BBC Voices

Aims

The aim of the BBC Voices survey was to find out how people feel about various accents and languages across the British Isles. A total 5000 people took part in the poll.

Methodology

• Commissioned by BBC Audience & Consumer Research and conducted by Greenfield Online
• Cardiff University advised on the design of some of the questions included in the poll
• Fieldwork was conducted between the 17th and 26th November 2004 via an online survey on the Greenfield website
• The final sample had 5,010 respondents, all of who were age 15+.
• Ratio of Male:Female was 49:51
• 25-64s were over represented whereas the age bracket for 15-24 and 65+ were under represented
• Social Class data was not collected
• There was a wide geographical spread
• 97% of the whole sample said English was their first language
• 26% said they spoke at least one language other than English

Findings and Analysis

Celebrity voices - Sean Connery's Edinburgh accent was the most popular, along with newsreaders voices such as Trevor McDonald. Many respondents favoured accents that were relatively local to them. With the exception of Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley's accent was deemed the most unpleasant.

The respondents own voices - 59% occasionally wish they had a different accent. The most wished for accent is Standard English but 7% said they would rather have a Southern Irish accent. Most people are proud of their own accent, and throughout the country people voted "an accent identical to your own" as one of their favourite accents. Generally people in the north and west of the UK identify with "having an accent" more than those in the south-east. More than 4 in 5 admitted to changing their accent on occasions, especially when meeting new people. 

Attitudes towards accents - Three quarters of people think they hear a lot more accents in daily life and on TV/radio than they used to and 78% enjoy hearing a variety of accents. In general there was a close link between pleasantness and prestige. However there were two anomalies: Whilst a London accent was thought to be helpful career-wise, people did not find it pleasant to listen to. This was in contrast to the Newcastle ('Geordie') accent which people liked the sound of but did not find it very prestigious in job hunting. Scottish and Northern Irish respondents liked Scottish best of all but English and Welsh voters put the Standard English accent on top.

Evaluation

While this poll was interesting and perhaps considered to be reliable because it was commissioned by a reputable company (BBC), you have to question the validity of it. While the sample size seems large if just on its own, when you compare it to how many people are actually in the British Isles - approx. 60+ million - then it could be argued it does not really paint a true picture. However, the gender representations are relatively equal and the spread is about the same as it actually is in real life. On the other hand, the younger and the older of the age groups are not well represented. 

Nevertheless, the findings can still be seen as relevant and important to seeing how people feel about accents.