1. Limited Education and Social Class: His speech is riddled with grammatical errors, mispronunciations, and colloquialisms. This immediately establishes him as someone with limited education and likely from a lower social class. The reader understands that he is not a sophisticated speaker, reflecting his background as a "respectable" yet rough and unsophisticated working-class man.
2. Limited Vocabulary and Perspective: Cruncher's vocabulary is quite limited. He relies on simple, repetitive phrases and expressions, often lacking the nuance or precision of a more educated speaker. This reinforces his lack of depth of thought and limited understanding of the wider world. His speech is often focused on practical, immediate concerns, reflecting his limited intellectual curiosity and his primary focus on survival.
3. Intensity and Emotionality: Despite his simple vocabulary, Cruncher's speech can be intensely passionate and emotional. He uses repetition and strong metaphors to convey his feelings, highlighting his deep devotion to his family and his strong sense of justice. This, coupled with his rough language, makes him a compelling and memorable character.
4. Contradiction Between Appearance and Reality: Cruncher's dialect creates a contrast between his outward appearance as a simple, rough man and his inner complexity. His simple, almost childish speech hides a cunning mind and a complex moral code, highlighting his duality and the complexity of his character.
5. Irony and Humour: Cruncher's dialect provides a unique form of humor, often through his mispronunciations and his literal understanding of words. This humor can be ironic, emphasizing the absurdity of his situation and his unique perspective.
In Conclusion:
Dickens' use of dialect in Jerry Cruncher's long speech is a masterful stroke of characterization. By choosing to give him a distinct, limited vocabulary and a clear social dialect, Dickens creates a believable and engaging character whose rough exterior hides a complex and fascinating inner world. The dialect reinforces his social class, his limited education, his emotional depth, and the inherent contradictions within his personality, making him a memorable figure in the novel.