........................................................................................ - a weBlog by Snowy and me.

Friday 3 June 2016

Southern Accents?

For as long as state schooling has been mandatory
adults have suspected that what schools teach children
is 'How to not be yourself for the benefit of other people'.
What many adults realize less is the role of accent in the process.

People from every region in the UK train to become teachers,
and the more Northern, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish their accent
the more they are pushed through training and job interviews
to speak in Southern English tones, as if such speech patterns
were the accent of the self elect, who pupils should aspire to join.

If in the UK division is by social class and region
then in America it is the patterns of black speech
which stand in for 'working class' and 'uneducated'.
The whiter the manner of speech the more
socially successful the speaker will surely be.

And probably the less you would trust them with your money.

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