Upper Class
Upper class speech was slow, languid and finicky; it represented the values of the upper class perfectly but was hard to master. Although upperclassmen spoke as correctly as possible, they developed their own slang and methods of pronunciation that became the norm. Here are some points to consider when playing a character from the upper class:

• Correct pronunciation was extremely important
• Many upper class men had broad vocabularies
• "Men" was used instead of "gentlemen": men did not want to be gentle and therefore found the term "gentlemen" offensive
• Speech was languid, drawling and generally over the top
• "a"s were almost pronounced as "o"s (e.g. "dorling" instead of "darling")
• Sometimes “r” was replaced with “w” (e.g. “good gwacious” instead of “good gracious”)

Middle Class
Middle class speech was a combination of upper and working class dialect: while many middle class members incorporated parts of upper class slang in their everyday speech, it was sometimes used incorrectly and this fact is the subject of many fiction works about the Victorian era. The middle class generally spoke relatively “normally" and did not have a specific dialect. Class slang was not as common as in the other two classes.

Working Class
The lower class typically made use of “cockney" slang and had a strong "cockney" accent. Points to consider when writing a character from this class include:

• Silent “t”s in the middle of words (e.g. “bi’er” instead of “bitter”)
• Silent “h”s at the start of words (e.g. “‘ome” instead of “home”)
• Silent “e”s in the middle of words (e.g. “howl’d” instead of “howled”)
• Leaving out consonants at the ends of words (e.g. “i’” instead of “it”)
• Replacing “v”s with “w”s (e.g. “wery” instead of “very”)
• Words changed to fit accent (e.g. “me” instead of “my”, or “yer” instead of “you”, otherwise known as slurring vowels)

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Peerage  
Forms of Address   
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Speech
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Victorian Info
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