Prof Cheshire gives annual lecture at Westminster Forum for Languages and Linguistics

The Forum encompasses the language and linguistic work that goes on in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Westminster. It aims to bring together people working on language and linguistics to exchange ideas and approaches within the faculty, across the university and out to a community of staff, students and the general public.

In this lecture, Professor Jenny Cheshire will present examples of young people’s vernacular language in London and Paris and suggest explanations for the different outcomes of language contact in the two cities. The explanations include: language policies in the former colonies, educational policies on the integration of newly arrived immigrant children in school, the relationship between social class and space in the city, the relative salience of ethnicity among young people and the portrayal of minority speakers on YouTube and other media.

For more information, please see the event webpage.