Talking Proper

Talking 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.