Sociolects on the Small Screen: The Case of the British Upper Class

The aim of this chapter is to expand the discussion on the language of the ‘élite’ classes in Britain by providing some original insights on the fictional audiovisual representation of public figures whose individual upper-class voices can be considered as socially ‘enregistered’ and thus potentially problematic to render in shows with naturalistic intents. After an overview of the comparatively few studies on the topic of upper-class speech, the chapter provides a revisited list of linguistic features that can be considered typical of this sociolinguistic variety, with a focus on phonological traits; a section is, then, dedicated to the representation of the ‘upper-class character’ in telecinematic fiction. Both the linguistic description and the account on the traditional, often stereotypical rendition of this sociolect are useful for the ensuing discussion of the examples from the case studies. In particular, two figures were selected to provide insights on the topic: first, Lady Diana Spencer, an upper-class English speaker who showed a tendency to use ‘non-U’ features in specific contexts; second, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose idiolect is typical in terms of pronunciation features, but showing signs of ‘creative’ twists in terms of speech elements and mannerisms. Excerpts taken from a few audiovisual products featuring fictional characterisations of these two public figures are analysed in order to show how their distinctive voices were carefully studied by the respective authors.