This study uses variationist methods in an L2 context to investigate ING variation in the English speech of UK-based Polish migrants. The results suggest that such variation is as consistent in an L2 context as it is in an L1 context, with several of the expected L1 factors emerging as statistically significant constraints. However, two social factors emerge as particularly worthy of further discussion: the reversal of the typical gender pattern (in this case women are more likely to use the alveolar variant than men), and the question of whether the speaker intends to return to Poland in the future. Gender is discussed from the perspective of contexts of language use (occupation), and future plans is discussed in terms of its role in the construction of identity. There is a strong indication that the intention to return to Poland encourages the use of an ING variant, [ɪŋk], that signals this allegiance to the L1 identity.I would like to thank Maciej Baranowski for his valuable advice on earlier versions of this text. I would also like to thank the three anonymous reviewers who each offered very useful comments. focus has generally been on its variable realization as [ɪn] and [ɪŋ] in unstressed syllables in multisyllabic words.Labov (2001:86) claimed ING to be 'the first sociolinguistic variable to be studied quantitatively, [having] the widest range and most uniform pattern of all variables in English'. Central to this uniformity is the constraint of grammatical category, which has been shown to remain consistent across studies. The underlying nature of this constraint is described as some kind of nominal-verbal continuum (e.g. Abramowicz, 2007;Houston, 1985;Labov, 2001) with the more verbal structures showing a greater occurrence of [ɪn], and the more nominal structures favoring [ɪŋ]. Labov (2001) made the point that it is difficult to determine the level of detail along the continuum, due to the large number of possible syntactic categories, some with very low frequency. This is compounded by the difficulty in first determining the boundaries of these categories. While some categories sit neatly at the two ends of the continuum, for example, progressive verbs such as he is running and simple nouns such as ceiling, others, such as the status of so-called gerunds, are more problematic. This has led to a variety of solutions and categorizations, with different studies opting for more or less detailed categories. 2 However, few would argue that their own system of categorization is perfect, instead perhaps accepting that the precise details are not the most important factor, rather it is the observation that 'there are two distinct groups: a verbal and a nominal use of /ing/, which cluster at radically different levels' (Labov, 2001:88).While grammatical category is seen as one of the most consistent constraints at work on the ING variable, other constraints are equally well-researched, often with consistent results. From a linguistic point of view, three important constraints are those of priming (the idea that...

This paper explores the linguistic and social factors behind the acquisition of glottal variation in English /t/ by native Polish speakers living in Manchester, UK. It investigates the speech of 40 Polish adults of varying levels of English language proficiency, who have been in Manchester for varying lengths of time, in order to establish what might be encouraging or prohibiting the acquisition of this widespread linguistic feature. Using quantitative sociolinguistic methods, factors such as level of English, length of residence, age, gender, motivation and attitude are considered in accounting for the variation in acquisition. Findings suggest that in addition to level of English and length of residence effects there is a fairly robust gender difference, with women tending to use glottal variants more frequently than men. This gender difference is explored in more detail with reference to a gender as practice type approach.

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The language of young people is often viewed very negatively by some sections of the mainstream media and by some social commentators in the UK. While this is nothing newolder generations routinely despair of how the youth of today are ruining the languagewhat is different now is the added element of ethnicity, whereby young people of various ethnicities are perceived as using some kind of 'ghetto grammar' or 'Jafaican' which carry often explicit connotations of 'sounding black'. This paper challenges the mainstream view by firstly introducing the linguistic take on this emerging Multicultural Urban British English, and then exploring the views of young people themselves on how they use language by taking qualitative data from a linguistic ethnography project involving 14-16 year olds in a non-mainstream urban educational setting. The young people provide insights into their language that are in complete opposition to the views so often expressed in the media, and which instead suggest that linguistic features that were previously strongly associated with specific ethnicities are being used in new and innovative ways. Refreshingly, it would appear that for many young people ethnicity is simply not a consideration, at least in relation to language.

This article examines how voiceless TH-stopping (e.g. ting for thing) is used by a group of adolescents in Manchester, UK. The data come from an ethnographic project into the speech of fourteen to sixteen year olds who have been excluded from mainstream education. Although TH-stopping is often strongly associated with black varieties of English, multiple regression analysis finds ethnicity not to be a statistically significant factor in its production. Instead, conversational context and involvement in aspects of particular social practices-grime (rap) and dancehall music-emerge as potentially more relevant. Subsequent interactional analysis adds support to this interpretation, illustrating how the feature is being used more or less strategically (and more or less successfully) by individuals in this context in order to adopt particular stances, thereby enacting particular identities that are only tangentially related to ethnicity. I argue that use of TH-stopping in this context indexes a particular street identity that is made more available through participation in grime especially. (TH-stopping, youth language, identity, ethnography, grime, hip hop)* I N T R O D U C T I O NAdolescence is a life-stage like no other in terms of the 'unequalled efflorescence of symbolic activity in all spheres' (Eckert 2000:5), not least the sphere of linguistic variation. Researching the language of young people allows us to witness the negotiation, construction, and performance of emerging identities at a point at which many of the mechanisms behind these processes are being tested for the first time. Often, such research is carried out in mainstream high schools (e.g. Eckert 2000; Moore 2003;Mendoza-Denton 2008;Lawson 2009;Bucholtz 2011;Kirkham 2013), tracking and comparing the linguistic and social behaviour of different groups of students. In contrast, this article reports on a project that focuses on a particular group of young people from the outset-those who have been excluded from mainstream education for behavioural/disciplinary issues or because they find it difficult to adapt to the requirements of a mainstream school environment. The research took place in two learning centres in Manchester, UK, each catering for