Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Accent discrimination have profound negative social, economic implications: Research

‘People think speakers with northern England accents are less intelligent’

Accent discrimination have profound negative social, economic implications: Research

As the British Academy’s annual two-day Summer Showcase will be held later this week, a research team will explain how a regional difference in English accents could lead to prejudice.

According to the team which will set up a stall at the event, its exhibit will map the “deeply embedded prejudices towards UK accents” and how the way the language is spoken has “profound” negative social, economic and educational implications for speakers “with denigrated accents”.

Robert McKenzie, who leads the Northumbria University research project, said the accent of northern England is still stigmatised although the level has come down when compared to the past.

People with stigmatised accents are at a disadvantage in the job market and they “are less likely to be given access to social housing”, he said, adding that it has “real-world implications.”

“Denigrating accents is still allowed” while biases based on gender and sexual orientation are not, he pointed out.

“People do think that speakers in the north of England are less intelligent, less ambitious, less educated and so on, solely from the way they speak,” McKenzie told the Guardian.

“On the other hand, people in the south are thought to be more ambitious, more intelligent.”

People in the north are generally considered as being friendly, outgoing and “trustworthy salt-of-the-earth folk”, said McKenzie, whose team has been studying how accents are evaluated explicitly and implicitly.

“The negativity towards northern English speech or the northern English speaker was much more extreme, much more intense when you were looking at the implicit level. That tells us that at a conscious level, people are less prejudiced than they once were but at an implicit level we still have those biases,” he told the newspaper.

He pointed out that the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley - Jess Phillips - experiences “accentism”.

The two-day Summer Showcase, which according to the British Academy, is “a free festival of ideas for curious minds” will allow the research community to explore exhibits, enjoy stimulating talks, get advice on research funding applications, and network with researchers.

More For You

F-35B jet

The UK has agreed to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the airport.

Indian Air Force

F-35B jet still stranded in Kerala, UK sends engineers for repair

UK AVIATION engineers are arriving in Thiruvananthapuram to carry out repairs on an F-35B Lightning jet belonging to the Royal Navy, which has remained grounded after an emergency landing 12 days ago.

The jet is part of the HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group of the UK's Royal Navy. It made the emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on June 14. The aircraft, valued at over USD 110 million, is among the most advanced fighter jets in the world.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ahmedabad air crash
Relatives carry the coffin of a victim, who was killed in the Air India Flight 171 crash, during a funeral ceremony in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ahmedabad crash: Grief, denial and trauma haunt families

TWO weeks after the crash of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, families of victims are grappling with grief and trauma. Psychiatrists are now working closely with many who continue to oscillate between denial and despair.

The crash occurred on June 12, when the London-bound flight hit the BJ Medical College complex shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people on board and 29 on the ground. Only one passenger survived.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer apologises for 'island of strangers' immigration speech

Prime minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at The British Chambers of Commerce Global Annual Conference in London on June 26, 2025. (Photo by EDDIE MULHOLLAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer apologises for 'island of strangers' immigration speech

PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer has admitted he was wrong to warn that Britain could become an "island of strangers" due to high immigration, saying he "deeply" regrets the controversial phrase.

Speaking to The Observer, Sir Keir said he would not have used those words if he had known they would be seen as echoing the language of Enoch Powell's notorious 1968 "rivers of blood" speech.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sir Sajid Javid leads commission 'tackling social divisions'

Sir Sajid Javid (Photo by Tom Nicholson-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Sir Sajid Javid leads commission 'tackling social divisions'

A cross-party group has been formed to tackle the deep divisions that sparked last summer's riots across England. The new commission will be led by former Tory minister Sir Sajid Javid and ex-Labour MP Jon Cruddas.

The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion has backing from both prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. It brings together 19 experts from different political parties and walks of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Masum

Masum was seen on CCTV trying to steer the pram away and, when she refused to go with him, stabbed her multiple times before walking away and boarding a bus. (Photo: West Yorkshire Police)

West Yorkshire Police

Habibur Masum convicted of murdering estranged wife in front of baby

A MAN who stabbed his estranged wife to death in Bradford in front of their baby has been convicted of murder.

Habibur Masum, 26, attacked 27-year-old Kulsuma Akter in broad daylight on April 6, 2024, stabbing her more than 25 times while she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram. The baby was not harmed.

Keep ReadingShow less