The cockney accent has been voted as the ‘thickest’ in the UK
The new research shows that listeners perceived the iconic East End twang as sounding the least intelligent and educated.
Well known cockneys include actor Danny Dyer and Only Fools character Del Boy.
The recent study was done by researchers at Cambridge University and Nottingham Trent University
The research also claimed that the cockney accent was associated with cheating and lying.
Listeners also voted for the speaker to be less likely to do something like returning a lost wallet.
Fortunately for cockneys, they were also rated the least likely to ‘grass’ someone into the police, as reported by What’s The Jam.
A group of 180 participants, split evenly between men and women from across the UK, were gathered to listen to recordings of ten regionally accented male voices.
The group were asked to rate the voices on ten social traits and ten moral behaviours.
The social traits included ‘Educated’, ‘Intelligent’, ‘Rich’, ‘Working class’, ‘Friendly’, ‘Honest’, ‘Kind’, ‘Trustworthy’, ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Confident’.
As part of the modern cockney festival taking place across March, Alice Paver from the University of Cambridge will be sharing the findings during a free ticketed event.
The ‘It ain’t awright!’ event will be hosted 1pm next Tuesday (18 Mar) exploring accent prejudice in modern Britain – and how to tackle it.
Alice Paver from the University of Cambridge’s Phonetics Laboratory and Jesus College, Cambridge said: “Our findings bring into sharp focus the disadvantage that speakers of some accents may still face in the criminal justice system.”
Andy Green of the Modern Cockney Festival said, “Ordinary working people in London are stigmatized by the way they speak. Accent bias needs to be taken seriously.
“London’s public bodies need to be more aware and show more leadership in tackling, to protect the well-being of Londoners with positive policies and responses.”
Free tickets for the event can be booked here.
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