Polari
© Heather Taylor
The objective of the following investigation is to examine the history of the secret in-group language Polari from a sociolinguistic perspective. This will include looking at the history and uses of this lexicon and the factors which led to its rise, and eventually to its decline. A key question posed by this investigation is the extent to which Polari survives today and the type of presence, if any, it has in contemporary gay culture. This will be done through a critical review of the available data on the topic and also by investigating the capacity in which Polari survives today (specifically focussing on whether it is present in the media and entertainment or in the internet community).
Secret languages are fascinating to linguists' curiosity, and Polari is a particularly interesting subject because of the rich tapestry of interwoven sources which build this unique lexicon, and the fact that it has been 'off-limits' to outsiders until very recently. The variety discovered in the lexicon is indicative of the fascinating history of Polari - a story of different itinerant groups meeting and trading lexical items along the way. It is interesting to trace how a language with its origins in the cant of thieves and travelling tradesmen, used to conceal criminal activity, came to be the exuberant carrier of gay identity in the mid-twentieth century. All of these ideas will be considered in more detail in the following discussion.
Download Heather Taylor's Undergraduate Dissertation (pdf 208KB)