Aston University - Speak up for diversity

The status of regional dialects is to be raised by two new research projects looking at the way people speak in the Black Country and Birmingham. The studies at Aston University will examine how people engage with the two dialects through "imaginative performance texts such as poetry, comedy and live music". Esther Asprey, one of the project managers, said the aim was to raise the status of regional dialects through academic and lay publications, and to influence public attitudes towards the use of dialects in the Black Country.