> There are some important aspects of voiceism that the author does not address. There is indeed an aspect of prejudice and stereotyping, but accents and dialec

> There are some important aspects of voiceism that the author does not address. There is indeed an aspect of prejudice and stereotyping, but accents and dialects intrinsically hinder communication to someone who is unfamiliar with them. Perhaps if it be quite far off from one's own, but in many cases it does not hinder at all. As a more interesting example, consider that intelligent characters in U.S.A. cinema have a statistically high probability of having either a received pronunciation, or German accent, — given that the target audience is one of the U.S.A., one can assume that either, especially the latter, would hinder communication to at least some degree, however marginal. Yet, both accents impart upon the listener an impression of intelligence. This was even referenced in The Practice, in one scene, where a lawyer for his expert witness specifically picked an expert with an English accent, on his experience that an R.P. English accent leads to U.S.A. jurors' holding the expert more credible. I'm quite sceptical that communication is truly hampered in many of these cases. It is certainly not difficult by any margin to understand what Eliza Doolittle is saying in My Fair Lady, but the story of course highlights the absurd degree of accent discrimination that permeates British society.