L+PLUS Lab

Accent the Positive

With Dr. Jeffries and Dr. Cole, we look at linguistic discrimination in the form of ‘accentism’. This discrimination derives from the associations that listeners make between a speaker’s accent and negative social judgements. For more information about accentism, check out The Accentism Project.

The current project aims to determine to what degree accent stereotypes are already present in children starting primary school, as little is known about how and when these associations form in children. We measure neural activity (ERPs) in primary school children while they take part in an adapted Implicit Association Test (IAT), providing two measurements of potential unconscious bias.

This project is funded by the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust.