The evolution of enregistered characterological figures: the nineteenth-century “Cockney swell” and his successor, the twentieth-century “Essex man”

This paper examines how enregisterment processes may evolve and be reinterpreted over time. As a case study, we look at Cockney, a variety with a long history in London but also one which is now spoken in neighbouring Essex due to the twentieth-century "Cockney diaspora". We show how a variety’s enregistered linguistic features shift over time in line with patterns of language change and the degree to which the features are socially salient. We also explore the rise and fall of different characterological figures linked to the same evolving variety from the start of the nineteenth century to present day. In particular, we discuss two characters: the nineteenth-century Cockney swell and the Essex man persona, a contemporary character who first emerged in the 1980s. Both figures have remarkably similar, though not identical, stereotyped characteristics: an interest in fashion and grooming, a lively, self-confident manner, politically conservative views and working-class origins but have come into success. They both emerged at moments of increased social mobility and, resultingly, are both targets of ridicule and contempt, reflecting middle-class gatekeeping. We demonstrate how processes of enregisterment evolve and are recontextualised over time and space as a product of their surrounding linguistic and sociocultural environment.