● Higher socioeconomic groups have professional jobs as a result of higher
qualifications and are more mobile geographically and socially
● With a far greater ethnic mix and much wider travel for work and leisure,
a greater mix of accents can now be heard in urban areas
● In the English-speaking world there still might be perceived advantages of
speaking in RP and some people will consciously modify their accents to
speak in this way for professional or social reasons
● This is a form of convergence that can be achieved through accent coaches
● However, some have moved away from RP towards a non-standard accent,
such as Estuary English, which has become widely established in the UK from
London
● The US is said to have no prestige dialect, but the General American accent
is more widely spoken in public forums than pronounced regional accents
● A recent phenomenon has been associating certain personal qualities with
accents
● Business communication over the phone from global call centres has given a
rise to stereotypes of speakers with particular accents
● There is an assumption that accents from rural areas indicate that the speaker
is of low intelligence
● Being judgemental in terms of accents will result in limiting someone’s future
opportunities
qualifications and are more mobile geographically and socially
● With a far greater ethnic mix and much wider travel for work and leisure,
a greater mix of accents can now be heard in urban areas
● In the English-speaking world there still might be perceived advantages of
speaking in RP and some people will consciously modify their accents to
speak in this way for professional or social reasons
● This is a form of convergence that can be achieved through accent coaches
● However, some have moved away from RP towards a non-standard accent,
such as Estuary English, which has become widely established in the UK from
London
● The US is said to have no prestige dialect, but the General American accent
is more widely spoken in public forums than pronounced regional accents
● A recent phenomenon has been associating certain personal qualities with
accents
● Business communication over the phone from global call centres has given a
rise to stereotypes of speakers with particular accents
● There is an assumption that accents from rural areas indicate that the speaker
is of low intelligence
● Being judgemental in terms of accents will result in limiting someone’s future
opportunities
