Talking Proper: The Rise of Accent as Social SymbolTalking Proper is a history of the rise and fall of the English accent as a badge of cultural, social, and class identity. Lynda Mugglestone traces the origins of the phenomenon in late eighteenth-century London, follows its history through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and charts its downfall during the era of New Labor. This is a witty, readable account of a fascinating subject, liberally spiced with quotations from English speech and writing over the past 250 years. |
Contents
A National Obsession | 1 |
1 The Rise of a Standard | 7 |
2 Accent as Social Symbol | 50 |
3 The Practice of Prescription | 77 |
4 h and Other Symbols of the Social Divide | 95 |
5 Ladylike Accents and the Feminine Proprieties of Speech | 135 |
6 Literature and the Literate Speaker | 173 |
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Common terms and phrases
accent Alexander Ellis appear articulation aspiring behaviour broadcasting Cockney confirms contemporary context correct course Critical Pronouncing Dictionary cultural David Copperfield depicted deviation dialect Dickens edn London eighteenth and nineteenth Ellis elocution endorsed English Language enunciation Estuary English Etiquette evident example fact feminine fictions forms gentleman George Gissing Gissing Grammar graphemic habits hence Henry H Ibid ideal identity ideology images instance John lady language attitudes Language London late eighteenth linguistic manners Manual marked markers means nevertheless nineteenth century notions novel nuances Oxford paradigms particular patterns Peter Trudgill phonemic phonetician Poor Letter popular prescriptive prescriptivism pronunciation propriety provincial public school readers reading Received Pronunciation refinement regularly reveal role seen Sheridan shibboleth social and linguistic society sociolinguistic sound speak speakers speech spelling spoken Standard English status stereotypes stressed talking proper teacher teaching texts Thomas Sheridan tion usage values variation voice vulgar Walker Woman's Worth words writers