Ella Adiki Nartey

"ðɪs ɪz ˈstændəd ˈɪŋglɪʃ"

Section MS12, Riccardo Badano

Keywords: borders, book, sound music

Our accents are characterised by our speech patterns, how we produce vowels and consonants and the differences in stresses, pitch, and rhythm intonations when we speak. However, not merely empirical, our accents form an integral part of our social and personal identities, often with the ability to incite prejudice and discrimination, disclosing to the listener information on geographical origin, ethnicity, gender, and social class. In turn, accents can significantly influence language prescriptivism, social stereotypes, and unequal outcomes/opportunities. The “prestige” of the Standard UK English accent (Received Pronunciation-RP) has been praised since the 17th century, yet only accounts for the native accent of 3% of the UK population. So why is this still considered to be standard? This book aims to challenge unconscious biases and feelings of familiarity and satirise the notion of “accent hierarchy” by translating a wide array of geographically and culturally situated British accents into the page through different modes of sound visualisation.