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LINGUASNAPP

A selection of signs noted by researchers in Manchester

Teams from Manchester University said Urdu, Chinese, Arabic and Polish make up the majority of languages used on signs after English, in reflection the size of the populations that speak those languages.

But the researchers also found increasing numbers of signs in Kurdish, Persian, Czech and Somali as increasing numbers of people from these backgrounds move into the area and set up businesses there.

Their findings were published as a Government-commissioned review warned of the UK becoming more divided as it gets more diverse and that lack of integration combined with “misogyny and patriarchy” in some communities was making matters worse.

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Muslim women walk towards the mosque in Bradford

The great variety of languages in Manchester’s linguistic landscape shows that minority languages play an important role in a city’s commerce, as well as in its culture and public services

Professor Yaron Matras

In a sample of more than 1,000 items, the Manchester researchers counted 51 different languages written in 16 different alphabets on signs including posters, billboards, and leaflets.

Professor Yaron Matras, who led the project, said: “The great variety of languages in Manchester’s linguistic landscape shows that minority languages play an important role in a city’s commerce, as well as in its culture and public services.

“It shows that the people who speak these languages feel at home in Manchester and are confident to display their heritage and that the city’s public institutions make an effort to be inclusive.”

LINGUASNAPP

Researchers said they found more than 50 languages on signs in Manchester

Manchester is one of the country’s most diverse cities, where 37 per cent of schoolchildren speak another language in addition to English, according to the university.

It is estimated that more than half of the city’s adult population is multilingual, with about 17 per cent declaring on the 2011 Census that their main language was something other than English.

A separate report on diversity in Britain by Dame Louise Casey found there had not been sufficient emphasis on integration.

Dame Louise said women in some communities were still being subjected to “abuse and unequal treatment enacted in the name of cultural or religious values”.

She said the UK could “no longer duck difficult issues” and highlighted problems some areas had faced because of the pace and scale of immigration.

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Muslim men set up a fruit and veg stall on a pavement in Bradford

Her report pointed to the plight of women who found themselves marginalised through poor English language skills while being subjected to “coercive control, violence and criminal acts of abuse”.

Dame Louise called for more English classes for isolated groups, greater mixing among young people through activities such as sport and a new oath for holders of public office.

The review was originally commissioned by then prime minister David Cameron in 2015 as part of a wider strategy to tackle the “poison” of Islamic extremism.

It was condemned by Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, as “inflammatory, divisive, pandering to the agenda of the far right”.

He said: “We are saddened that once again British Muslims have become a political football which is bashed from time to time without any regard for the impact this has on individuals who then are subjected to threats and violence.”