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Amanda Cole, Lecturer in Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex

Are Scottish accents really more aggressive? A linguist explains

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Can your accent make you sound aggressive? Exeter City football manager Gary Caldwell thinks so – he blamed his Scottish accent for his being sent off the pitch for the second time this season.

After receiving a red card for his reaction after a late goal was disallowed for handball, Caldwell said: “I didn’t swear, I didn’t run, in my opinion I wasn’t aggressive. My accent and my Scottishness is aggressive, but yeah, I got sent off for that.”

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