The understanding of languages based on the social structure of the country determines the relationships and structure that is set in society. It determines whether the community observes the equality concept and freedom of its members. Many regions of the world experience discrimination based on the language people speak and the probability of the society to accept individuals based on a given social class. Britain is not left out in this case. Researches show that there is a strong influence of the UK language by the way people think of race, gender, educational class and work (Johansson and Śliwa, 2016, 296). This discussion, therefore, focus on the language used in the UK to define the gender race or class of individuals in school and therefore finds out whether it is outdated or emancipatory
Several factors strongly influence the language spoken in the UK. Among them is the level of education and work or position of an individual in society. It has a general influence on gender, race, and class in the country. However, holding on to the language to define the structure of the society in the UK in terms of race, gender and education level tend to be absolute outdated since there are many aspects of the community that have changed (Johansson, and Śliwa, 2016, 297). The language used, therefore, may not present an accurate description for a particular social norm of the city. There are many forms of stereotyped beliefs on the accent and language use in the UK.
According to research done in England, working-class applicants are always restricted or limited by the glass ceiling in terms of the recruitment process to top companies. Managers consider people with certain accents as better academically thereby giving them priority in recruitment to certain job positions. Despite the measures that have been placed to help achieve social inclusivity for the many years, elite companies still have a tendency of recruiting individuals based on their class and social status backgrounds in the country (McCauley and Christiansen, 2019, 1). It is challenging, especially when individuals use accent and proficiency in English as a measure for IQ. It is an outdated belief that people need to change since it affects the general freedom of society and denies individuals opportunities to realise community quality. Considering English as a measure of IQ is discriminative and offers the social and structural power to the upper class in the nation, especially those who have undergone private school education (Fischer et al., 2015, 72). English contrasts regional accents which are therefore presumed inferior that they do not show a standard level of knowledge and lack prestige. It defines the social class of the community and grade individuals based on their level of education.
The way most individuals perceive social class as being firmly rooted within the ranks, education and real positions are based on social classifications (Shor, Matusov and Marjanovic-Shane, 2017, 5). The use of such language classification to judge the merits of an individual, therefore, becomes an old-style in the 21st century where civilisation is complete with globalisation and cultural diversity taking root. It is essential for the UK to appreciate the concept of diversity as creating impact in the society and ensuring that the community does not judge individuals with language or accent as a measure of intellectual capability.
There have been many tests done to determine the increased level of judgment based on language in society. In one of them, the organisers gave the women a passage to read, and other individuals judge their level of intelligence. People were asked to rate the participants (Hart, 2018, 12). The tets judged individuals whose languages and accents were based on standardised English as the most intelligent in comparison to the rest who showed different accents in their way of communication. The result further explained that their regional accent did not affect the attractiveness of an individual, but they did have a significant effect on the judgment of the level of intelligent of the person. People Ranked the Yorkshire as the most intelligent, followed by RP then the Birmingham accent (Thompson, 2016, 10). Such kind of judgment has a foundation on the serotyped belief in UK society on the measure of intelligence. It affects many other aspects of the community such as class, gender, and information.
On the gender aspect, people always judge ladies with a standard level of English as the first class in the UK’s society. It, therefore, means that for a lady to be socially accepted, she must develop a familiar accent that shows intelligence (Amengual, 2016, 150). Such a factor does not hold water, and therefore it affects and discriminates ladies from other regions of the country. People with Standard English accent are considered educated and always earn high social consideration in terms of employment, positions and ranks in the workplace.
The study conducted on the language was not meant to show the level of intelligence, but merely a measure of stereotyped belief that relates to regional accent (Delamont, 2018, 15). However, there is no correlation between the pronunciation of an individual and their intellectual ability. The challenge is to find the reason for the high ratings of the Yorkshire accent (Jackson, 2016, 43). Currently, the most popular and standardised language in the workplace is the RP, spoken by many individuals seeking employment in prestigious companies. However, people do not regard it as the best accent and that there is always a high level of competition that Yorkshire accent present in the job market.
According to the UK information of the modern accent today, most people consider RP as a privilege and dull (Bouman et al., 2017, 17). However, there have been recent changes that have generally helped to change the attitude of individuals towards accent problem and discriminations in the country. In this case, the UK is shifting from an elite higher education system which has a participating rate of 15% of young people to a mass education system which calls for a percentage of 40% take-up rates (Sczesny, Formanowicz, and Moser, 2016, 35). It is a sign of relief from the language structure of education and judgment. With the mass education system, people move from the stereotypes and misconception of using the language as a way of measuring the suitability of an individual in the job position. Higher education institutions have realised the need to focus on the right intellectual matter on the use of language to measure the academic prowess on an individual (Vihman, 2017, 25). The change is still taking root in the country for the last 15 years, and it is yet to be adopted by companies and other institutions of prestige in the UK (Johansson, and Śliwa, 2016, 25). This change has given relief to an individual with public school education background in the country. Yorkshire presents trustworthiness which then reflects on the intelligence giving it a higher rating as the best accent.
A lot of studies have shown a negative link of individuals with Brummies’ accent. The relationship has a foundation on the vowels that are associated with the emphasis. In the examples of the significant pronunciation disparities that read “pie” as “poi.” This flattening of vowels in this accent makes individuals speaking accept to be lowly rated in society and is related to low intellectual capability and low social status in the UK society (Reeve and Pollard, 2019, 25). However, no empirical evidence has proven this belief. It remains to be a misconception in the community meant to disregard a particular group of people. The stereotyped belief, therefore, prevents equality and social acceptant in the UK (Robertson, 2017, 14). It also does not represent the status of the current society. The flatting of vowel has been stereotyped as an indication of low intelligence, and it remains a problem in every part of the community.
Individuals with Bummer accent have always been mistreated and misjudged in the UK. It affects their ability to get jobs in prestigious companies regardless of the level of intelligence. People have also associated them with low social status, and in most cases, they are considered the peasants of the society (Román, Pastor, and Basaraba, 2019, 25). Despite the effort to change the mentality of individuals based on the high rate of societal discrimination on the accent of the English language, many institutions still consider it as the determination for intelligence. These factors affect the way individual relate, and in most cases, it influences all form of structure in the UK civil life. The misjudgment makes society incapable of working positively to ensure that there are harmony and non-decimations in all kinds of structures.
The effort by society to overcome this process has always been in vain since most individuals in the country still have that problem of discrimination. Moreover, there is a tendency of society to discriminate and judge individuals based on their background. People from the first family who get the opportunity to attend private schools in the UK have better chances of securing jobs because of the stereotypes. It is a factor that should not be entertained in the UK community since it is an outclassed ideology in society (Ball, 2017, 25). Today, most international companies embrace the concept of diversity as a way of running a positive outcome. It has become a global agenda adopted in all society. Britain still suffers from the discriminatory approaches bested on the accent stereotyping. It leads to an imbalanced society that does not become sensitive to the inclusivity and social acceptance based on the different origins of individuals.
There are specific methods or ways that one can use to ensure there is equality in the UK. The justices tend to guarantee individuals that they can receive equal treatment without the prejudice of the local background or the language accent spoken. It is necessary to teach the UK citizens that the English accent is not a measure of intelligence and that cultural factors have an influence on the language of an individual (Kelly-Holmes, 2005, 4). Also, it is essential, to begin with, the institutional transformation that assists the public to be aware of the true meaning of intelligence. There is need to embrace a system where communities benefit from knowing that the need to accept individuals from cultural diversity becomes a significant component of the society that should be adopted (Collins and Rampton, 2017, 109). It will enable balance in society and ensure that people are not judged based on their backgrounds and ethical factors set by the community.
In conclusion, the UK is still on the verge to change and start accepting cultural diversity as a means of making society better. The use of discrimination based on the accent of the language as a measure of intelligent is locking many bright individuals from achieving success and changing the culture. People base the stereotyped belief on the old style where an understanding of English based on the accent spoken became a basis of the judgment of the social status. Moreover, their use of such discriminatory standards to measure the progress of the nation continues to play a significant role in undermining the UK’s community. A transformative change, therefore, needs to be embraced and the old style of using the language as a measure of intelligence expunged from the supreme. In this case, prestigious companies must stop judging people based on their accents but the content of their brain-based in the specialisation in their careers.
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