Multicultural Toronto English is the multi-ethnic dialect of Canadian English used in the Greater Toronto Area, particularly among young non-white working-class speakers.[1][2][3] First documented in linguistic research in the late 2010s and early 2020s,[4][1] the dialect is popularly recognized by its phonology and lexicon, commonly known as the Toronto accent and Toronto slang, respectively. It is a byproduct of the city's multiculturalism, generally associated with Millennial and Gen Z populations in ethnically diverse districts of Toronto.[5] It is spoken specifically within the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton, Barrie, and Ottawa.[6]
History
The origin of Toronto's slang and accent can be traced back to widespread migration from the Caribbean, East Africa, and the Middle East to Canada from the 1960s to the 1990s. During this period, a significant influx of immigrants from countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Ethiopia predominantly settled in Toronto and other parts of the Greater Toronto Area.[7][8][9] With many of these immigrants fleeing war, conflict, and poor economic conditions, they were left with limited financial resources and, as a result, found homes in Toronto's lower-income communities.[10][11][12] These neighbourhoods rapidly transformed into vibrant melting pots, filled with a diverse array of cultures and ethnic backgrounds.[13][14] This cultural amalgamation played a crucial role in developing MTE, which is rooted in Toronto's multiculturalism and draws heavy influence from Caribbean, East African, and Middle Eastern languages.[15] Towards the end of the 90s, native Toronto rapper Kardinal Offishall released his Billboard-charting single BaKardi Slang showcasing a variety of the cities slang throughout the lyrics and signaling the dialect was already significantly developed by this time.
The second-generation descendants of these immigrants significantly contributed to embedding Toronto's distinctive slang and accent into the city's culture.[16] Faced with limited economic opportunities within their communities, these children of the initial immigrant influx turned to creative outlets like rap music, fashion, and athletics for both expression and livelihood.[17] Their influence as in these areas helped shape the city's popular culture, especially among the youth in the Greater Toronto Area.[18] Consequently, their unique manner of speaking, shaped by the aforementioned multiculturalism of their communities, gained widespread adoption throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, given their status as local tastemakers.[19] 2006 marked the first mention of Toronto's slang or accent in any formal or academic research.[20] The rise of blogging in during this time period played a pivotal role in documenting the use and development of MTE. One notable example is Jane-Finch.com, a community-driven archive dedicated to the Jane and Finch area that captured key examples of MTE's use throughout the decade.[21] Furthermore, documentaries produced by local broadcasters such as CityTV and CBC served to spotlight the dialect's presence in the city.[22][23] This linguistic evolution during this period not only reflected Toronto's multicultural heritage but also served as a unifying cultural element for the city.
The late 2000s and much of the 2010s marked a pivotal era of growth for MTE, significantly driven by the third-generation descendants of the original immigration wave. The brewing Toronto music scene, deeply rooted in the artistic expressions of Toronto’s lower-income and culturally diverse working-class communities, began receiving nationwide attention.[24][25] The emergence of YouTube and streaming services revolutionized the music industry by dramatically reducing the barriers to music distribution, thus enabling local artists to reach vast audiences beyond the traditional mediums of CDs and mixtapes.[26] Neighborhoods such as Regent Park, Jane and Finch, Lawrence Heights, Chester Lee, Alexandra Park, and Rexdale became hotbeds of cultural growth, producing Rap and R&B artists like Smoke Dawg, Robin Banks, Top5, Pengz, K Money, and Moula1st, to name a few.[27][28][29][30] These artists had significant influence among the youth of the Greater Toronto Area; the use of MTE in their lyrics, a reflection of the dialect spoken within their communities, spread contagiously as they began to ammass millions of views and followers in the hundreds of thousands.[31][32][33] Consequently, the dialect once confined to their lower-income communities began breaking ethnic and socioeconomic barriers, making its way into suburbs and highschools, transforming Toronto's linguistic landscape.[34][35] The impact of this cultural and linguistic shift was further magnified by the advent of social media. Platforms such as 6ixBuzz and Waveroom put a spotlight on the culture brewing in these communities through short-form, easily digestible content, attracting millions of followers. This significantly contributed to the widespread adoption and normalization of MTE.[36][37]
The distinct accent features of Multicultural Toronto English include the TRAP vowel before a nasal consonant being unraised or only slightly raised and the GOAT vowel being monophthongal, both of which are "distinctly non-normative" in 21st-century Standard Canadian English and led by men in the Toronto area.[3]Th-stopping is a variable feature, likely adopted from Patois, for instance with words like youth, thing, and themcolloquially spelled as yute, ting, and dem.[38]
"Miskeen" (pathetic, or poor - frequently used referring to someone who is "civilian" and "innocent," not involved in any crime) [originates from Arabic]
"Mans" or sometimes "man-dem" (I/me/you/people; first-person singular is the most notable usage) [originates from Jamaican Patois][35]
Mans in 21st-century Toronto English has gained special attention in being applied as a variety of personal pronouns, including (most notably) as a first-person singular pronoun (like I or me), a second-person singular pronoun (like you), or an indefinite pronoun (similar to people or folks). A plural-conjugated verb is required with the use of mans; for example: "Mans are ready" can mean "I am ready", "you are ready", or "we are ready". "What are mans saying?" can mean "What am I saying?", "What are you saying?", or "What are we saying?". The similar usage of man as a pronoun is common in Multicultural London English (MLE), but mans as a singular pronoun is exclusively Torontonian;[63] the two terms likely developed in parallel timeframes, but not with one dialect directly affecting the other.[64] It is likely that both usages ultimately come from man with a Jamaican Patois or other Caribbean Creole origin, though no Creole uses mans in this exact way. The process of this pronoun emerging from the original noun, man(s), has been happening in Toronto since roughly 2005 to the present.[65]
"My guy" (close friend or acquaintance)
"Them/dem-mans/man-dem" (them)
"Us mans" (we)
"You mans" (you, plural)
"Fam" (Friend, or more broadly anyone considered 'family' in a communal sense; can be used in place of 'we' or 'us') [originates from Jamaican Patois]
"Cro/crodie" (crip version of 'bro/brodie' but usually refers to a friend, popularized among non-gang-affiliated individuals through local rap music)[68]
"Cronem" (group of 'cros', crip version of 'bronem', and refers to a group of friends)
"Cyattie" (describes a female who is being loud and obnoxious) [originates from Jamaican Patois][69]
"Wasteman" (a worthless, garbage, insensible idiotic person who makes bad decisions with their life, both words being used interchangeably) [originates from Jamaican Patois][43]
"Wasteyute" (used similarly to wasteman, but more specifically describes a childlike or naive individual) [originates from Jamaican Patois][38]
"-azz" (a suffix used to amplify or emphasize the meaning of other words or slang)
I heard his new track, its a hardazz.
"-dem" (a pluralizing element that can emphasize the size of a group or relationships between members of said group)
Tell the rest of the dawgsdem to come through.
"one-two" (a pluralizing element that emphasizes quantity of an action, object, task, etc)
I already tried to call him one-two times, it goes straight to voicemail.
Misconceptions
Toronto's slang and accent have sparked numerous debates and misconceptions, with some claiming it to be a "fake" or recent phenomenon and others attributing its origins solely to mainstream artists like Drake.[88][89] Contrarily, the aforementioned history reveals that Toronto's urban dialect blossomed from the multicultural influx of immigrants from the Caribbean, East Africa, and the Middle East between the 1960s and 1990s, cultivating a rich linguistic diversity within the city.[90][91]
Misconceptions also prevail regarding the originality and authenticity of Toronto slang. Critics have argued against its genuineness and accused it of mimicking Multicultural London English.[92] However, both dialects have evolved independently, sharing roots in similar immigration patterns, thus showcasing unique sociolinguistic developments reflective of their respective cities’ multicultural landscapes.[93]
Discussions around cultural appropriation have arisen in regards to MTE and its origins. Critics argue about the possibility of its usage veering into the territory of appropriation.[94] However, a nuanced understanding positions Toronto slang as a celebration of cultural diversity and integration. Rather than being a medium of appropriation, the dialect emerges as a linguistic confluence where various cultural essences coalesce, symbolizing appreciation and shared understanding among Toronto's diverse communities.[95]
Furthermore, the spotlight has often been placed on public figures such as Drake or PartyNextDoor, attributing the genesis and popularization of the slang to them.[90] This oversimplification overlooks the deeper, historical, and community-driven origins of the language. In reality, the dialect predates careers like Drake's by decades, something even he acknowledged before adopting it himself.[96]
In popular culture
From 2016 to 2019, Toronto-based comedy group 4YE in collaboration with Bell Media released a multi-part series featuring "Tyco" and "Judge Tyco," caricatures of the stereotypical Toronto man, set in the early 2000s.[97]
In 2017, Drake was featured in a Toronto-based comedy skit "T-Dot Goon Scrap DVD 2" produced by 4YE, in which he made heavy use of Toronto's slang and accent.[98]
In a Vanity FairYouTube video, Shawn Mendes, a popular Canadian singer and songwriter, was featured, teaching about Canadian slang (primarily Toronto slang vocabulary).[99]
^ abBigelow, Lauren; Timothy Gadanidis; Lisa Schlegl; Pocholo Umbal, and Derek Denis. 2020. Whyare wasteyutes a ting? University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 26(2): Article 3.
^Derek, Denis (2016). "A note on mans in Toronto"(PDF). (TWPL) Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
Sh*t Toronto People Say
