VOWEL SLURS
Many are STILL prejudiced against northerners’ accents, study claims
IT may sound dumb but some people are still guilty of thinking northerners are less intelligent than those with a posh southern accent.
Researchers behind a four-year study warned “accentism” is rife, with most people unaware of their prejudice against northern vowels.
But despite this, northerners like Ant and Dec and Labour’s Angela Rayner are viewed as friendly and trustworthy.
Accent prejudice is still causing profound injustice, warned the team at Northumbria University in Newcastle, who asked people to attach traits to voices.
Glasgow-born Dr Robert McKenzie, 55, a socio-linguist, said of the results: “Disappointed is the word I would use. We have been looking at language in this way for 50 years.
“People still think others sound stupid or unfriendly from the way they speak.
It is not based in reality but on social judgments in the wider community.” The project, Speaking of Prejudice, found most participants were surprised to find they had unconscious bias. His team played northern and southern speech samples to around 350 people from all walks of life. It emerged they were much more biased when it came to accents from the North. Another study of 300,000 civil servants found those with the “right accent” often got the top jobs. Staff who were promoted were likely to have “received pronunciation” and an “intellectual approach” to culture. Following Partygate, Labour deputy Rayner said: “I’ve been on the media so my accent and grammar are being critiqued. Doesn’t matter how you say it. Johnson is unfit to lead.”