Key Terms - Language Ethnicity

Creole

A variety that has developed from a ‘pidgin’ or trade language to become a stable language used by speakers as their mother tongue.

Patois

Patois is in fact a non-standard, or regionally restricted variation of a language that has developed within a single linguistic group.  

Resistance Identity

An identity that goes against mainstream culture.

Super-standard forms

Language use that deliberately intensifies the standard forms of mainstream culture.

Nationality

The status of belonging to a particular nation.

Ethnicity

The quality or fact of belonging to a population group or subgroup made up of people who share a common cultural background or descent.

Pidgin Language

 A grammatically broken/simplified language that develops as a form of communication between multiple groups of people who do not have a language in common.

British Black English

A wide-ranging label, but often referring to a variety used by some speakers within the Caribbean community in the UK

Multicultural Urban British English

A label that refers to the way in which Multicultural London English has spread to other large conurbations in the UK

Code mixing

The inclusion of words and phrases from one language in another

Code switching

Switching between different languages in a sustained way

Linguistic appropriacy

The way in which language choices reflect ideas about what is appropriate for any given context