Emily Ashton: Learn Jafaikan in two minutes (original) (raw)

Safe, man. You lookin buff in dem low batties. Dey's sick, man. Me? I'm just jammin wid me bruds. Dis my yard, innit? Is nang, you get me? No? What ends you from then? If this language sounds familiar, the chances are you're from inner-city London, where a new multicultural dialect is emerging. But wherever you live, it's coming to you soon. The "cor blimey, guvnor"s of those born within the sound of Bow bells are fading into oblivion as a new Jamaican-inspired language takes hold. In a not too distant future, the familiar EastEnders twang of the market seller ("Cam and git your tasty apples!") will be replaced by an Ali G-style patter ("Dem apples is sick, innit?").

Language expert Sue Fox, from London University's Queen Mary College, is in the middle of a three-year study of the city's speech patterns. Together with researchers from Lancaster University, she has been chatting with teenagers at colleges across London and recorded their conversations to analyse the distinctive new dialect.

"The traditional cockney accent is being replaced by a mixture of ethnic influences," she says. "Young people are increasingly exposed to accents from West Africa, Bangladesh, India and South America, and this is leading to different vowel sounds."

The resulting accent is not dissimilar to Jamaican patois; words are more clipped, as opposed to the cockney tendency to "eee-long-ayte" vowels. Although the study is initially focused on London, it is thought that the speech pattern is spreading northwards to reach young people in areas such as Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol.

One schoolteacher has used the term "Jafaikan" to describe the new language, but the researchers insist on more technical terminology: "multicultural London English".

"It can be quite hard for teachers to understand what pupils are saying sometimes," Fox adds. But worry not, parents and teachers, because G2 can provide you with this handy Jafaikan glossary.

Creps Trainers; thought to originate from Jamaican parlance. "Gimme dem creps, man."

Yard Home (from "back yard"). "Out tonight?" "Nah, man, I'm chillin' in my yard."

Blad/bredren/bruv Mate; "blad" is thought to relate to "blood" brother. "What you sayin', blad?"

Yute Kid, kids; from "youth". "Those yutes be runnin' round."

Safe/easy Greeting. "Oh, there he is ... safe, man!"

Ends Neighbourhood, area. "What ends you from?"

Sket Loose woman; short for Caribbean sketel, meaning "slut". "Dat gal is a proper sket."

Low batties Trousers that hang low on the waist; slang for man's buttocks. "Check out dem low batties!"

Nang Good, cool; originally from Australian slang. "Last night was so nang!"

Sick Good. "Dat new skateboard is sick, man."

Deep Rude, horrible. "That was deep."

Allow it/him Leave it/him alone, forget it. "Wanna walk to the shop?" "Nah, allow it, bruv, dat's a trek, innit?"

Nuff Really, very; from "enough". "He was nuff rude."

Buff Attractive; used to describe a man or woman. "Hey, you seen my new man? He's well buff, innit?"

Begging Talking nonsense. "You just beggin' now."

Jamming Hanging around; thought to originate from musical term. "What you up to, blad?" "Just jammin'."

Hype (n) Excitement; (adj) exciting; (v) to get excited. "That's some hype bike you have"; "He got drunk and was runnin' round on a hype."

Chat Talk back, contradict. "Don't chat to me!"

Bare Very, a lot. "I'm bare hungry"; "There were bare people"