By Charlie Bayliss | 29 September 2016
EXPRESS — Linguists are predicting the “th” sound will be obliterated from the capital by 2066 due to the high number of foreigners who cannot pronounce interdental consonants – the name of the sound made by pushing the tongue against the upper teeth.
Multicultural London English – a mixture of Caribbean, West African and Asian accents – is already wiping out indigenous cockney and South East accents.
Researchers at the University of York claim immigration will completely change the British language.
Dr Dominic Watt, from the University of York, said: “Given the status of London as the linguistically most influential city in the English speaking world, we can expect to see significant changes between now and the middle of the century.
“The major changes in the way we speak over the next 50 years will involve a simplification of the sound structure of words. They will probably become shorter.
“By looking at how English has changed over the last 50 years we can identify patterns that seem to repeat. British accents seem to be less based on class these days.
Experts say the “th” sound will be replaced with “d”, “f” or “v” sound, meaning “throw” will sound like “frow” and “mother” will become “muvva”.
Yet the “h” sound which became silent in cockney dialect is expected to make a comeback, meaning words like “ere” will change back to “here”, according to the Times. […]
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