''SIRI, tell ma, where's you to?''
''Sorry, I did not get that''
''Tell ar' ma where's she to?''
''I could not find an 'armour' in your contacts''
''Bloody 'ell, TEXT MUM SAYING WHERE ARE YOU?''
An easily recognisable struggle for any thick-accented folk out there; voice recognition technology, such as Siri and Amazon's Alexa, simply have no clue what on Earth you're on about. But will the many accents of Britain disappear before the problem does?
Making judgements and sweeping generalisations about you based on your pronunciation of the word 'scone' is something we are likely to have all done, nevertheless your voice is also unique to you and is packed with quirks that your family and friends adore. It forms part of your identity. Your linguistic fingerprint reflects where you've been and who you surround yourself with. A ComRes poll as part of an ITV Tonight investigation asked 4,000 Brits what they thought the most intelligent, friendly and trust-worthy sounding accents were and the general consensus was as follows:
RP was rated as the most intelligent sounding, Devon was labelled as having the friendliest accent and both RP and Devon were top for trust-worthiness. However across the board accents like Brummy and Scouse were generally rated as unintelligent and unfriendly, signifying these prejudices are very real and their speakers are likely to feel the brunt of it too during interviews and first impressions.
So, could accent levelling be an unconscious response to these judgements and people no longer want to be held back by their differing diphthongs?
Another explanation for this shift in dialect variation is the tolerance of technology. As mentioned previously, any Geordies or Bristolians are likely to relate to the language barrier you have between yourself and your phone - which almost always results in a poor attempt at an impression of the Queen just to ask where the closest Nandos is. But as Artificial Intelligence develops, surely it will become more tolerant of thick accents or we may have all succumbed to Received Pronunciation before this happens. John Oliver acknowledges this issue in his recent interview on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The topic of conversation shifts to language barriers and whether he, as a Brit living in the States, has suffered any awkward miscommunications due to his accent. John Oliver is quick to mention automated machines and how they 'batter you into submission' to using a 'sedated John Wayne' style American accent and other audience members agree - so the UK isn't alone here.
Protesting for linguistic individuality, HSBC Bank are embracing our quirks and have recently introduced voice-recognition passwords, as opposed to a code or fingerprint, to maximise security. Their new biometric banking system obtains data on your voice, noting 50 physical and 50 behavioural characteristics which are unique to you. Allowing you access to personal information after speaking gibberish to your phone for approximately 15 seconds. If we converge further then it'll be interesting to see whether HSBC's biometric system also suffers.
*Unfinished, unsure on how to end/round up ideas*
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