Speaking allowed? Workplace regulation of regional dialect

an article by Elizabeth Eustace (Cardiff Metropolitan University) published in Work Employment & Society Volume 26 Number 3 (April 2012)

Abstract

This article addresses speech as an aspect of aesthetic labour. It demonstrates that, because speech is bound up with identity, attempts to enforce appropriacy in the speech of service sector workers may generate dilemmas and resistance.

The article offers empirical ethno-linguistic data from Glasgow in Scotland.

The data suggest that proscriptive approaches deny the linguistic identity and agency of the speaker and do little to enhance the work experience of employees or their communicative relationships with customers in service environments.

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