People from North East among the best at detecting fake accents

A study by Cambridge University has found that people from the North East are more adept at spotting a fake accent compared to their counterparts in London and Essex.

The research indicated that individuals from Belfas, Glasgow, Dublin and the North East were the most skilled at identifying when someone was imitating their accent, while those from London, Essex, and Bristol struggled the most.

The researchers engaged around 50 speakers from seven different English accents to read sentences both in their natural accent and while attempting to mimic others. These accents included those from the North East, Belfast, Dublin, Bristol, Glasgow, Essex, and Received Pronunciation (RP), which is often considered standard British English.

Participants were then asked to listen to short clips and judge whether the accents were authentic or fabricated. In a subsequent part of the study, over 900 individuals from across the UK and Ireland were enlisted to listen to the recordings and discern if the accents were genuine or imitated.

The proficiency of participants from Scotland, the North East, Ireland, and Northern Ireland in determining the authenticity of recordings of their own accents varied between roughly 65% to 85%. Those hailing from Essex, London and Bristol had a success rate ranging from just over 50%, barely better than chance, to between 65% and 75%. The researchers discovered that participants across all groups were better than chance at detecting fake accents, succeeding just over 60% of the time.

Participants who naturally spoke in the test accent tended to detect more accurately than non-native listener groups – some of which performed worse than chance – but success varied between regions. The researchers suggest that the accents of speakers from Belfast, Glasgow, Dublin and North East England have culturally evolved over the past several centuries.

Study author Dr Jonathan R Goodman from Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies said: "We think that the ability to detect fake accents is linked to an area’s cultural homogeneity, the degree to which its people hold similar cultural values."

The authors noted that during this period there have been "multiple cases of between-group cultural tension, especially with the cultural group making up south-east England, particularly London". They propose that pressures "probably caused individuals from areas in Ireland and the northern regions of the UK to place emphasis on their accents as signals of social identity".

The study’s authors argue that "greater social cohesion among accent speakers may have increased the risks posed by free riders from other groups, necessitating improved accent recognition and mimicry detection – characteristics probably not needed by individuals without strong cultural group boundaries, such as those living in London". The study highlights that many speakers of the Essex accent moved to the area only over the past 25 years from London.

Previous studies have suggested that individuals tend to emphasise their accents when they wish to distinguish themselves for cultural reasons. Dr Goodman stated: "Cultural, political or even violent conflict are likely to encourage people to strengthen their accents as they try to maintain social cohesion through cultural homogeneity."

The research was published today in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences.