5 ms·
Yeah, in a way you could consider modern British English to be largely an affectation to denote class distinctions.
by paleotrope 7y ago
Yeah, in a way you could consider modern British English to be largely an affectation to denote class distinctions.
- foldr 7y agoBecause class distinctions didn't exist in 15th century Britain?! This is simply nonsense.
- dragonwriter 7y agoNo, just the particular fads, e.g., the one that drove the change to the non-rhoticity of RP, didn't exist in 15th century Britain. That the current accent is driven by a particular fad aimed at highlighting upper class status doesn't imply that class distinctions are novel, just the particular effort to demarcate them (which wasn't durable, obviously, as RP isn't exclusive to the upper classes.)
- foldr 7y agoSure, accents are partly markers of social status, but it's quite wrong to ascribe the diversity of accents in Britain to this. There was never a period where everyone in Britain spoke with the same accent.
- dragonwriter 7y ago> but it's quite wrong to ascribe the diversity of accents in Britain to this. No one, AFAICT, did that. The reference to “modern British English” is not, as I read it, a reference to “the current diversity of British accents”, but rather “the current dominant British accent”.
- foldr 7y agoThe current dominant British accent, if there is such a thing, isn't a marker of social status. If you're referring to RP, then hardly anyone even speaks RP nowadays (even the Queen only makes a half-assed effort...)
- arethuza 7y agoI would say accents in the UK are a combination of social status and location.
- foldr 7y agoThey're a combination of that pretty much everywhere, but it's not clear to me what the "dominant" British accent is supposed to be. If there is such a thing, it's probably some kind of fairly unremarkable Estuary accent that doesn't have any strong connotations of a particular social status.
- arethuza 7y ago"They're a combination of that pretty much everywhere" Fair point - I would also agree that the idea of a "dominant" British accent seems a bit odd - certainly not in terms of what people actually sound like (rather than the broadcast media).
- thrower123 7y agoIn 15th century England, the class distinction would be between speaking French or speaking English, not between different dialects of English.
- foldr 7y agoIf you are talking about speaking French as a first language, this is false, except possibly in relation to the upper reaches of the aristocracy. If you are talking about speaking French as a second language, then this continued to be a marker of class for a long time afterwards. In a highly class-conscious society where the vast majority of people spoke English as their first language, it seems fairly unlikely that accent would have had no connotation of social status. It thus seems hard to believe that the development of the modern diversity of English dialects would have been spurred by some sudden need to mark class distinctions.