About

About

The Speaking of Prejudice research project investigates deeply embedded (implicit) and self-reported attitudes towards accents spoken in the north and the south of England. The evaluations of over 300 English nationals, from throughout the country, were collected and analysed. In order to uncover any language attitude changes in progress in England – and the social groups leading this change – the project also examines differences in evaluations of Northern English and Southern English speech in terms of study participants’ gender, age, regional affiliation in England and social dominance orientation. 

Project Aims

The Speaking of Prejudice study aims to examine the following research questions:

i) What are English nationals explicit (self-report) attitudes towards Northern English and Southern English speech in terms of status and social attractiveness?

ii) What are English nationals implicit (deeply-embedded) attitudes towards Northern English and Southern English speech in terms of status and social attractiveness?

iii) What is the influence, if any, of differences in English nationals’ age, gender and level of social dominance orientation (SDO) upon their implicit and explicit attitudes towards Northern English and Southern English speech in terms of status and social attractiveness?

iv) What is the influence, if any, of English nationals’ differences in affiliation towards the north or the south of England upon their implicit and explicit attitudes towards Northern English and Southern English speech in terms of status and social attractiveness?

v) What are the discrepancies, if any, between the implicit and explicit attitudes of the English nationals in terms of status and social attractiveness??

vi) Accordingly, to what extent, if at all, does any implicit-explicit attitudinal discrepancy (IED) in the English nationals evaluations provide evidence of attitude change in progress towards the status and social attractiveness of Northern English and Southern English speech? Which social groups may be leading this language attitude change in progress?

Lexis Podcast

Robert McKenzie is interviewed by the Lexis Podcast about the Speaking of Prejudice research project and the negative social implications of language-based prejudice in England and elsewhere. Click here to listen to the Lexis Podcast.

The Guardian Article

Image from The Guardian article.

In this article, Robert is interviewed by The Guardian about the Speaking of Prejudice project and language-based discrimination in the north and south of England.

Robert and Andrew gave a talk entitled Accent Prejudice in Northern and Southern England at Newcastle’s Lit & Phil Library as part of the Winter Words Week in November 2021.

In this article, Robert and Andrew speak to David Whetstone from Cultured North East.