tcthestarswhclisten:
Theo was surprised to be asked such a question. Usually when someone wants to use her to settle a debate, it’s about particular reactions or something. But she perked up at the thought of talking on such an interesting topic. “Well that would depend on who you ask, wouldn’t it? Certain accents align more with what we consider the Standard English dialect. Midwestern American accents and Received Pronunciation are seen as the standard among language elitists. Someone who speaks one of those might consider northerners in England and perhaps people with country accents to be less intelligent just because they do not speak as they do. Sure, there’s no basis for that, as accents and dialects have nothing to do with your intelligence, but some people do have that implicit bias. Short answer: does speaking a ‘standard accent’ make you inherently smarter? No. Does it make you sound smarter? Only if you ask an elitist. Trust me, even the most posh-accented people can be complete dumbasses.”
Evita’s eyes lit up when Theo started in. She expected nothing less, the other woman always gave her such intellectual comments and that was why she was grateful she had been the target of Evita’s random assault of question. “Precisely. Accents in general carry an idea of intelligence and only because it dates back to times when only the upper most parts of society received a proper education, which also meant learning the proper tongues. Back then having a certain accent certainly meant you were more intelligent than others, and only because you had access to the material to boost yourself up. Now that’s simply not the case, sure some accents are an exception, I grew up in Texas and the amount of times ‘seen’ was used for ‘saw’ was unreal. But whether I slur my words and drop my g’s or round my vowels has no bearing on my mind now.” She was engaged, that was to say the least. “Additionally, non-native English speaking people tend to have heavy accents when they speak English and get looked down upon for it. As if because English isn’t their first language they are automatically less intelligent than someone who is native to an English speaking country. As if other countries aren’t allowed to have higher intelligence rates simply on language alone.” Evita paused, she’d gone into a rant. The same rant she’d given her friend, and toeing the line between rant and healthy debating always was a bit difficult when she was worked up.
