Discrimination

Giles, Matched Guise, 1970

An actor spoke in different accents to see the bias. Reduce bias from factors such as age and gender however you can never truly replicate an accent without getting it yourself.

Bath Spa University, 2008

They gave everyone a picture of a female model, and then played a different voice every time. Asked people to rate attractiveness and intelligence of model. Found no difference in attractiveness, but large difference in intelligence. Out of 10 for intelligence, Yorkshire got 6.71, RP got 6.67, Silence got 5.99 and Birmingham got 5.6. Therefore, it is worse to have a Birmingham accent than to be silent.

Crime and Accent, Dixon, Mahoney and Cox, 2002

People with a Birmingham accent are more likely to be found guilty of crimes.

Language Attitudes in England, Giles, 1969

Asked people how pleasant and prestigious they thought an accent without playing an audio clip.  Has been redone 3 times, 1969 (Giles), 2004 (Bishop, Coupland and Garret) and 2019 (Accent Bias Britain). Found out that the overall results have begun to get more central, however RP still regains prestige as highest and Birmingham stays as the lowest. View on Indian accent has increased, so much so that it now closer to the view of the Scottish accent than the Birmingham Accent.

Gala Bingo, 2021

The Scottish accent is the most popular and the east midlands accent is the least favourite according to an online poll.