23 December 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 March 2025
Published date: 1 March 2025
Keywords:
Child acquisition, Diphthongs, Multicultural London English, Multiethnolect, Sociophonetics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 499332
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499332
ISSN: 0095-4470
PURE UUID: cb86248c-f0c7-492f-ab5c-508b52d70206
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Date deposited: 17 Mar 2025 17:37
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:37
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Contributors
Author:
Rosamund Oxbury
Author:
Matthew Hunt
Author:
Kathleen M. McCarthy
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