It is commonly believed that as children of immigrants mature, they tend to adopt the speech patterns of their locally-born friends rather than those of their parents. However, Dr Lavanya Sankaran, King’s College London and Professor Devyani Sharma Queen Mary, University of London discovered that this phenomenon is more intricate than commonly perceived. The evolution of language across different generations occurs gradually and entails a complexity that surpasses initial expectations.
Over the past six decades, the demographic landscape of the Southall community has witnessed a significant transformation as South Asians have transitioned from being a minority group to a majority, currently constituting over 60 percent of the local population. One can observe the emergence of evolving ethnic speech patterns that correspond to gradual changes within the community over a span of fifty years, reflecting shifts in British gender roles and class positions. Surprisingly, this does not imply that the youngest generation completely abandons ethnic linguistic forms. In fact, they exhibit strong and noticeable usage of such forms.
“Intergenerational transmission of exogenous and local dialect traits in immigrant communities can be of central importance to understanding the dynamics of dialect change over time. Characterised by their multilectal participation in distinct communities in contact, an intermediate generation is often responsible for the incremental stages of language acquisition and dialect change”, Dr Lavanya told Asian Voice.
“In Southall, for instance, Punjabis from the older second generation closely resemble the first-generation’s non-native use of t-retroflexion. However, they simultaneously control nativelike t-glottaling, reflecting a robust bidialectal ability. It is the younger second generation who exhibit focused reallocation in the form and function of t-retroflexion. This 20-year lag corresponds to major changes in demographics and race relations in the community over 5 decades”, she further added.