In Evelina, characters use slightly different dialects depending on their class status and regional background. The most notable dialect in the novel is that of Captain Mirvan, a rough-around-the-edges naval officer who married into Mrs. Mirvan’s prestigious family. His language is far more informal than everyone else’s and Burney takes pains to capture the sounds and syllables of his particular speech patterns.
In a scene near the end of the novel, the upper-class and snobbish Mr. Lovel mocks Captain Mirvan’s strong dialect:
“Ha! ha! ha! admirable!—’Pon honour your La’ship’s quite in luck to-day;—but that, indeed, your La’ship is every day. Though to be sure, it is but candid to acknowledge, that the gentlemen of the ocean have a set of ideas, as well as a dialect, so opposite to ours, that it is by no means surprising they should regard London as a mere shew, that may be seen by being looked at. Ha! ha! ha!”
Mr. Lovel’s language is typically written out in plain English, so it is clear that here he is putting on an exaggerated accent—“upon” becomes “pon,” “ladyship becomes “la’ship,” and “show” becomes “shew.” More than just changing the spelling of the words to capture the sounds of Captain’s Mirvan’s dialect, Burney also has Mr. Lovel comment directly on how seamen have a dialect “so opposite to ours,” furthering the point that Captain Mirvan speaks differently from the upper-class characters. It is notable that Mr. Lovel is the one mocking Captain Mirvan’s dialect, as he tends to be the character Burney employs to represent the snobbish nature of elite English society as a whole.
