Hilary Hillier
Community, family, 'Morel': a dialect approach to Sons and Lovers
This paper will suggest that a linguist's examination of Lawrence's use of contrasting dialect patterns in Son and Lovers can give us an illuminating perspective on the novel. It will claim that, although aimed at a middle-class readership and framed by its mainly Standard English narration, Sons and Lovers was written from inside the working-class experience. The language of the working class is in fact the linguistic 'norm' for Bestwood, the social community represented in the novel, that linguistic norm being the language of Lawrence's own home territory, specifically the accent and dialect grammar of Eastwood and the Erewash Valley.
The paper will explore the implications of these fundamental assumptions for Lawrence's depiction of the Morels - as individuals and as a family - in terms of their relationship to the surrounding community. It will examine how Lawrence describes and represents the social background and speech patterns of the various voices heard in the novel. It will identify Walter Morel as a natural user of the local language, and therefore as an integral part of the community, and Gertrude Morel as a somewhat isolated 'Standard English' speaker. It will suggest that linguistic conflict between the couple is symbolic of the tragedy at the heart of their marriage, and will ask how far the consequences of that linguistic conflict might be detected in Lawrence's treatment of the children of the marriage, principally William Morel and Paul Morel, the 'sons and lovers' of the title.