Ashfaq Aslam

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Who uses innit, in what contexts and how it developed in English? Why do you think it is so popular?
This essay examines what seems to be a modern novelty, especially, in the London vernacular-the invariant tag of innit. In this presentation, I look to query into the development of its usage in the English language, in which socioeconomic group it is commonly used, in which contexts is it utilized and investigating the reasons why its popularity has grown in recent history of the language?

A distinction is drawn, in linguistics, between canonical and invariant use of tag questions. The term canonical refers to tags which follow the ordinary rules of grammar to from tag questions [1]. Invariant tags [2] are those which are, historically, derived from canonical tags, however, they do not conform to ordinary grammatical rules for formation of tag questions. Thus, in standard English both [1] and [2] would require canonical tag questions.

[1] he is rich, isnt she? [2] he is rich, innit?

Development of innit in English

The development of canonical questions into invariant tag questions has been previously found in the Englishes of Papua New Guinea, Singapore, South Africa etc. This has resulted in the hypothesis that the use of innit, as found in London, is a result of language crossing in a diverse urban London (Rampton 1995). It is a usual assumption that the invariant tag innit is a simple contraction from isnt it. Although, Cheshire (1982) argues that, in fact, it is a further reduction of the tag aint it, which may correspond to either isnt it or hasnt it. His theory can be illustrated as follow: Isnt it Aint it Hasnt it int it innit

Users of innit

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Invariant tag questions have been as characteristic feature of many varieties of English, especially of English creoles. This may not be a surprising fact as grammatical simplifications are a known attribute of creoles. Trudgill and Hannah (1982), for instance, also note that is it is used invariantly as a tag in West African English.

When the use of invariant tag was analysed in London, researchers found that invariant tags (not specifically innit) occur in all socioeconomic groups and in all school boroughs involved (including a Hertfordshire public school), though not to the same extent. It is interesting to note that there were two main parameters which seemed to have a considerable influence on the distribution of invariant tags, namely, the parameter of social class and the parameter of location.

Figure 1 shows how invariant innit is distributed across the various social groups that the corpus consists of:

The social group index is based on information given by the COLT recruits regarding area of residence and mothers and fathers occupation. Social group 1 has the highest status and 5 the lowest.

Figure 1 clearly illustrated the correlation between the use of innit and the respective social class. The disparity of its usage between the lower social groups and the higher social groups was as expected, as it is a non-standard feature of the language. Further conclusions can be drawn between socioeconomic class and standards of education. Is there a two tier educational system which exists in UK? If yes, what is the level of disparity between the two tiers? Do these results show that there are insufficient resources or ill equipped institutes for edification of individuals of lower socioeconomic groups, which in turn, impedes those individuals from economic advancement? Or is the romanticizing of

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street/gang culture in the media which leads such individual to adapt more kool linguistic usages than standard linguistic usages in the speech?

Similarly, the distribution of innit across the main School Boroughs included in the corpus shows that invariant tags are more common in certain areas than in others (see figure 2). These results provide further evidence on the users of innit. We find that the working class borough of hackney, with an average of 1.55 instances of innit per thousand words. Compared with the county of Hertfordshire, who were educated in a public school, has an average of no more than 0.08 instances per thousand words.

From these figures one could draw the conclusion that the usage of innit is predominantly a feature of working class speech. However, it is important to note that it not exclusive to working class speech; rather the frequency of its usage is greater in working class speech than of middle or upper class. As a result, in society, judgments are made on an individuals social class, education, and place of residence by evaluating his/hers speech. This is not, however, a modern phenomena. Societies have used linguistic style and linguistic competence to make judgments on individuals, for whatever reason, throughout history. And as before, standard grammatical usage of language is, and always will be, regarded favourably by the masses than that of non standard usage.

Uses of innit

The pragmatic function of the invariant tag seems to be the same as that of tag questions in general; it may be used to ask for confirmation of a claim or more generally to draw the hearer into the discourse and encourage an expression of agreement from him (Stenstrm 1994). However, innit is generally produced with a falling intonation, which seems to suggest that it is less efficient or less forceful as a request for information than ordinary tag questions (Berland 1997).

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The non standard nature of the invariant tag, naturally, restricts its use in formal settings, such as interviews, public addresses, and so forth. Hence, its use would be commonly found in informal setting. Its use, also, would be more popular among the younger generation. However, as the new generation enters into adulthood they carry with them, in their speech, its usage. This is especially true of those who do not work in a professional environment where standard usage of speech is expected.

Reasons for its popularity

The use of innit was, mainly, popularised by the asian community and the Jamaican community in London (Cristal). It has, also, been attributed to the chav sub culture. Due to their lack of education and their non-chalant attitude towards learning Standard English they lean towards non standard usages. The growth of these communities in UK has lead the spread of their respective diaclectical features beyond their community.

In addition, comedians also made use of innit to good comedic effect. Most famously, Ali G, Goodness Gracious Me and the Kumars at Number 42 adopted it in their speech. In fact, it was the name of a film in 1999, 'Ali G, Innit'. As these shows became popular innit also was popularised. In and around London it might be used in normal speech, however, in other parts of UK its use became a form of banter. This could, potentially, lead to other regions coming to terms with its use, even though in jest, and may well espouse its use in their day to day speech.

Conclusion

The invariant tag innit is found mostly in the London vernacular. This tag is, especially, popular among the younger generation and those that of lower social class. We have also seen higher frequency of its use in certain areas than in others. The reasons might be due to the residence of a high number of working class families of poor educational background in those areas.. The non standard nature of the invariant tag connotes informality of its usage. Consequently, its use is found largely among the youth and members of working class background as they are seldom placed in formal settings. Its rise to fame has been helped by popular comedians who used innit as a comedic tool. Finally, he growth minority cultures in London spread some of the dialectical features which are particular to them to other cultures and regions.

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Bibliography Berland, U. 1997. Invariant tags: Pragmatic functions of innit, okay, right and yeah in London teenage conversation. Unpublished MA thesis. University of Bergen. Cheshire, J. 1982 Variation in an English dialect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DavidnCrystalninnit.[online]nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/speci

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Rampton, B. 1995. Crossing: Language and ethnicity among adolescents. London: Longman. Stenstrm, A-B. 1994. An introduction to spoken interaction. London: Longman Trudgill, P. & J. Hannah. 1982. International English. London: Edward Arnold. Figure 1 and 2: Gisle Andersen., 93th-5th April 1997) I goes you hang it up in your shower, innit? He goes yeah. The use and development of invariant tags and follow-ups in London teenage speech.<http://nora.hd.uib.no/~gisle/pdf/READING.pdf>[accessed:1 December

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