Prejudice against northern English accents 'is still rife'

Do you say bath as "barth"? Would you put a "plahster" on a cut? Does it matter if you don't? Yes, it sadly does, say academics, who argue that "accentism" is alive and well in England in 2022.

- Mark Brown

A research team will set up shop next week at the British Academy's grand headquarters overlooking the Mall in London, shining light on a large-scale project exploring prejudice against northern English accents and their speakers.

On many levels, the subject of how people speak is a fun one. But it is also important, researchers say, because of the "profound" negative social, economic and educational implications for speakers with denigrated accents. "This is the prejudice that can dare speak its name," said Dr Robert McKenzie, who leads the Northumbria University project.

"We are not allowed to be biased in terms of gender, we are not allowed to be biased in terms of sexual orientation." But denigrating accents was still allowed.

For four years McKenzie and his team have been studying how English people evaluate northern and southern English accents. They have examined the explicit and implicit - or unconscious - prejudices. For people with strong northern accents, the conclusions are not good.