Birmingham and Afro-Caribbean accents face worst bias in UK, study finds

Working class Birmingham and Afro Caribbean accents sit at the bottom of an “enduring hierarchy of accents” in the UK, a study has found. A new study led by Queen Mary University of London examined current attitudes to English regional, class, and ethnic accents. According to the research, non-standard working-class and ethnic accents tend to be penalised, while middle-class “standard” speech was more highly rated and considered “prestigious”.

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