Illustration by Albert Tercero

CityNews: The Popularity of Toronto Slang

Toronto is a city that brands itself as a multicultural centre. Immigrants from all over the world have established various slangs that the youth commonly use today. But where does that Toronto slang come from? The widely used language comes from a mixture of Caribbean countries like Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana. The University of Toronto Magazine has published an article called "Do You Know Toronto Slang?" with UTM's Assistant Professor Derek Denis. As a linguistics professor, Denis has been interested in studying what happens to a language when different cultures merge into one city. He discusses his study and origin of Toronto's popular slang terms with CityNews.