‘An accent exceedingly rare’: scouse and the inflexion of class *

Abstract

This chapter offers some historical commentary on linguistic studies of Liverpool’s vernacular speech, the unmistakable accent upon which the various cultural representations of the ‘scouser’ have been constructed. The scouse accent announces a cherished otherness which not all visitors appreciate. As accent and/or identity label, scouse does not figure in nineteenth-century accounts of Liverpool. An early form of commercial culture, mid-Victorian dialect literature built upon the ballad tradition and oral culture that preceded it. Industrial conurbations usually grew out of conglomerations of small towns and villages, augmented by short-distance rural in-migration which tended to reinforce their culture, character and status as regional centres. In-migration undoubtedly accentuated Liverpool’s notorious public health problems, but the linguistic impact of new arrivals is much more difficult to assess. The Irish contribution to the making of scouse may well have been more complex and protracted than Knowles implies.