I hadn’t even considered the fact that politics is constantly influencing our language use! Politics really is everywhere…I guess people are just oblivious to its powers.
I’m currently training to work in the education sector as a primary school teacher – it’s my dream job and I’ve always wanted to pursue a career in teaching and learning. It was all going swimmingly well, everyday brought new challenges, that is, until I was invited into the Headmaster’s office and was simply told that I needed to change my Yorkshire accent for something more ‘standard’ – ‘for the benefit of the kids.’
Now let me tell you, I have never felt so unwelcomed. I was on placement in a Yorkshire school full of Yorkshire kids – ‘t-glottals’ flying across the classroom, diphthongs magically transforming into monophthongs and all being completely understood by everyone. But now I had to force myself to speak in the ‘standard’ accent – again ‘for the benefit of the kids’.
I was then handed a poster to display in my classroom, comparable to that of the one pictured below. The school has begun to ‘ban’ certain grammatical phrases and has enforced that they are to be replaced with the standard ‘correct’ version, because ‘regional accents are damaging to pupils’.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know that teaching and learning grammar is important. Even the National Curriculum emphasises the teaching of prescriptive grammar. Despite grammar being learnt implicitly, through the child’s environment, explicit knowledge of grammar through teaching gives a full comprehension of the language. I completely understand how understanding the explicit grammar rules is important as it means children can identify features used, though, the prescriptive perspective on the subject somewhat dictates the way in which language is used. I love my Yorkshire accent, and I think regional variations alongside individuality should be something that is encouraged from a young age.
My Yorkshire born and bred pupils have most likely never heard what standard English sounds like – they’ve been brought up with regional accents all their lives, unbeknown that there are others out there. To them, it’s normal. To them, it’s standard.
I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve posted this in the ‘political’ series.
Explicitly, it isn’t, but implicitly, it’s guiding the younger generation to speak a certain way, irrespective of their regional variety, teaching them that their grammar is wrong and that they should change the way that they have always spoken – implicitly, it’s a prescriptive view of language. After (a lot!) of googling, I found that I wasn’t alone in this. It seems that the North/South accent divide is real, and it’s a lot more common than you think. The fact is that many trainee teachers, including myself, are being told to modify their accents in order to speak in a more prescriptive manner. Undoubtedly, it’s a taboo subject, but it cannot be ignored.
– Elisha, 23, Leeds
Aye! Same here pal. I’m a Geordie boy working in a call centre. I couldn’t even tell you how many times that a customer has said they ‘don’t understand me’ or for me to ‘speak slower’. I was even declined a promotion, for the reason that I believe is because of my accent – the promotion was given to a posh Chelsea boy, despite him only working here for 3 months compared to my dedicated and loyal 6 years!
I was fuming!
There’s absolutely no way that I’m gonna change my accent for other people’s benefit – I don’t want to sound like a TV presenter or the Prime Minister! It was more noticeable when I studied at uni in the South – my housemates found it funny how I pronounced words differently to them, and people would treat me differently because of the way I spoke, as if they were trying to snub their southern roots.
Like anything these days, there’s not much you can do about it on your own.
– Sam, 28, Newcastle
Hello Sam, *pal*.
I believe that what you are referring to is called ‘accentism’. What yourself and Elisha are experiencing is known as ‘linguistic discrimination’, meaning occasions in which an individual feels as though they have been mistreated or commented on due to their accent, syntax or even their vocabulary cohort.
Perhaps the harsh reality is that situations like those you have mentioned happen every day.
History tells us that there is a clear hierarchy of accents across Britain, many of which hold stereotypes.
The accents of those in the higher social classes are deemed as standard, neutral, and more ‘posher’, whilst regional varieties, such as Geordie and the Yorkshire dialects as you have mentioned, are deemed as inferior and are often judged. For this reason, those who speak with ‘non standard’ varieties of English have been recently subject to having a responsibility to change the way they speak – as I’m sure you are both aware.
It is imperative that the accent biases that our country holds are rather viewed as being a tool of diversity that should be celebrated. This article puts it simply: the accent diversity amongst our tiny island should be celebrated as opposed to being mocked, allowing those who do not ‘conform to the ideological standard’ to still feel included in society.
Happy reading everyone!
– Martin, 68, Norwich
Wow thanks Martin, that’s really interesting! I’m glad to know that I’m not the only person made to feel this way.
I’ll definitely be doing more research into accentism!
– Elisha, 23, Leeds
I was told by a senior manager at work that my Scouse accent was too ‘thick’, and that he didn’t want me to perform the presentation that I’d written and designed myself. He was more concerned about the audience not being able to understand me. After many albeit strong-worded emails, I ended up doing the presentation.
Everyone loved it – I’m now the first person they call for public presentations.
Just need to put your foot down – don’t ever change the way you speak for anyone!
– Gavin, 32, Liverpool