ABSTRACT

This chapter looks at how inter-ethnic contact has influenced styles of English variation and use. It begins with the large-scale picture and moves to individual practice, reflecting on how the two relate to one another and implications for contemporary critiques of sociolinguistic theory. The chapter compares the sociolinguistic dynamics of two Asian-dominant "micro-ecologies" within the metropolis. The first is Tower Hamlets, an Inner London borough in the east side of the city; the data taken from this borough come from a working-class, multi-ethnic neighbourhood. The second case is Ealing, an Outer London borough in the west side of the city; the data taken from this borough comes from a lower middle-class, mono-ethnic neighbourhood. The chapter focuses on versatile individual language use across settings, highlighting some of the limits of macro-sociolinguistic generalisations, but also – under closer scrutiny – their considerable explanatory power even at the level of the individual.