From ‘Multi-ethnic adolescent heteroglossia’ to ‘Contemporary urban vernaculars’

Research on crossing and stylisation among young people in multi-ethnic urban areas of Britain during the 1980s and 1990s pointed to the emergence of new ethnicities with social class underpinnings, and these mixed language practices have now been a feature of the urban landscape for at least 30 years. But how far are they confined to youth? Are they really only transient age-specific phenomena, as terms like ‘youth language’ imply? Focusing on post-adolescent and middle-aged informants during 2008 and 2009, this paper points to their enduring significance, considers their place in individual repertoires, and attempts to settle some of the terminological dispute, using Agha’s theory of ‘register’ to reposition the notion of ‘vernacular’.