7 avril 2013
Academics 'dropping regional accents' to fit in at elite universities
By Victoria Ward. Academics with broad regional accents suffer "tacit prejudice" at top universities and feel obliged to adopt posher accents to avoid being patronised, according to a study. They fear that unless they hide their local dialects they will be classed as "outsiders" and marginalised in the event of redundancies, researchers found. Although discrimination on grounds of gender, race or sexuality is no longer tolerated, they said the desire by universities to be classed as "elite" meant that prejudice against regional accents continued to go unchallenged. Michelle Addison, a PhD student at Newcastle University who conducted the study, said that "talking the talk" by using an accent that carried connotations of intelligence had become commonplace among academics anxious to "fit in". Read more...
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