WHAT A DOWAGER COUNTESS OF GRANTHAM WOULD HAVE REALLY SAID: A LINGUISTIC INSIGHT INTO PERIOD DRAMA

The paper examines the format of the British period drama series Downton Abbey from a socio-linguistic perspective and discusses to what extent the authenticity of the historical period is preserved. By using various linguistic and culturomic tools, the script analysis shows that, at least from a linguistic perspective, the modern period dramas should be seen as simulacra of simulation in terms of Baudrillard (1994) rather than authentic representations of the historical period.