Let’s talk accent bias
From living in England for nearly 2 years it has came to my attention that I have a very strong accent - as I am often told. I speak extremely quickly and paired with my self-diagnosed speech impediment I often feel extremely self-conscious about my voice. Accent bias and regional dialect is something I have wanted to write about for a long time. The unlikely catalyst for this blog was the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show which I will discuss a bit later.
But first, what is accent bias?
Accent bias may be defined as an unwarranted and unjustifiable prejudice toward individuals and communities who speak a language with an accent different from the dominant culture according to R2.
In Northern England, people in cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle often face prejudice based on their regional accents. By having a strong dialect it’s implied by society that due to your accent you are uncultured and uneducated typically compared to people in parts of southern England. This bias is a consequence of hierarchical British culture and is still felt in society today.
Accent bias in the media
Significantly, the Irish accent has always been a source of parody and misunderstanding. Irish accents are characterised as primitive, non-cultured and leprechaun-esque. I’d really recommend you read this article from The Guardian on how the Irish accent has been parodied, mocked and misunderstood over centuries especially in TV and film.
Most recently this came from Amazon’s The Rings of Power and Wild Mountain Thyme. The latter’s lead actor Emily Blunt is currently being cancelled online due to her “fatphobic” comments, in my view she should be cancelled for her Irish accent because that’s what was really offensive.
The impact on professional careers
Speaking in a regional accent and facing these stereotypes can have a negative impact on not only people’s personal lives but also their professional careers. The Sutton Trust’s Speaking Up report found that employees reported higher levels of being mocked or singled out for their accent in a social setting (46%), with 40% of university applicants reporting the same and just under half of all university students (47%). It also found that 21% of people in senior managerial roles from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were worried their accent could affect their ability to succeed, compared to 12% from wealthier families.
One employee with an “estuary English” accent (from the area around the River Thames) told researchers they had been denied a promotion and received feedback that stated: “great candidate, shame about the voice”. Goodness, if “voice” is a deciding factor I wouldn’t want to see previous feedback from an overly nervous 19 year old me interviewing for placement jobs.
What is Received Pronunciation?
Something very strange happened at the weekend when I was watching The Graham Norton Show and that is when the notion of “Received Pronunciation” came up. RP is an accent of spoken British English. Unlike other UK accents, it's identified not so much with a particular region as with a particular social group, although it has connections with the accent of Southern England.
It has connotations of prestige and authority, but also of privilege and arrogance. It’s a neutral accent that is widely accepted and understood. In terms of The Graham Norton Show, legendary actor Patrick Stewart discussed how he adopted received pronunciation and lost his Yorkshire dialect when he began to pursue his professional acting career.
During the discussion, Graham asked Layton Williams and Bella Ramsey had they ever felt the need to move away from their accents however this wasn’t really the case. With Layton adding that his mother would be “proud” he still speaks with a Manchester accent.
Embracing the “aye’s” and “wee’s”
Whilst I started the show thinking like Stewart by asking myself, should I try and adapt my voice to be more standardised and “acceptable”? I quickly copped myself on and thought more like Layton, I decided to own my accent. I prefix most words with “wee” and automatically reply “aye, that’s right” to yes/no questions.
It would be completely ludacris if I came home to Derrynoose one day with a stripped back and standardised accent. I mean, how would my family understand me if I didn’t over-annunciate certain words and use a thick accent to say “Lovely” and “That’s unreal”. What I have taken from this realisation is that when people now say to me, “You’ve got such a strong accent”, I will say thank you.