Page has no language set

WCAG 3.1.1 Language of Page, level A
Serious
Structure
Automated
Server pass

Why it matters

Screen readers choose a voice and pronunciation from the page language. Without it, an English page can be read with the wrong accent, or garbled.

How to fix it

Set the lang attribute on the <html> element. WordPress does this from the Site Language setting, so check the theme is calling language_attributes().

<!-- Before -->
<html>

<!-- After -->
<html lang="en-GB">

Read the W3C guidance: Understanding 3.1.1 Language of Page.

Related rules

Page language code is not valid (WCAG 3.1.1)
Page has no title (WCAG 2.4.2)
Several pages share the same title (WCAG 2.4.2)
Page has no main heading (h1) (WCAG 2.4.6)

Find this on your own site. A11yMate scans every page and lists where it happens. See pricing or browse all rules.