ABSTRACT
It has been noted in the Newbolt piece how language was intended to unite the social classes at a time of historical conflict, and in the Wyld essay how the language of one particular class is taken as the superior form, 'the best English'. In the essay by Ross we see an extension of this analysis in that he concerns himself with the function of language as the distinguishing feature of different classes in Britain. Although he can be said to overstate the case when he argues that 'it is solely by its language that the upper class is clearly marked offfrom the others', since classes are constructed economically and politically as well as culturally, there can be no doubt that he captured an important fact about British social life. For despite the amusing tone and nature of many of the examples he gives, there can be no doubt that sensitivity to forms of language as factors in the building of social identity is extraordinarily high. One reason for this of course is the heavily stratified class system in Britain in which petty differences are magnified and stressed as identifying features. Another reason is precisely that history of the deployment of language in the formation of various types of social and cultural identity which is traced in the previous texts. It is indeed a long and twisting history but it should come as no surprise to find that it has left the British with a legacy of extreme sensitivity to linguistic and social differences.
