Accents are an important part of who we are as people as they can tell people where you are from and what kind of upbringing you have had. Many of us are proud of our accents, but some may wish that their accent could be stronger, while others wish they could tone it down a notch.
A recent study, conducted by the University of Cambridge and Nottingham Trent University, has revealed the UK public’s perceptions of ten different accents from across the country. The study came to the conclusion that some accents sound guiltier than others.
Overall, the Glaswegian accent was dubbed the most honourable out of the ten accents, while the Scouse accent was seen to be aligned the most with general crime.
The results of the study found that Bradford accents also sounded the most likely to commit a criminal offence, but by adding specific crimes like sexual touching without consent, the list changes slightly to Liverpool and cockney accents taking the top stops.
The research also has shown that people with a Received Pronunciation (RP), otherwise known as the posh southern English accent, were seen to be least likely to commit most crimes. However, once sexual offences were specified, this accent jumped up to third on the most likely list.
At the bottom of the list is Belfast and Glasgow accents, as they are perceived to be least likely to commit such a crime.
The aim of the research was to identify links between listener perceptions of criminal, moral, and social traits, and the researchers have warned that some people could end up at a disadvantage in the criminal justice system due to the way they speak.
They also found that people may have different ideas of who might carry out a certain type of crime depending on their accent. This can be seen through the stark difference in placement of posh accents when sexual offences were specified as the main crime.
Lead author Alice Paver, from Cambridge University’s phonetics laboratory, said: “This finding simultaneously undermines certain traditional stereotypes about both higher status and working-class men. This may indicate shifting perceptions of the ‘type’ of man who can and does commit sexual offences.”
She added that the research suggests that sexual offences “don’t really have an association with class in the same way that a lot of crimes do”, such as so-called blue collar or white collar crime.
The study included 180 people, split evening between men and women, who had to listen to recordings of the different accents and were asked to rate them on different social traits, such as sounding intelligent, rich, educated, working class, aggressive and honest.
They were also given scenarios to rate each accent on, from returning a wallet to its owner and standing up for someone who is being harassed, to more serious crimes like shoplifting and touching someone sexually without consent.
Although the study group was small, the researchers still believe that their study covers a wider range of scenarios and accents than any previous work. Paver said: “Our findings bring into sharp focus the disadvantage that speakers of some accents may still face in the criminal justice system.
“Voices play a powerful role in the criminal justice system and police officers, lawyers and juries are all susceptible to judging voices based on stereotypes, whether they’re aware of it or not. As things stand, listeners think some accents sound guiltier than others and we should all be concerned about that.”
Compared to other studies, the Newcastle accent received a much more negative view from the public, while the Birmingham accent was shown to be more trustworthy than it was in other work.
The Results
Accents perceived most likely to commit a sex offence (most to least)
1. London (cockney)
2. Liverpool
3. Standard Southern British English (SSBE), also referred to as RP
4. Newcastle
5. Bradford
6. Cardiff
7. Birmingham
8. Bristol
9. Belfast
10. Glasgow
Accents perceived to most likely take part in criminal behaviour – expect sex offences
1. Liverpool
2. Bradford
3. Newcastle
4. London (cockney)
5. Cardiff
6. Birmingham
7. Bristol
8. Glasgow
9. Belfast
10. Standard Southern British English (SSBE), also referred to as RP.
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