We all talk differently depending on where we find ourselves and who we’re talking to. But why do we code-switch? Read on to find out. “Alright mate. Yeah, cheers for fixin’ the sink. Fancy a cuppa?” said my public school educated brother to the plumber one day after he’d helped us out with a leakyContinue reading “Alright Mate? Why Do We Change Our Accent When Talking to Manual Workers and Tradesmen?”
Tag Archives: class
A Spot of G-dropping, My Lord? British Attitudes to Accent and Class
The legendary linguist David Crystal in his book “A Little Book of Language”, estimates that only 5% of the population of the United Kingdom speak English with an RP accent. RP or ‘Received Pronunciation’ has traditionally been spoken by those in the upper echelons of society- doctors, bankers, lawyers and so on, as well asContinue reading “A Spot of G-dropping, My Lord? British Attitudes to Accent and Class”
The British Culture Review 