This was an interesting take but I'm a little disappointed that the author didn't take the language idea further. As in, in this author's conception of class based language, what's an example of "straight talk"? How do the elites "babytalk" to the Michael Scott-gentry middle class? Most interestingly, what would "powertalk" be in this conception of class? Would it be raw datasets and financial spreadsheets? Because that seems at odds with the "barbarians" he posits via Church are at the top of the elite ladder. Or are the "barbarians" ruthless state-leaders who only speak in intelligence reports and legal/military briefs and those types of documents are "powertalk"?
Babytalk from the Elites to the Middle Class would be something like the all staff meetings for Penguin staff complaining that Penguin Canada is publishing another Jordan Peterson book or Politico staff complaining that Ben Shapiro was invited to write an entry in their outside opinion section. Or potentially some of the corporate higher up talking up social responsibility actions that are at best token.
I'm more interested in the "real talk" between Elites and Losers -- what's that look like?
"Real talk" means skipping the niceties and getting to the point. e.g. If an elite hires someone to clean their house: they quickly agree on a cleaning price, no chit-chat is expected in either direction if they cross paths, when cleaning is finished they leave immediately, if they don't do a good job they'll be replaced, if they do a good job they'll be retained.
Elites don't do this (as much) to the middle class because: 1) they (members of middle class) aren't as easily interchangeable 2) they're workhorses that produce a good ROI 3) the elites clearly see the delusional reality most of the middle class lives in, and are happy to egg it on to keep the machine churning.
Good point about corporate-speak as elite-to-middle babytalk.
I would hazard a guess that the closest thing to straight talk is at the possible inception of a union. Not after the union is formed and established - I don't think there's a lot of straight talk between UAW and GM nowadays - but if someone like Musk is afraid the gigafactory workers are banding together, he might be forced to talk to them directly. Unfortunately, I don't think this "real talk" is ever recorded or broadcast.
The most stark example I can think of is when Emperor Hirohito informed the Japanese citizens of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki[1], but funny enough that is mostly known for how confusing it was for the average Japanses citizen to understand what was going on.
In Brent Staples's Parallel Time, the author documents Rupert Murdoch after he bought the Chicago Sun-Times. Murdoch points at people and tells them, "I own you and you and you."
Conversely, there's the Alex Baldwin monologue at the beginning of Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.
Interesting classifications nonetheless...