London

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Language

The English language is the country’s greatest contribution to the modern world. It is an astonishingly rich language containing an estimated 600,000 uninflected words (compared with, for example, Indonesian’s or Malay’s 60,000). It’s actually a magpie tongue – just as England plundered treasure for its museums, so too the English language dipped into the world’s vocabulary, even when it already had several words of the same meaning. Dr Johnson, compiler of the first English dictionary, tried to have the language protected from foreign imports (possibly to reduce his own workload) but failed. As far as English goes, all foreigners are welcome.

English-speakers are spoilt for choice when they go looking for descriptive words such as nouns and adjectives, as you’ll discover pretty quickly (fast, swiftly, speedily, rapidly, promptly) by looking in a thesaurus. Some 50 years ago linguists came up with Basic English, a stripped down version with a vocabulary of 850 words, which was all one needed to say just about anything. But where’s the fun in that? Shakespeare himself is said to have contributed more than 2000 words, along with hundreds of common idioms such as poisoned chalice, one fell swoop, cold comfort and cruel to be kind.

Be grateful if English is your mother tongue because it’s a bitch to learn, and has possibly the most illogical and eccentric approach to spelling and pronunciation of any language. Take the different pronunciation of rough, cough, through, though and bough. Attempts to rationalise English spelling are passionately resisted by people who see themselves as the guardians of proper English and rail against the American decision to drop the ‘u’ from words such as colour and glamour.

In terms of accent, Standard English or Received Pronunciation (RP) centres on London and, traditionally, was perceived to be that spoken by the upper classes and those educated at public schools. It is by no means the easiest form to understand; in fact, sometimes it’s near impossible (‘oh, eye nare’ apparently means ‘yes, I know’). Those ‘what talk posh’ despair at the perceived butchering of their language by most ordinary Londoners, who speak what’s come to be known as ‘Estuary English’, so called because it’s a sort of subcockney that spread along the estuary in postwar London. And so a common language divides the city. Even the Queen, claim Australian linguistic researchers, has allowed elements of Estuary pronunciation to sully her clipped RP.

The BBC is considered the arbitrator on the issue, and by comparing the contrived – and frankly hilarious – tone of old newsreels from WWII with today’s bulletins, it’s obvious that Standard English has gone from posh to a more neutral middle register.

Some say that Estuary English – which can now be heard within a 100-mile radius of the capital –­is quickly becoming the standard. Its chief features, according to Stephen Burgen in Lonely Planet’s British phrasebook, are: rising inflection; constant use of ‘innit’; a glottal ‘T’, rendering the double ‘T’ in butter almost silent and making ‘alright’ sound like ‘orwhy’; and, in general, a slack-jawed, floppy-tongued way of speaking that knocks the corners off consonants and lets the vowels whine to themselves.

But like just about everything in London, the language is constantly changing, absorbing new influences, producing new slang and altering the meaning of words. The city’s ethnic communities are only beginning to have an influence and many young Londoners these days are mimicking Caribbean expressions and what they perceive to be hip-hop speak from black urban America.

As England has absorbed wave after wave of immigrants, so too will the insatiable English language continue to take in all comers. Meanwhile, as class distinctions exist, the linguistic battle for London will rage on.

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Courses

London is a centre of learning, and boasts countless colleges, universities and other educational institutions. The jewel in its crown is the University of London, whose world-renowned colleges include King’s, University and Imperial Colleges as well as the London School of Economics.

Many people come to London to study English as a foreign language – walk down Oxford St and you’re likely to be handed a flyer on the subject. The British Council (7930 8466; www.britishcouncil.org; 10 Spring Gardens SW1; Charing Cross) publishes a free list of accredited colleges whose facilities and teaching reach the required standards. It can also advise foreign students on educational opportunities in the UK.

Thousands of London courses, from needlework to Nietzsche, photography to politics, are listed in the annual Floodlight (www.floodlight.co.uk) and the quarterly Hotcourses (www.hotcourses.com), both available from larger newsagents and bookshops. For more vocational courses, try the free Learndirect (0800 100 900; www.learndirect-advice.co.uk).

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