Why accents speak louder than words

A strong accent can lead us to make many assumptions about a person. We ask why, and the impact of these judgements. Linguistics experts Dr. Alex Baratta and Dr. Dominic Watt join Jelena Sofronijevic to explore whether RP has been replaced with a new “standard” accent, why some professions are still demanding flat accents…and if the Queen’s English is really dead.  “Your accent is a flag or badge of your social standing." - Dominic Watt  "We exist in an accentist society." - Dominic Watt “Right at the top of the social pinnacle we have people who more or less speak the same as each other. - Dominic Watt “Accent bias is more of an issue in certain professions, the reason is it goes back to certain perceptions.” - Alex Baratta “I think there’ll always be a perceived need to have a standard accent.” - Alex Baratta https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Presented and produced by Jelena Sofronijevic. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices