3. Dickens and northern English: stereotyping and ‘authenticity’ reconsidered
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Katie Wales
Abstract
It is now over forty years ago since Stanley Gerson produced the only detailed analysis of sound and spelling in the works of Charles Dickens as a whole. In this chapter I take a fresh look at Dickens’ handling of northern British dialect speech in particular, and including morphology, syntax and lexis as well as pronunciation, focussing on two of his major novels, Nicholas Nickleby (1838- 9) and Hard Times (1854). I take an approach to literary dialect representation and linguistic stereotyping that has so far been under-used in this context, namely social cognition theory, which concerns mental scripts and attitudes. Looking at Dickens’ northern characters we can see the process of literary formation in the mind of the novelist. Far from being either one-dimensional or hotchpotch of random features, they are constructed intertextually through schemas and social ideologies and also cultural practices, to a large extent different for each novel. Dickens is not so much ‘representing’ northern speech as creating it. This particular approach also raises an important issue to do with the notion of ‘authenticity’, a value judgment much contested traditionally in literary dialect representation. I shall argue instead for the significance for Dickens of ‘authentication ’ or ‘authenticating’ devices and effects. I conclude the discussion of each novel by considering the implications of Dickens’ portrayal in the larger literary historical context of northern dialect (re)presentation.
Abstract
It is now over forty years ago since Stanley Gerson produced the only detailed analysis of sound and spelling in the works of Charles Dickens as a whole. In this chapter I take a fresh look at Dickens’ handling of northern British dialect speech in particular, and including morphology, syntax and lexis as well as pronunciation, focussing on two of his major novels, Nicholas Nickleby (1838- 9) and Hard Times (1854). I take an approach to literary dialect representation and linguistic stereotyping that has so far been under-used in this context, namely social cognition theory, which concerns mental scripts and attitudes. Looking at Dickens’ northern characters we can see the process of literary formation in the mind of the novelist. Far from being either one-dimensional or hotchpotch of random features, they are constructed intertextually through schemas and social ideologies and also cultural practices, to a large extent different for each novel. Dickens is not so much ‘representing’ northern speech as creating it. This particular approach also raises an important issue to do with the notion of ‘authenticity’, a value judgment much contested traditionally in literary dialect representation. I shall argue instead for the significance for Dickens of ‘authentication ’ or ‘authenticating’ devices and effects. I conclude the discussion of each novel by considering the implications of Dickens’ portrayal in the larger literary historical context of northern dialect (re)presentation.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- List of figures and tables ix
- 1. Introduction 1
-
I. Enregisterment
- 2. Northern English and enregisterment 17
- 3. Dickens and northern English: stereotyping and ‘authenticity’ reconsidered 41
- 4. The linguistic landscape of north-east England 61
- 5. Lenition and T-to-R are differently salient: the representation of competing realisations of /t/ in Liverpool English dialect literature 83
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II. Phonology
- 6. External and internal factors in a levelling process: Prevocalic (r) in Carlisle English 111
- 7. Scouse NURSE and northern happy: vowel change in Liverpool English 135
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III. Syntax and discourse features
- 8. Are Scottish national identities reflected in the syntax of Scottish newspapers? 169
- 9. Final but in northern Englishes 191
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IV. Sociolinguistics
- 10. Education, class and vernacular awareness on Tyneside 215
- 11. Changing domains of dialect use: A real-time study of Shetland schoolchildren 245
-
V. Language and corpus
- 12. New perspectives on Scottish Standard English: Introducing the Scottish component of the International Corpus of English 273
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- List of figures and tables ix
- 1. Introduction 1
-
I. Enregisterment
- 2. Northern English and enregisterment 17
- 3. Dickens and northern English: stereotyping and ‘authenticity’ reconsidered 41
- 4. The linguistic landscape of north-east England 61
- 5. Lenition and T-to-R are differently salient: the representation of competing realisations of /t/ in Liverpool English dialect literature 83
-
II. Phonology
- 6. External and internal factors in a levelling process: Prevocalic (r) in Carlisle English 111
- 7. Scouse NURSE and northern happy: vowel change in Liverpool English 135
-
III. Syntax and discourse features
- 8. Are Scottish national identities reflected in the syntax of Scottish newspapers? 169
- 9. Final but in northern Englishes 191
-
IV. Sociolinguistics
- 10. Education, class and vernacular awareness on Tyneside 215
- 11. Changing domains of dialect use: A real-time study of Shetland schoolchildren 245
-
V. Language and corpus
- 12. New perspectives on Scottish Standard English: Introducing the Scottish component of the International Corpus of English 273
- Index 303
