tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/accents-14057/articlesAccents – The Conversation2024-01-11T07:09:39Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1977512024-01-11T07:09:39Z2024-01-11T07:09:39ZWhy AI software ‘softening’ accents is problematic<p><a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/accent-masking-software-aims-to-smooth-call-center-interactions/7252799.html">“Why isn’t it a beautiful thing?”</a> a puzzled Sharath Keshava Narayana asked of his AI device masking accents.</p>
<p>Produced by his company, Sanas, the recent technology seeks to “soften” the accents of call centre workers in real-time to allegedly shield them from bias and discrimination. It has sparked widespread interest both in the <a href="https://abc7news.com/sanas-voice-technology-silicon-valley-startup-accent-remover-translator/12162646/">English-speaking</a> and <a href="https://www.ouest-france.fr/leditiondusoir/2022-09-02/ce-logiciel-qui-gomme-les-accents-dans-la-voix-des-teleoperateurs-fait-polemique-voici-pourquoi-933e7c7f-96eb-498e-b444-f4753f9019f5#:%7E:text=La%20start%2Dup%20am%C3%A9rican%20Sanas,new%20technology%20surrect%20the%20controversy.">French-speaking world</a> since it was launched in September 2022. </p>
<p>Far from everyone is convinced of the software’s anti-racist credentials, however. Rather, critics contend it plunges us into a <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03831544">contemporary dystopia</a> where technology is used to erase individuals’ differences, identity markers and cultures. </p>
<p>To understand them, we could do worse than reviewing what constitutes an accent in the first place. How can they be suppressed? And in what ways does ironing them out bends far more than sound waves? </p>
<h2>How artificial intelligence can silence an accent</h2>
<p>“Accents” can be defined, among others, as a set of oral clues (vowels, consonants, intonation, etc.) that contribute to the more or less conscious elaboration of hypotheses on the identity of individuals (e.g. geographically or socially). An accent can be described as regional or foreign according to different narratives. </p>
<p>With start-up technologies typically akin to black boxes, we have little information about the tools deployed by Sanas to standardise our way of speaking. However, we know most methods aim to at least partially transform the structure of the sound wave in order to bring certain acoustic cues closer <a href="https://www.cairn.info/la-phonetique--9782130653356-page-58.htm">to a perceptive criteria</a>. The technology tweaks vowels, consonants along with parameters such as rhythm, intonation or accentuation. At the same time, the technology will be looking to safeguard as many vocal cues as possible to allow for the recognition of the original speaker’s voice, such as with <a href="https://ircamamplify.com/realisations/cloning-vocal-pour-thierry-ardisson/"><em>voice cloning</em></a>, a process that can result in <a href="https://www.20minutes.fr/high-tech/2831107-20200729-le-deepfake-audio-la-nouvelle-arnaque-tendance-des-hackers"><em>deepfake vocal</em></a> scams. These technologies make it possible to dissociate what is speech-related from what is voice-related.</p>
<p>The automatic and real-time processing of speech poses technological difficulties, the main one being the quality of the sound signal to be processed. Software developers have succeeded in overcoming them by basing themselves on <a href="https://www.science-et-vie.com/definitions-science/deep-learning-69467.html"><em>deep learning</em></a>, <a href="https://www.rts.ch/info/sciences-tech/12796888-supprimer-les-accents-dune-voix-peut-la-rendre-plus-comprehensible.html">neural networks</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-linguistique-appliquee-2007-1-page-71.htm">large data bases of speech audio files</a>, which make it possible to better manage the uncertainties in the signal.</p>
<p>In the case of foreign languages, Sylvain Detey, Lionel Fontan and Thomas Pellegrini identify <a href="http://www.atala.org/sites/default/files/article-tap-didactique_21092017.pdf">some of the issues inherent in the development of these technologies</a>, including that of which standard to use for comparison, or the role that speech audio files can have in determining them. </p>
<h2>The myth of the neutral accent</h2>
<p>But accent identification is not limited to acoustics alone. Donald L. Rubin has shown that listeners can <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40196047">recreate the impression of a perceived accent</a> simply by associating faces of supposedly different origins with speech. In fact, absent these other cues, speakers are <a href="http://glottopol.univ-rouen.fr/telecharger/numero_31/gpl31_03avanzi_boulademareuil.pdf">not so good at recognising accents</a> that they do not regularly hear or that they might stereotypically picture, such as German, which many associate with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xUIDRxdmc">“aggressive” consonants</a>.</p>
<p>The wishful desire to iron out accents to combat prejudice raises the question of what a “neutral” accent is. Rosina Lippi-Green points out that <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203348802/english-accent-rosina-lippi-green">the ideology of the standard language</a> - the idea that there is a way of expressing oneself that is not marked - holds sway over much of society but has no basis in fact. <a href="https://luminosoa.org/site/chapters/e/10.1525/luminos.148.c/">Vijay Ramjattan</a> further links recent collossal efforts to develop accent “reduction” and “suppression” tools with the neoliberal model, under which people are assigned skills and attributes on which they depend. Recent capitalism perceives language as a skill, and therefore the “wrong accent” is said to lead to reduced opportunities. </p>
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<p>Intelligibility thus becomes a pretext for blaming individuals for their lack of skills in tasks requiring oral communication according to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0261927X19884619">Janin Roessel</a>. Rather than forcing individuals with “an accent to reduce it”, researchers such as <a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/jslp.20038.mun">Munro and Derwing</a> have shown that it is possible to train individuals to adapt their aural abilities to phonological variation. What’s more, it’s not up to individuals to change, but for public policies to better protect those who are discriminated against on the basis of their accent - <a href="https://accentism.org/">accentism</a>.</p>
<h2>Delete or keep, the chicken or the egg?</h2>
<p>In the field of sociology, Wayne Brekhus calls on us to pay specific attention to the invisible, weighing up what isn’t marked as much as what is, the “lack of accent” as well as its reverse. This leads us to reconsider the power relations that exist between individuals and the way in which we homogenise the marked: the one who has (according to others) an accent. </p>
<p>So we are led to Catherine Pascal’s question of <a href="https://www-cairn-info.bases-doc.univ-lorraine.fr/revue-management-des-technologies-organisationnelles-2019-1-page-221.htm">how emerging technologies can hone our roles as “citizens” rather than “machines”</a>. To “remove an accent” is to value a dominant type of “accent” while neglecting the fact that other co-factors will participate in the perception of this accent as well as the emergence of discrimination. “Removing the accent” does not remove discrimination. On the contrary, the accent gives voice to identity, thus participating in the phenomena of humanisation, group membership and even empathy: the accent is a channel for otherness.</p>
<p>If technologies such AI and <em>deep learning</em> offers us untapped possibilities, they can also lead to a dystopia where dehumanisation overshadows priorities such as the common good or diversity, as spelt out in the <a href="https://www.unesco.org/fr/legal-affairs/unesco-universal-declaration-cultural-diversity">UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity</a>. Rather than hiding them, it seems necessary to make recruiters aware of how accents can contribute to customer satisfaction and for politicians to take up this issue.</p>
<p>Research projects such as <a href="https://prosophon.atilf.fr/">PROSOPHON at the University of Lorraine (France)</a>, which bring together researchers in applied linguistics and work psychology, are aimed at making recruiters more aware of their responsibilities in terms of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0261927X19884619">biais awareness</a>, but also at empowering job applicants “with an accent”. By asking the question “Why isn’t this a beautiful thing?”, companies like SANAS remind us why technologies based on internalized oppressions don’t make people happy at work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197751/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grégory Miras ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>While AI now allows us to erase accents, is this really a good idea? Besides, who doesn’t have an accent?Grégory Miras, Professeur des Universités en didactique des langues, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2184242023-12-13T22:00:39Z2023-12-13T22:00:39ZHow ‘benevolent sexism’ undermines Asian women with foreign accents in the workplace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564585/original/file-20231208-31-f8j7mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=286%2C24%2C5177%2C3612&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To address barriers that racialized women with non-native accents experience in the Canadian workplace, we need to understand what kinds of bias they face.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-benevolent-sexism-undermines-asian-women-with-foreign-accents-in-the-workplace" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Immigrants are critical to the Canadian economy, but their talents are under-utilized due to language and accent discrimination, as immigrants often come from non-English or French speaking countries. </p>
<p>Workers with non-native or foreign accents <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/the-accent-effect-toronto-3-1.4409181">are often discriminated against at work</a>, yet our understanding of this phenomenon is limited because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2591">research on this topic has predominantly focused on men</a>.</p>
<p>However, more than half of Canadian immigrants are women — a statistic that could rise because of <a href="https://smithstonewalters.com/2023/11/08/canada-publishes-immigration-targets-for-2024-2026/">Canada’s ambitious immigration target</a> of half a million permanent residents by 2025. </p>
<p><a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/women-work-and-the-economy/sites/default/files/uploads/files/ircc_knowledge_synthesis_august_23_2021.pdf">Critically, 84 per cent of women immigrants are racialized</a>. To address barriers that racialized women with non-native accents experience in the Canadian workplace, we need to understand what kinds of bias they face. This will help organizations support women immigrants in fully utilizing their talents.</p>
<h2>Accent bias at work</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843231165475">Our recent research</a> examined whether the experiences of women with accents differ from men in the workplace. We did this by exploring how women with non-native English accents — specifically Mandarin — fare in the Canadian job market. </p>
<p>Speaking with a non-native accent involves maintaining speech sounds of one’s native language even after other aspects of speaking English are perfected. That is, speaking with a non-native accent is different from competency or fluency in English. </p>
<p>We used the stereotype content model to conduct our research. This model suggests that all people are judged on two traits: warmth and competence. Warmth is linked to co-operation, while competence is associated with higher status. </p>
<p>Individuals in high-status roles are seen as competent, while those in low-status roles are perceived as less competent. Women are traditionally stereotyped as warm, while men are seen as competent.</p>
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<img alt="An Asian woman in business attire working on a laptop at a desk in a communal office space" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eighty-four per cent of women immigrants are racialized in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>In three separate studies, participants were asked to decide whether they would consider hiring potential candidates for a job opening within their own organization or another organization. Participants were given audio recordings of the candidates in which some of the speakers had accents, while others did not.</p>
<p>Our research revealed that Asian women with a Mandarin accent were seen as more friendly, trustworthy and sincere than Asian women applicants with no accent. We found this bias present in both a volunteer student position and a paid marketing co-ordinator position. These amplified warmth perceptions translated into higher ratings of hireability.</p>
<p>There were no differences in warmth perceptions between Asian men applicants with and without accents. This is because men are not usually expected to show high levels of warmth.</p>
<h2>‘Benevolent sexism’</h2>
<p>On the surface, warmth bias may appear advantageous for Asian women with accents. However, it’s crucial to understand that gendered warmth stereotypes, despite <em>appearing</em> positive, are problematic. </p>
<p>These stereotypes are rooted in “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/benevolent-sexism">benevolent sexism</a>.” These beliefs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491">pigeonhole women into socially acceptable roles</a> by offering women who conform to a sense of affection, idealization and protectiveness. Women who do not conform may face social costs that can negatively affect their career progression.</p>
<p>This kind of sexism is socially acceptable, endorsed by both men and women and rarely seen as problematic. Yet, past research consistently shows that such attitudes undermine women at work. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310365902">managers with benevolent sexist tendencies do not assign challenging assignments to women</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587231178865">investors with similar beliefs are more likely to fund pitches from men</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, we found these seemingly positive effects of amplified warmth evaluations are only observed in industries traditionally considered feminine, such as fashion and cosmetics. In contrast, there are no such positive effects in industries perceived as masculine, like oil and gas. </p>
<p>This warmth bias contributes to occupational gender segregation, funnelling women towards lower-paying and lower-prestige industries and jobs. At the same time, women are being steered away from industries where they are already severely under-represented.</p>
<h2>Addressing bias at work</h2>
<p>At the government level, non-native accents need to be explicitly recognized as a discriminatory factor affecting the job prospects and well-being of immigrants. Workers with accents are aware of and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886318800997">negatively affected by accent discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this awareness, accents are not an explicit protected category under the Canadian Human Rights Act, although they are related to the protected category of national or ethnic origin. This lack of protection undermines the legitimacy of accent discrimination. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An Asian woman giving a presentation to a group of people using a whiteboard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To foster positive attitudes toward accents, racialized women with accents should be in visible and high-status roles in the workplace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>At the corporate level, race and gender biases are commonly addressed in equity and diversity initiatives, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2018/12/30/bias-is-your-accent-holding-you-back/">but accent bias is often overlooked</a>. To fight accent bias, more awareness needs to be raised about accents and how they affect racialized women in the workforce. Recruitment and hiring processes also need to be more objective by focusing on assessing job-relevant knowledge, skills and abilities.</p>
<p>Organizations and managers should foster positive employee attitudes toward accents by emphasizing the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/09/13/the-benefits-of-cultural-diversity-in-the-workplace/">benefits of a multicultural workforce</a>. Equally important is ensuring there are racialized women with accents in visible and high-status roles. </p>
<p>This stands in contrast to a popular solution of “accent reduction.” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/31/accent-reduction-racist-or-empowering-a-look-at-the-controversy.html">Accent reduction programs stigmatize accents</a> by suggesting they need to be corrected. Instead of focusing on what workers with accents can do to “fit in,” organizations need to focus on removing systemic barriers that workers with accents face.</p>
<p>Our research serves as a reminder to not evaluate workers based on stereotypes. Even purportedly positive stereotypes can undermine the careers of racialized women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ivona Hideg's research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Hancock's research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Winny Shen's research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p>Recent research explores how women with non-native English accents — specifically Mandarin — fare in the Canadian job market.Ivona Hideg, Associate Professor and Ann Brown Chair in Organization Studies, York University, CanadaSamantha Hancock, Assistant Professor, DAN Department of Management & Organizational Studies, Western UniversityWinny Shen, Associate Professor of Organization Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159222023-11-02T19:11:51Z2023-11-02T19:11:51ZUnderstanding all kinds of English accent can improve empathy and learning – and even be a matter of life and death<p>In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRcJQ9tMbY">2019 sketch</a> from the US late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL), the actor James McAvoy plays a Scottish air traffic controller attempting to help a US brand integration manager (Mikey Day) land a plane in distress, because the pilot has been knocked unconscious. The fact that Day’s character is not a pilot only partly explains why the mayday call is not a success. McAvoy lays on thick Glaswegian, in both accent and vocab, and none of the Americans on board understand a word he says. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UGRcJQ9tMbY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Airline safety is just one area of work where hazards in miscommunication are important to recognise. Research has long shown that communication issues are a chief cause of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329921857_Miscommunication_in_Pilot-controller_Interaction">airline crashes</a>. The SNL sketch neatly illustrates the potential problems that can arise when people don’t understand each other’s accents. </p>
<p>Such a lack of understanding can often lead to what linguists term <a href="https://theconversation.com/accentism-is-alive-and-well-and-it-doesnt-only-affect-the-north-of-england-148825">“accentism”</a>, or accent-based <a href="https://theconversation.com/posh-spice-sounds-posher-but-changing-your-working-class-accent-isnt-a-ticket-out-of-discrimination-189401">prejudice</a>. This typically sees the listener who doesn’t understand effectively blame the speaker for their accent. </p>
<p>But my research <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/weng.12561">shows</a> there is no accent, whether used by a native speaker of English or a non-native speaker, that is inherently easy or difficult to comprehend. Rather, it is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41124557_The_challenge_of_regional_accents_for_aviation_English_language_proficiency_standards_A_study_of_difficulties_in_understanding_in_air_traffic_control-pilot_communications">the lack of exposure</a> people have to a variety of accents that can cause communication difficulties. This is relevant wherever safety, but also empathy and learning, are central. </p>
<h2>Miscommunications in the air</h2>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_English">Aviation English</a> refers to the variety of English used between those flying the plane and those on the ground: air traffic control. Given its status as the global language, pilots are required to maintain a certain level of English to fly planes. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://skybrary.aero/">SKYbrary</a>, a website dedicated to providing information on air safety, 80% of airline incidents and accidents are caused by pilots and air traffic controllers not understanding each other. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people in a meeting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557272/original/file-20231102-23-qi2ydl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557272/original/file-20231102-23-qi2ydl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557272/original/file-20231102-23-qi2ydl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557272/original/file-20231102-23-qi2ydl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557272/original/file-20231102-23-qi2ydl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557272/original/file-20231102-23-qi2ydl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557272/original/file-20231102-23-qi2ydl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Communication problems stem from a lack of familiarity with accents different to one’s own.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/people-meeting-in-room-cw-cj_nFa14">Antenna|Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requires aviation personnel to “use an accent which is intelligible to the aeronautical community”. This implies that accents which are more familiar to people, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Received-Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a> (RP), are broadly understood, whereas accents tied to Liverpool or Glasgow, for example, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357912873_Attitudes_toward_regional_British_accents_in_EFL_teaching_Student_and_teacher_perspectives_R">are less so</a>. </p>
<p>But I have shown that no combination of vowel and consonant sounds is inherently difficult to understand. Rather, the degree to which someone is familiar with an accent will dictate how much they understand. It is a matter of accent exposure.</p>
<p>Within aviation, there are specific guidelines that actually contravene the idea that pilots and air traffic controllers should use familiar accents such as RP. According to the <a href="https://aviation-english.com/accents.htm">Aviation Accents</a> training programme, which specialises in exposing airline personnel to audio clips of a vast array of accents, English contains sounds that do not exist in many other languages or that speakers of many other languages often find difficult. </p>
<p>The ICAO therefore recommends pilots say “tree” instead of “three”, for example, because the English “th” sound does not exist in many other languages and can be difficult to pronounce. Similarly, people whose native languages do not differentiate between “l” and “r” sounds can have difficulty pronouncing English words such as “runway”. </p>
<h2>Exposure to accents in the wider world of work</h2>
<p>This potential for miscommunication has been shown to be <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315595641/misunderstandings-atc-communication-immanuel-barshi-candace-farris">just as clear</a> among native English speakers too. The words “hot” and “hat” said in a strong Chicago accent sound, to a British-English ear, like “hat” and “he-yut”, respectively. But if a British person spends a good amount of time in Chicago, they won’t find this confusing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students in a classroom with a teacher." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557276/original/file-20231102-21-cm6pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557276/original/file-20231102-21-cm6pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557276/original/file-20231102-21-cm6pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557276/original/file-20231102-21-cm6pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557276/original/file-20231102-21-cm6pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557276/original/file-20231102-21-cm6pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557276/original/file-20231102-21-cm6pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professionals at large would benefit from having greater exposure to all kinds of accents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/man-and-woman-sitting-on-chairs-zFSo6bnZJTw">Kenny Eliason|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>RP and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American_English">General American</a> have long been perceived as “traditonal” accents. Historically – <a href="https://theconversation.com/code-switching-the-pressure-on-people-to-change-how-they-speak-194302">and still today</a> – this kind of perception has led native English speakers to <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/speaking-up-accents-social-mobility/">change their accents</a> to improve their social mobility. </p>
<p>As a result, there is ample evidence that accent discrimination remains rife within the fields of teaching, banking, publishing and more. People are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320320024_Accent_and_Linguistic_Prejudice_within_British_Teacher_Training">judged</a> as not being “right” for the job.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17532315/">research increasingly shows</a> that, with greater exposure to other accents, people’s perception can adapt. This in turn can lead to better understanding. </p>
<p>In professions where not only safety but empathy are central, native English speakers will benefit from widening their own linguistic nets and becoming more proficient with the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/04/25/989765565/tower-of-babble-non-native-speakers-navigate-the-world-of-good-and-bad-english">vast array</a> of non-standard English <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/societal-codification-of-korean-english-9781350188556/">accents</a> out there. A global language, after all, will have global accents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Baratta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Accents are not inherently easy or difficult to comprehend. Rather, the lack of exposure people have to a variety of accents causes communication difficulties.Alexander Baratta, Senior lecturer in English Language, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019862023-03-30T15:06:38Z2023-03-30T15:06:38ZWhy some people lose their accents but others don’t – linguistic expert<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517645/original/file-20230327-28-1hfnt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4955%2C3496&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-talking-alphabet-letters-coming-out-1338858866">FGC/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The way a person speaks is an intrinsic part of their identity. It’s tribal, marking a speaker as being from one social group or another. Accents are a sign of belonging as much as something that separates communities.</p>
<p>Yet we can probably all think of examples of <a href="https://www.nickiswift.com/129381/celebs-who-suddenly-had-different-accents/">people who seem to have “lost” their regional or national accent</a> and of others whose accent stays firmly in place. </p>
<p>Given the personal and social importance of how someone speaks, why would anyone’s
accent change?</p>
<p>You may think of your accent as a physical part of who you are - but a conscious or subconscious desire to fit in can influence the way you speak, whether you want it to or not. Research has shown a person’s accent will move towards that of the <a href="https://asa.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1121/1.2722209?casa_token=jrQthQo3anIAAAAA%3A7wtXSo0jZhVKBI92dhTkGzV4CH8C8qEo1red9JtscK2bSOHmDuyRWfBJM3vUlDx36dQsG-6MfQ">group of speakers with which they identify</a> at some <a href="https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/investigating-the-foot-strut-distinction-in-northern-englishes-us">stage in their lives</a>. Accents are a fluid feature of speech. If someone moves from Australia to the US to work, for example, they will probably at least modify their accent, either consciously or unconsciously.</p>
<p>This may be out of a need or desire to be more clearly understood and to be accepted in a new community. They might also want to avoid ridicule for the way that they speak. Over a quarter of <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/speaking-up-accents-social-mobility/">senior professionals from working-class backgrounds in the UK</a> have been singled out for their accents at work. </p>
<h2>A sense of belonging</h2>
<p>For people whose accents do shift, the way they speak may be less important to their sense of identity, or their identity with a social or professional group may be more pressing. </p>
<p>Even before we are born, we are exposed to the speech patterns of those around us. Studies <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982209018247">of newborns</a> have found that it is possible to detect tonal aspects specific to their speech communities from their cries. To have our needs met, we are more or less programmed to fit in. We produce vocalisations that sound like they belong to our caregivers’ communities. We progress through various stages of speech development that result in us having speech patterns similar to those around us. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="girl talking with friend at terrace" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517646/original/file-20230327-19-41x8lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517646/original/file-20230327-19-41x8lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517646/original/file-20230327-19-41x8lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517646/original/file-20230327-19-41x8lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517646/original/file-20230327-19-41x8lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517646/original/file-20230327-19-41x8lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517646/original/file-20230327-19-41x8lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The way you talk is an important part of who you are.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/curious-caucasian-girl-talking-friend-terrace-1297522345">Look Studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Emerging into society, we mix with people outside our limited social group and are exposed to more patterns of speech. This can result in a child’s accent changing rapidly to be accepted by their peers. A colleague of mine from the US, for example, who works in the UK, told me how their child had begun to speak with a standard southern English accent since starting school. The parents were now being taught by their child to speak “correct” English.</p>
<h2>A strong identity</h2>
<p>For others whose accent does not seem to change, it could be because they feel secure in their identity, and their accent is very much part of that identity – or that <a href="https://www.latl.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2019/05/Heselwood_2000.pdf">preserving the difference is valuable to them</a>. They may not even be aware of how much their accent means to them. If a speaker has what most deem to be a desirable accent, they might not want to lose the advantage by modifying it. </p>
<p>Whether consciously or not, people have at least some control over their speech when they move home. But brain damage or stroke can, in rare cases, result in foreign accent syndrome (FAS). This syndrome results from physical changes that are not under the speaker’s control. Some areas in the brain are associated with producing and perceiving language, and we also have brain regions that control the motor aspects of speech. </p>
<p>If these are damaged, speakers may lose the ability to speak at all or experience changes in the way they articulate sounds because the motor area is sending different instructions to the vocal organs. An extreme example, reported recently in The Metro, describes how a woman, <a href="https://metro.co.uk/video/texas-woman-wakes-surgery-russian-australian-british-accent-2896413/">Abby French, from Texas, US,</a> woke up after surgery with foreign accent syndrome. </p>
<p>French claimed that she sounded Russian, Ukrainian or Australian at any one time. Listeners tend to guess at the accent they think the changed speech sounds most like. </p>
<p>In some cases, listeners might discriminate against a person with FAS as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001k0x5">they believe them to be foreigners</a>, which shows how much our speech can influence how others treat us. It’s no wonder many people unconsciously protect themselves by adapting their speech to those around them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Setter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Your subconscious sense of identity can influence how much your accent changes.Jane Setter, Professor of Phonetics, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1977042023-01-16T19:04:22Z2023-01-16T19:04:22ZWhy is Austin Butler still speaking in his Elvis voice? It could be a case of ‘role spill’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504568/original/file-20230116-29362-tyvddw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2133%2C1197&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros. Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve seen any of the videos or interviews with Austin Butler at the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-cate-blanchett-to-baz-luhrmann-aussiewood-at-the-80th-golden-globe-awards-196808">Golden Globes</a> you may have noticed he still sounds a bit like Elvis. In fact, many people have noted that despite being from California, he still sounds like he’s from the Deep South.</p>
<p>For actors, learning a new accent is incredibly demanding. Accent assimilation is a rigorous process that often requires listening deeply to archive material, documentaries, movies and interviews and observing linguistic details. </p>
<p>Austin Butler in his role as Elvis shows how an actor must be acutely responsive to the specifics of an accent, role, script style and demands of the film. </p>
<p>The actor works with a dialect coach, starting months or years before filming. The coach provides source recordings (a real person, for example, Elvis) and an accent breakdown. The actor will listen to the sound samples at every opportunity for total immersion. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1613006611898834944"}"></div></p>
<p>Significant practice and repetition are needed to integrate a new accent. Coaching includes layering all the elements to give an accent a solid foundation, slowly building from words to sentences, with the dialect coach providing continuous feedback until the actor is speaking in accent easily and consistently.</p>
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<h2>A little less conversation a little more action</h2>
<p>In cases where an actor is portraying an iconic figure, such as Elvis, there is huge responsibility to be convincing in the role. This can lead to actors staying in-accent for many months or years.</p>
<p>Examples of performers in this situation include Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy, Meryl Streep as Julia Child, and Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. </p>
<p>British actor Idris Elba <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/may/05/television-the-wire-idris-elba-obsessed">told the Guardian</a> it took moving to New York and three years of practising to get his American accent believable for his role in The Wire.</p>
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<p>Australian actor Nicole Kidman when rehearsing for Nine Perfect Strangers would <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt0Zhvy2P-Y%202min:45sec%20%E2%80%93%203min:25sec">stay in accent</a> all day, including at home with her family. Over five months the actors she was working with did not hear her Australian accent until the day filming ended.</p>
<p>US actor Forest Whitaker, when faced with the challenge of Idi Amin’s accent in The Last King of Scotland, <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/forest-whitaker-frightened-losing-idi-amin-accent-the-last-king-of-scotland.html/">admitted</a> he practised even when he wasn’t on set in an effort to stay immersed in the character. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was one time into rehearsals that I dropped it because I had to go down and meet all the dignitaries, and it took me days to get it back. I was so frightened because I was there a month before and I was like, ‘this is not going to happen again, I am not going to lose this character’.</p>
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<h2>What is role spill?</h2>
<p>Actors who live the part of a role, integrating accent, body, imagination and feelings may, post production, experience role spill. This is known in the acting community as boundary blurring: when the actor is finding it difficult to separate themselves from the character they’re playing and blurring the lines between professional and private roles. </p>
<p>Your voice is a direct expression of who you are and your experiences. The fusing of personal identity with characters is crucial to the craft of an actor. However, some actors can lose their “idiolect” (their individual way of speaking) and can retain features of accents they may have used for their character.</p>
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<p>An actor that completely loses himself in a role is Gary Oldman. Originally from South London, but having spent many years living in America, he has had to relearn his English accent for a film character in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. </p>
<p>Margot Robbie told <a href="https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/movie-news/i-lost-my-mind-i-genuinely-thought-we-were-these-people-margot-robbie-on-being-almost-delusional-for-i-tonya-36475679.html">Grazia magazine</a> that during filming I, Tonya, she “genuinely thought” a conversation she was having with fellow actor Sebastian Stan who played Tonya’s abusive husband, was real. The feelings and emotions can become so intensive they felt like the actor’s own.</p>
<h2>De-roling</h2>
<p>The term <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140605140011.htm#:%7E:text=De%2Droling%20is%20described%20as,when%20their%20performance%20is%20finished.">de-roling</a> refers to a technique which is thought to have originated within dramatherapy and psychodrama to assist the actor in “disrobing” or letting go of certain physical character traits that are not their own once they finish performing. </p>
<p>It’s a process that can help actors shed intense emotions or characters, and it’s crucial to the health of an artist. This can be done by shaking out the body and doing physical activities such as jumping and running on the spot to shake off the character. In addition to this, it can include taking deep breaths and vocal exercises including humming to release vocal fold tension and let go of negative emotions. In theatre, the ensemble or cast can agree to de-role together before leaving the theatre. </p>
<p>It can be difficult to de-role for an actor who has invested significant commitment to a successful transformation of accent, body and character. It can take months for an actor to feel they have let the character go, especially if they felt a strong synergy and connection with the character. </p>
<p>Speaking about her role as Mare Sheehan in the crime series Mare of Easttown, Kate Winslet <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMQzAgLYGTc">explained</a> “it was the hardest thing to let go of” and “she got under my skin…” </p>
<p>Once an actor moves on to a new project or spends time with close friends and family they may revert back to how they sounded before – or maybe not. Varying your speech sounds is not likely to affect an actor’s work opportunities in the future – arguably the more fluid you sound the better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luzita Fereday does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Viewers of the Golden Globes noticed the actor can’t seem to shake his Elvis voice – but apparently that’s a real issue for performers.Luzita Fereday, Lecturer in Voice at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts., Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1945192022-12-13T19:02:14Z2022-12-13T19:02:14ZNaur, yeah: Australia, you’re performing linguistic magic when you pronounce the two-letter word ‘no’. Here’s why<p>Have you ever thought about your pronunciation of the word “no”? If you say it out loud now, can you sense the movement of your tongue and lips as you form the “o” sound? You may notice there’s a lot to the pronunciation of the word in an Australian accent.</p>
<p>Clips of Australians saying this short, two-letter word have been trending on TikTok over the last year, with listeners fascinated by its pronunciation. </p>
<p>Speakers from outside Australia are also having a go at pronouncing the word themselves. Interestingly, when they write it out, they spell the word “naur”. </p>
<p>So, what is it people are hearing in the Aussie “no”, and why do they think there is an “r” sound at the end?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/oi-were-not-lazy-yarners-so-lets-kill-the-cringe-and-love-our-aussie-accent-s-111753">Oi! We're not lazy yarners, so let’s kill the cringe and love our Aussie accent(s)</a>
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<h2>What sorts of sounds make up speech?</h2>
<p>To be able to understand what is happening in an Australian pronunciation of the word, we need to first have a look at some of the elements of speech. Words are made up of vowels and consonants, and vowels themselves can be long or short. </p>
<p>Try saying out loud these words with long vowels: keep, dawn, far, soon and curl. Now these words with short vowels: cat, bed, hut, kid, nod and put. </p>
<p>Short and long vowels are all examples of monophthongs, vowels that have one single vowel element from start to finish. </p>
<p>Another category of vowels is diphthongs. These are vowels that have two distinct elements in one syllable. Words such as loud, prize, bay and void all contain diphthongs. </p>
<p>If we focus on the word “void”, try mouthing this word slowly as you say it out loud, and you may be able to sense your lips starting rounded in the shape of “aw” and then spreading to the shape of “ee”. Even though there are two distinct shapes within the vowel, the entire sound comprises one syllable, so it is called a diphthong. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aussie-accent-is-drink-related-thats-just-a-hangover-from-our-cultural-cringe-49956">The Aussie accent is drink-related? That's just a hangover from our cultural cringe</a>
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<h2>Okay, so what about the word ‘no’?</h2>
<p>What can happen in the word “no” is that the vowel becomes a triphthong – meaning there are three distinct elements to the vowel sound within one syllable. </p>
<p>While some Australian speakers would pronounce “no” as a diphthong, starting on “oh” as in dog and ending on “oo” as in put, others begin with an unstressed “a” (the sound at the end of the word “sofa”), then move to the “oh” and then “oo”.</p>
<p>Triphthongs are far less common, we don’t hear them often, which could be why the sound stands out to listeners.</p>
<p>You might be wondering how a speaker comes to pronounce “no” as a triphthong, when other words with the same vowel (such as boat, cone, loaf and oak) are pronounced as diphthongs. This could occur because the word “no” is an example of what linguists call an open syllable, meaning it has no consonant at its close. This allows the speaker to lengthen the vowel and draw it out – a feature we love in different Australian accents!</p>
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<p>In actor-training, we view vowels and consonants as having two different roles in language: vowels are the emotional components of words, and consonants are the intellect. In a word like “no”, a lot of emotion and feeling can be conveyed in the vowel, allowing a variety of meaning to come through in its pronunciation. </p>
<p>Just think of how many meanings the word “no” can have, from a polite “No” to an emphatic “No!”, to an unsure or contemplative “Noooo”. You would say the word in hundreds of different ways every week. Using intonation, modulation and emphasis, the word is given meaning depending on how you say it. </p>
<h2>But where does the ‘r’ come in?</h2>
<p>To return to the spelling that has taken off on TikTok – why do people think they hear an “r” at the end of an Australian pronunciation? </p>
<p>It could be that the listener is linking the sound to ones they have in their own accent. Another possibility is that when an Australian speaker holds the final part of the triphthong (the short “oo” as in “put”), their tongue may be moving closer to the roof of their mouth, beginning to sound like an “r”. However, they wouldn’t be going there consciously, and it may not feel anything like an “r” to them! </p>
<p>It’s important to note there are many varieties of Australian accents and not every speaker would pronounce “no” in the ways discussed here. Social media has created new platforms for sharing the voices of everyday speakers, not just those trained for media, stage, or screen. We’re now hearing different accent varieties that otherwise may not be heard by a global audience. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-aussies-have-a-different-accent-to-canadians-americans-british-people-and-new-zealanders-94725">Curious Kids: Why do Aussies have a different accent to Canadians, Americans, British people and New Zealanders?</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Hume does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s a lot to the pronunciation of the word ‘no’ in an Australian accent.Amy Hume, Lecturer In Theatre (Voice), Victorian College of the Arts, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1925482022-12-12T13:36:16Z2022-12-12T13:36:16ZDo accents disappear?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499828/original/file-20221208-14190-uu5no9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C352%2C6079%2C2821&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Speech patterns.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/diverse-cultures-international-communication-royalty-free-image/1390317952?phrase=language&adppopup=true">Bobboz via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Boston, there are <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-accent-endangered-growing-population-language-expert-marjorie-feinstein-whittaker-david-wade/">reports of people pronouncing the letter “r</a>.” Down in Tennessee, people are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMggeVfS6j8">noticing a lack of a Southern drawl</a>. And Texans have <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/are-texans-losing-their-distinctive-twang/">long worried about losing their distinctive twang</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, around the United States, communities are <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/03/health/regional-american-accents-wellness/index.html#:%7E:text=What%20I%20came%20to%20find,at%20a%20very%20slow%20pace.&text=The%20significance%20of%20evolving%20accents,used%20to%20in%20the%20past.">voicing a common anxiety</a>: Are Americans losing their accents?</p>
<p>The fear of accent loss often emerges within communities that face demographic and technological changes. But on an individual level “losing one’s accent” is also part of a profit-driven industry, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0004">accent reduction services</a> promising professional and personal benefits to clients who change their speech by ironing out any regionalisms or foreign pronunciations.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Boston has one of the most famous – and often-parodied – American accents.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But is it really possible to lose one’s accent? <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FKWfqK0AAAAJ&hl=en">Linguistic researchers</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7wvy13gAAAAJ&hl=en">like us</a> suggest the answer is complicated — no one becomes truly “accentless,” but accents can and do change over time.</p>
<p>To us, what’s more interesting is why so many people believe they can lose their accent – and why there are such differing opinions about why this may be a good or bad thing.</p>
<h2>Is there a ‘standard’ accent?</h2>
<p>It’s best to think of an accent as a distinct, systematic, rule-governed way of speaking, including sound features such as intonation, stress and pronunciation.</p>
<p>Accent is not a synonym for dialect, but it’s related. Dialect is an umbrella term for the way a community pronounces words (phonology), creates words (morphology), and orders words (syntax).</p>
<p>Accent is the phonological part of a dialect. For example, when it comes to the Boston dialect, a key feature of its accent is <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=pwpl">r-deletion, or r-dropping</a>. This occurs most frequently after certain vowels, so that a phrase like “far apart” could be pronounced like “fah apaht,” with the “r” sound vocalizing, or turning into a vowel. This results in a longer vowel pronunciation in each word.</p>
<p>Many people believe that there is a single standard way of speaking in each country, and that this perceived standard is inherently the best form of speech. However, linguists often point out that the concept of a standard accent is better understood as <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203348802-5/standard-language-myth-rosina-lippi-green">an idealization rather than a reality</a>. In other words, no one speaks “standard English”; rather, it is an imagined way of using language that exists only in grammar and style books.</p>
<p>One reason linguists agree there is no one true standard is that, through the years, there have been multiple supposed standards, such as <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/network-standard">Received Pronunciation in the U.K. and Network Standard in the U.S.</a> – think of a newsreader’s cadence in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amgzdqbdsHQ">1950s BBC newsreel</a>, or Kent Brockman’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4jWAwUb63c">on “The Simpsons</a>.”</p>
<p>The idea of a standard changes over time and place. There has never been a single standard that’s been fully agreed upon – and broadcast outlets across the spectrum have never consistently held to those standards anyway.</p>
<p>Even so, this idea of a standard accent is powerful. An episode of NPR’s podcast “Code Switch” tells the story of <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/636442508">Deion Broxton</a>, who in recent years applied for jobs as a broadcasting reporter but was repeatedly turned down because of his Baltimore accent.</p>
<p>Many other workplace and educational environments similarly perpetuate the idea that nonstandard accents are less appropriate, or even inappropriate, in certain professional spaces. Scholars have found that Southern U.S. accent features are more accepted in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023121999161">government, law and service-oriented workplaces than in the technology sector</a>. The acceptability of nonstandard accents may correlate with differences in class and culture, with newer or higher-prestige industries expecting more standard speech in the workplace.</p>
<h2>What is accent leveling?</h2>
<p>The pressure to sound standard is one force that can lead to what linguists describe as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.1998.32.1-2.35">dialect leveling</a>” or “accent leveling.” This occurs when there is a loss of diverse features among regional language varieties. For example, if a U.S. Southerner feels social or economic pressure to shift from pronouncing the word “right” with one vowel – sounding like “raht” – to make it sound like “ra-eeyt” with a diphthong (two vowel sounds), they may be diminishing their use of <a href="https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/united-states-of-accents-southern-american-english">a common marker for Southern speech</a>. This is technically not accent loss, but rather accent change. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A guide to U.S. accents.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But accent leveling can also be motivated by language contact, when people with multiple dialects come into regular interaction because of migration and other demographic mobility. Areas that have in recent decades experienced high levels of immigration have often pointed to the mixing of different languages and accents as driving the loss of traditional, distinctive speech patterns.</p>
<p>Although modern conveniences such as cars, highway systems and the internet make moving and interacting across distances easier than ever before, accent leveling due to human geography is not new. As the U.S. South became more industrial in the late 19th century, and people moved into bigger communities, <a href="https://benjamins.com/catalog/veaw.g18.24bai">an accent leveling occurred</a>, resulting in some of the features we now say are distinctly Southern. We see this in, for example, the <a href="https://www.acelinguist.com/2020/01/the-pin-pen-merger.html">pin/pen merger</a>. Before 1875, vowels before nasal sounds like “m” and “n” in words such as “pin” and “pen” were pronounced differently. But some Southern speakers in the late 19th century began to pronounce “pen” and “pin” identically, with this merger generally spreading throughout Southern American English in the first half of the 20th century.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://benjamins.com/catalog/veaw.g18.24bai">similar trajectory occurred</a> with other Southern accent features, such as the shifting of the diphthong in “right” to a single vowel sound closer to “raht” and <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1815&context=pwpl">the spread of Southern drawl</a> – with lengthening of vowels, in which words such as “that” are pronounced more like “thaa-uht.”</p>
<p>As long as humans continue moving and time keeps passing, accent change will continue happening, too.</p>
<h2>Why people fear accent loss</h2>
<p>Many people fear accent loss because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780418816335">language is intimately tied to identity</a>. But when considering the connection between language and identity, it is worth distinguishing genuine concerns about dialect loss from more irrational fears about language change. </p>
<p>In a broader sense, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119147282.ch3">the spread of American English on a global scale</a>, and its economic and social effects, can lead to the loss of local identities, traditions and languages. There are similar concerns about loss of regional accents in the U.S.</p>
<p>Linguists argue that <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/417058">dialect death should be taken seriously</a>. It results in the loss of diverse cultures and intellectual traditions. Because language is so important to identity, some communities around the world have made deliberate efforts to <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijsl.2005.2005.175-176.193/html">revitalize dialects</a> that have been dying, such as the rural Valdres dialect of Norwegian. This variety experienced a resurgence thanks to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1395.2012.01116.x">a dialect popularity contest</a> held by a radio network in Norway.</p>
<p>Similarly, in the U.S. there have been efforts to revitalize particular dialects of Indigenous languages, such as the <a href="https://shareok.org/handle/11244/44895">Skiri and South Band dialects of the Pawnee language in Oklahoma</a>, and to embrace varieties such as <a href="https://www.routledge.com/African-American-English-Structure-History-and-Use/Mufwene-Rickford-Bailey-Baugh/p/book/9780367760687">African American English</a>.</p>
<p>The successes of language revitalization and maintenance can be applauded without suggesting that all types of language change must be resisted. There is a difference between powerful social and economic forces compelling a shift in one’s accent and the natural shifting of language due to regular interactions among people from different backgrounds and regions. </p>
<h2>Embracing accents, embracing change</h2>
<p>When people talk of “accent loss,” it is always good to explore the shifting demographics of the area to question whether the accent is truly being lost, whether it is changing or whether it is being maintained alongside many other accents new to the region.</p>
<p>For example, when students at our school, Kennesaw State University in Georgia, were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRQA0zpqmY">recently asked why the Southern accent was changing</a>, several noted the number of people from the North who are moving to the Atlanta metro area. </p>
<p>When people move from one region to another, our desire to communicate effectively can lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444318159.ch10">accommodating one another’s accent</a>, producing slight shifts in how we speak and at times even adopting features of one another’s accents. </p>
<p>With time, these shifts become normalized, and new accent features can emerge. </p>
<p>But such accent evolution isn’t something that should cause concern.</p>
<p>Linguistic accommodation allows for better communication among individuals and groups from different geographic locations and across different spaces and cultures – a thing to celebrate and not automatically fear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many people fear the disappearance of the unique way some communities speak. But accent loss is a complicated notion and embracing both language variation and change can be an important social goal.Chris C. Palmer, Professor of English, Kennesaw State UniversityMichelle Devereaux, Associate Professor of English Education, Kennesaw State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1931762022-11-02T17:06:04Z2022-11-02T17:06:04ZJames Bond’s ethnicity might change – but his accent probably won’t<p>The cinematic character of James Bond has changed with the times since the first Bond film Dr No was released back in 1962. We have seen Bond as a <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2021/09/23/james-bond-director-says-sean-connery-character-basically-rapes-woman/5826149001/">chauvinistic womaniser</a>, a <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/best-james-bond-roger-moore-sean-connery-daniel-craig-brosnan-860101">fun-loving <em>bon vivant</em></a>, and, more recently, a sometimes brutal yet three-dimensional character, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/21/next-james-bond-will-sensitive-producers-say/">capable of empathy and sorrow</a>. </p>
<p>Most obviously, the face of Bond has changed over the years, with six actors – seven if you include David Niven in the first Casino Royale – playing the coveted role. All these actors have been white – leading to discussion over whether a future Bond could be <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/idris-elba-has-been-part-of-the-conversation-to-be-the-next-james-bond">another ethnicity</a>. However, while Bond’s race or even gender might change in the future, there is one aspect of his portrayal that I believe will be <a href="https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/abstract/10.24877/jbs.77/">unlikely to shift</a>: his accent. </p>
<p>Granted, there is some degree of accent diversity with the various Bond actors. Sean Connery’s Scottish tones occasionally creep through, for instance. But overall, these are brief moments. All the actors who have played Bond used an upper-class British “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/received-pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a>” (RP) accent – whether more “pure”, such as that of Roger Moore and Daniel Craig, or one which went to lengths to remove regional features, such as Connery’s. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">James Bond’s accent used in an RP language tutorial.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Sean Connery had been advised <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1259084/sean-connery-news-james-bond-no-time-to-die-told-tone-down-scottish-accent-spt">early in his career</a> to “get rid” of his Scottish accent, and the Australian George Lazenby <a href="https://nypost.com/2015/12/13/george-lazenby-bluffed-his-way-into-being-james-bond-then-bumbled-it/">had elocution lessons</a> to prepare for his role as Bond. It is unlikely that Bond would ever use a more regional accent, one which might suggest a working-class hero. </p>
<p>The character of James Bond <a href="https://www.looper.com/185390/the-entire-james-bond-timeline-explained/">attended top private schools</a>, and – <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/the-original-007">in the films at least</a> – studied at Cambridge. He served as an officer in the Royal Navy before working for the British Secret Service. He knows his wines (and sherries and brandies), speaks several languages, enjoys fine cuisine and luxury hotels, and has travelled the world. He owns a mansion and family estate in Scotland. </p>
<h2>Member of the elite</h2>
<p>This all invokes a member of society who is part of the societal elite. Given RP’s <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/accents-of-english/1E9E89C38DFD0AB53B47EF96D8442594">association with the ruling class</a> and those with societal power, it is a fitting accent for a character whose background indeed belongs to a member of this exclusive group. This does not mean Bond must be portrayed as an aristocrat and use a variety of RP that suggests landed gentry, but the character must speak with an accent that nonetheless still represents the cultural capital he embodies.</p>
<p>RP does not have the same <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5756245/Queens-English-tool-social-mobility.html">grip on British society</a> as it once did – it is no longer the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/received-pronunciation">standard for the BBC</a>, for instance. But it remains an accent which is both associated with the upper classes and is difficult to pinpoint to a specific geographical region. A nondescript accent like this means there is less potential to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12561">stereotype the speaker</a>. A Bond with a broad regional accent risks – in Britain at least – being associated with the potential negative imagery that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2007.00311.x">often accompanies</a> such accents. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for the most recent Bond film, No Time to Die.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Britain may be ready for a regionally accented Bond, precisely as a reflection of the more diverse society in which we live. “BBC English” is no longer synonymous with RP. And we must not forget the camaraderie – and pride – that speakers with broad regional accents can share. </p>
<p>But Bond inherits the connotations of his RP accent, which to this day are still mostly positive in terms of suggested societal prestige and power. And, for a character who embodies power, sophistication and dominance, an accent which reflects this is entirely necessary.</p>
<p>In the most recent Bond film, No Time to Die, actor <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/sep/12/lashana-lynch-first-female-007-i-never-had-a-plan-b-no-time-to-die">Lashana Lynch</a> portrays a double-O MI6 agent who is black, female – and speaks with an RP accent. Regardless of how the character changes in the 2020s and beyond, it seems highly likely that the cinematic Bond will retain an accent which does not fall too far from RP, with only a hint of regionality here and there, if at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193176/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Baratta works for the University of Manchester.</span></em></p>007 uses an English upper-class, ‘Received Pronunciation’ accent.Alexander Baratta, Lecturer in English Language, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1894012022-09-14T16:49:10Z2022-09-14T16:49:10ZPosh Spice sounds posher, but changing your working-class accent isn’t a ticket out of discrimination<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484102/original/file-20220912-14-735n3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C47%2C4425%2C2943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even one of the UK's most famous couples isn't free from accent discrimination.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/david-beckham-victoria-arrive-fashion-awards-1256351692">Bakounine / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Accentism – discriminating against someone because of their accent – has a long history in the UK, where the way someone speaks is often an easy way to tell their social class. People with working-class accents are frequently criticised and encouraged to speak “properly”. This is true even for people who have achieved fame or success in the media or politics. </p>
<p>But changing the way one speaks isn’t necessarily a fix. When people with working-class accents begin to speak in a more “posh” way, it is often seen as inauthentic and insincere. The latest example is Victoria Beckham, whose accent in a recent video has been <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11133919/Victoria-Beckham-leaves-fans-baffled-posh-accent-Instagram-makeup-tutorial-video.html">subject to criticism</a>.</p>
<p>Beckham was born in Essex and raised in Hertfordshire, and her husband David Beckham was raised in east London. Despite the couple’s enormous wealth and success, they come from working-class backgrounds and continue to be seen as such. They have previously been <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-409087/The-Chav-Rich-List.html">labelled</a> “chavs” a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/interactive/2011/sep/01/extract-chavs-owen-jones">contemptuous, stereotyped moniker</a> of the working class. </p>
<p>Their accents have typically included working-class, vernacular linguistic traits from London or southern England more broadly. In 2014, David Beckham was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/voices2005/stats.shtml">voted</a> one of the British public’s least pleasant voices. In 2010, Victoria Beckham was slated for both her appearance and her accent when she was a guest judge on American Idol. </p>
<p>US paper the Village Voice, <a href="https://www.villagevoice.com/2010/01/13/american-idol-season-9-chris-brown-touches-kids-victoria-beckham-has-no-spice-at-boston-auditions/">wrote</a>: “I always thought a British accent made people sound smart but I guess I was wrong.” Her fellow British judge, privately educated Simon Cowell, was not criticised for his very standard, southern English accent. </p>
<p>A recent makeup tutorial video posted by Victoria Beckham revived longstanding speculation that the Beckhams are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2013/apr/20/debate-accent-david-victoria-beckham">changing their accents</a> and even having <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/news/a7195/poshs-elocution-classes-94623/">elocution lessons</a>.</p>
<h2>Changing accents</h2>
<p>We all have different accents. We can speak in <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/style/nikolas-coupland/9780521618144">different ways</a> depending on factors like who we are talking to, our emotional state, the formality of the situation and the topic of conversation. But our accents can also change throughout our life, depending on the ways of speaking we are exposed to, depending on where we live and who we talk to (footballer Joey Barton was a remarkable <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2012/nov/26/joey-barton-english-french-accent-video">example</a>). </p>
<p>Even Queen Elizabeth II experienced <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/abs/monophthongal-vowel-changes-in-received-pronunciation-an-acoustic-analysis-of-the-queens-christmas-broadcasts/6CE5E6C291D0D896F125ECF381F0A8A0">accent change</a> throughout her life, which matched the subtle changes happening in standard southern English. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24671937#metadata_info_tab_contents">Research</a> has also found that Glaswegians who are fans of the soap opera EastEnders are more likely to speak with elements of a cockney accent. </p>
<p>A person with a working-class accent may also consciously adapt their accent if they feel it holds them back or they are perceived as unintelligent (<a href="https://theconversation.com/working-class-and-ethnic-minority-accents-in-south-east-england-judged-as-less-intelligent-new-research-162886">which probably is the case</a>). Changing your accent is no easy feat, and the burden is greater for those whose accent is further from the standard. </p>
<p>There are also examples of people with standard accents suddenly and uncharacteristically speaking with less standard and more working-class accents, such as politician Ed Miliband when talking to comedian Russell Brand. Although Miliband was seen as hospitably finding an “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/29/accent-on-common-ground-as-miliband-takes-on-russell-brands-estuary-twang">accent on common ground</a>” in a generous act of extending familiarity.</p>
<p>But when a person is thought to have begun speaking more “posh”, like Victoria Beckham (and also <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/meghan-markles-posh-accent-baffles-fans/H4HF64OBGOVYCNLPODMVA36XS4/">Meghan Markle</a>), they can be unfairly ridiculed as fake or pretentious. Victoria Beckham perfectly exemplifies how working-class people are criticised for speaking, no matter how posh their accent is. It is being working-class that is the problem. </p>
<h2>Working-class accentism</h2>
<p>My own Essex accent is often brought up when sharing my expertise in linguistics. On a BBC radio interview, the presenter read aloud a listeners’ text: “Try getting someone who can speak correctly if you’re going to talk about grammar.” My experience is <a href="https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-universities-2022-5-academics-complain-of-ongoing-accentism-at-uk-universities/">not unusual</a> for academics with working-class accents. </p>
<p>People in the public eye with working-class accents are constantly singled out. Rylan Clark was <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10431059/Viewers-left-tizz-Rylan-Clarks-dropped-Ts-One-Show.html">slammed</a> for t-glottalling (dropping t) on The One Show. A BBC announcer was <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4931694/Viewers-slam-BBC-announcer-saying-f-instead-th.html">criticised</a> for th-fronting (“thriller” as “friller”). </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyVineOn5/status/1544237167978971137">Debate</a> constantly ensues about whether Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of the Labour party, sounds sufficiently “professional” in Parliament. And Alastair Campbell <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12681191/alistair-campbell-mock-priti-patel-accent/">wrote</a> about Priti Patel: “I don’t want a home secretary who can’t pronounce a G at the end of a word.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Angela Rayner speaking at a podium with a red placard reading Stronger Future Together, Labour Party" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484319/original/file-20220913-4133-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484319/original/file-20220913-4133-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484319/original/file-20220913-4133-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484319/original/file-20220913-4133-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484319/original/file-20220913-4133-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484319/original/file-20220913-4133-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484319/original/file-20220913-4133-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour party, is a regular target of accentism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brighton-uk-0925-labour-party-deputy-2047401542">Rupert Rivett / Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Lord Digby Jones singled out <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/im-proud-of-my-accent-says-alex-scott-after-lord-joness-jibe-nfs0t9bps#:%7E:text=The%20sports%20presenter%20Alex%20Scott,not%20pronouncing%20her%20'g's%E2%80%9D">sports commentator Alex Scott</a> for saying “swimming” as “swimmin’ in her Olympics coverage. She hit back that she was proud of her working-class accent, to which Jones accused her of ”<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/lord-digby-jones-alex-scott-criticism-b948671.html">playing the class card</a>“. He insisted it was "not about accents” but instead: “It is about the fact that she is wrong. You do not pronounce the English language ending in a ‘g’ without the ‘g’”. </p>
<p>Comments like these demonstrate a spectacular misunderstanding of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ask-or-aks-how-linguistic-prejudice-perpetuates-inequality-175839">basic linguistic principles</a>. Beyond this, saying swimmin’ – or indeed, dropping t or th-fronting – has everything to do with both accent and class. Across Britain, working-class people are the most likely to speak with accents that mark out where they are from and are the furthest removed from Queen’s English.</p>
<p>If working-class accents are not seen as appropriate in the media, politics and academia, then working-class people are not seen as appropriate in these domains. The commonplace notion that accent pedantry is actually just upholding good diction, decent standards, clear articulation or the inherent “correctness” of English is a rickety scaffolding for <a href="https://accentism.org/">accent prejudice</a> that keeps working-class people in their place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Cole is affiliated with The Accentism Project which she runs along with Dr Rob Drummond to raise awareness and challenge accentism. </span></em></p>People change their accents for many reasons, but it doesn’t necessarily protect them from accentism.Amanda Cole, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Institute for Analytics and Data Science) Department of Language and Linguistics, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1871092022-07-19T13:07:35Z2022-07-19T13:07:35ZLove Island’s Tasha is the show’s first deaf contestant – here’s what you should know about deaf accents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474830/original/file-20220719-20-fbzwr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C182%2C3791%2C5516&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tasha Ghouri is the first deaf Islander on the popular ITV show.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.itv.com/presscentre/itvpictures/galleries/islanders-itv2-generic">ITV / Lifted Entertainment</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I sat down to watch the first episode of this year’s Love Island with my daughter as I was told that there was a deaf contestant appearing on the show. I don’t usually watch Love Island, but as a deaf person I was intrigued to find out more about how this contestant, Tasha Ghouri, would handle being the only deaf person on the show. </p>
<p>I asked my daughter, who is hearing, whether or not she could hear that Ghouri was deaf – she seemed to be communicating with her hearing peers with complete ease. My daughter replied: “I can hear the deaf in her voice.” This was not surprising, as several members of my family are deaf and I socialise mainly with deaf people. My daughter is highly familiar with what we, deaf people, call, “deaf accent”, also known to researchers as “deaf speech”. </p>
<p>Sadly, a few weeks into the show, there has been a wave of online trolling and abuse <a href="https://graziadaily.co.uk/celebrity/news/love-island-tasha-ghouri-trolling-deaf/">directed at Ghouri</a>. Much of this has focused on her cochlear implant – an electronic device that allow some deaf people to hear and process speech (this varies greatly among deaf people) – and her accent.</p>
<p>An accent refers to people’s voice quality, intonation and their pronunciation of both vowels and consonants. In general, people tend to have an accent when speaking that reflects their gender, ethnicity, social class, age and their region or country of origin (among other factors). Other linguistic differences in vocabulary and grammar are known as dialects, and relate to the same social factors as accents. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-were-searching-england-for-new-dialects-181897">Why we're searching England for new dialects</a>
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<p>Accents may also indicate that a person has a disability, including deaf people. “Deaf accent” occurs because deaf people are often unable to hear the full range of sounds that hearing people hear. This means that they are not always able to replicate the full range of sounds in spoken words. Speech also has various tones or intonation patterns that deaf people may also be unable to hear, thus they do not replicate those. There is a high degree of variability in deaf accents simply because every deaf person is different, with some who are mildly deaf and others who are profoundly deaf. </p>
<p>Quite often, deaf people undergo speech therapy (whether they want to or not) during their school years to learn how to pronounce sounds and words they’re unable to hear. Many deaf people have quite <a href="https://www.handspeak.com/learn/index.php?id=371">negative experiences</a> of speech therapy. For deaf people, learning to speak and using speech can be quite a conscious and laborious process. </p>
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<p>In addition to a deaf accent, it is quite possible for a deaf person to have a regional accent, depending on how deaf they are. Deaf people from different parts of the country, like hearing people, can sound different from one another when they speak. </p>
<p>As well as having varying accents, deaf people frequently comment that they can “see” accents, because different sounds may appear different on the lips. In a <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/applirev-2020-0144/html">recent study</a>, deaf people mentioned that mouthing varied in different parts of the country. This shows that deaf people are aware of differences in accents, giving examples such as how the word “bath” looks differently articulated by deaf people from the north and south of England. </p>
<h2>‘Accents’ in sign language</h2>
<p>Many deaf people in the UK use British Sign Language (BSL). Like spoken English, there is a high degree of variability, depending on social factors. Technically, there is <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/applirev-2020-0144/html">little evidence</a> for accent in sign languages – that is, systematic variation in pronunciation in signs such as their handshape or other formational features – related to social factors such as region.</p>
<p>But there is definitely widespread lexical variation, with different signs used for a given concept. This is similar to differences in dialect in spoken English,
like the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/lexical-variation-across-the-uk">different words for the shoes</a> that British children wear for PE. </p>
<p>We found in <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/applirev-2020-0144/html">our research</a> that BSL signers tend to equate this lexical variation with accent. We think this is because this variation is very noticeable, and marks regional identity in BSL in the same way that accents do in spoken languages. For example, <a href="https://bslsignbank.ucl.ac.uk/dictionary/regional/sixteen-1.html">signs for numbers</a> can vary greatly.</p>
<p>Importantly, we found in the same study that BSL signers place a high value on the regional variation in BSL. It’s part of what makes it a rich language, on equal footing with English, the surrounding majority language. The contestants on Love Island come from all over the UK and the world. In this season alone, there is accent variation from London, Newcastle, Wales, Italy and Essex, to name a few – Tasha’s accent is just another example of the rich diversity in English accents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187109/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Rowley receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). She works for University College London (UCL) and has her own freelance business (Language Wise). </span></em></p>Deaf people from different parts of the world can have different accents, whether they speak, sign or both.Kate Rowley, Lecturer in Deafness, Cognition and Language, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817712022-05-20T12:13:52Z2022-05-20T12:13:52ZWhat makes us subconsciously mimic the accents of others in conversation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464014/original/file-20220518-17-6a6giq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5352%2C3739&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When you imitate the speech of others, there's a thin line between whether it's a social asset or faux pas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-politics-convention-chicago-by-franklin-mcmahon-news-photo/526979648?adppopup=true">Franklin McMahon/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever caught yourself talking a little bit differently after listening to someone with a distinctive way of speaking? </p>
<p>Perhaps you’ll pepper in a couple of y’all’s after spending the weekend with your Texan mother-in-law. Or you might drop a few R’s after binge-watching a British period drama on Netflix.</p>
<p>Linguists call this phenomenon “<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220308120147.htm">linguistic convergence</a>,” and it’s something you’ve likely done at some point, even if the shifts were so subtle you didn’t notice. </p>
<p>People tend to converge toward the language they observe around them, whether it’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90048-5">copying word choices</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.427">mirroring sentence structures</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2011.09.001">mimicking pronunciations</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GWJGP9AAAAAJ&hl=en">But as a doctoral student in linguistics</a>, I wanted to know more about how readily this behavior occurs: Would people converge based on evidence as flimsy as their own expectations of how someone might sound?</p>
<p>Three years of experimentation and an entire dissertation later, I had my answer, which was <a href="https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Wade%20Lg%20article.pdf">just published</a> in the academic journal Language.</p>
<p>People do, in fact, converge toward speech sounds they expect to hear – even if they never actually hear them.</p>
<h2>What, exactly, is convergence?</h2>
<p>But before getting into the specifics, let’s talk about what convergence is and how it’s related to other speech adjustments like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405166256.ch13">code-switching</a>, which refers to alternating between language varieties, or <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cTPUrGpvHs0C&oi=fnd&pg=PA235&dq=rickford+mcnair+knox+&ots=TYFzbWpMrr&sig=lT_lmKj4qKiJ6wnWFEk1uoYWF2o#v=onepage&q=rickford%20mcnair%20knox&f=false">style-shifting</a>, which happens when a person uses different linguistic features in different situations. </p>
<p>Convergence refers to the shifts people make to their speech to approximate that of those around them. This is an intentionally broad definition meant to encompass all sorts of adjustments, whether intentional or inadvertent, prominent or subtle, or toward entire dialects or particular linguistic features.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drawing of people seated at a bar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464025/original/file-20220518-19-w2t15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464025/original/file-20220518-19-w2t15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464025/original/file-20220518-19-w2t15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464025/original/file-20220518-19-w2t15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464025/original/file-20220518-19-w2t15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464025/original/file-20220518-19-w2t15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464025/original/file-20220518-19-w2t15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">When people chat with one another, certain sounds and word choices will converge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/americans-in-chicago-watch-richard-nixons-trip-to-china-on-news-photo/526989396?adppopup=true">Franklin McMahon/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>You could imitate aspects of speech you actually observe. Or maybe you throw in some words you think kids these days use, only to have your use of “bae” and “lit” be met with teenage eye rolls. </p>
<p>Code-switching or style-shifting can also be examples of convergence, as long as the shift is toward an interlocutor – the person you’re talking to. But people can also shift away from an interlocutor, and this is called “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269710388_The_Language_of_Intergroup_Distinctiveness">divergence</a>.”</p>
<p>Code-switching and style-shifting can occur for other reasons, too, like how you feel, what you’re talking about and how you want to be perceived. You might drop your G’s more and say things like “thinkin’” when reminiscing about a prank you played in high school – but switch to more formal speech when the conversation shifts to a new job you’re applying to.</p>
<h2>Are expectations enough to alter speech?</h2>
<p>To determine whether people converge toward particular pronunciations they expect but never actually encounter, I needed to start my investigation with a feature that people would have clear expectations about. I landed on the “I” vowel, as in “time,” which in much of the southern U.S. is pronounced more like “Tom.” This is called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2005.10416086">monophthongization</a>,” and it is a hallmark of Southern speech.</p>
<p>I wanted to know whether people would produce a more Southern-like “I” vowel when they heard someone speak with a Southern accent – and here’s the crucial part – even if they never heard how that person actually pronounced “I.”</p>
<p>So I designed an experiment, disguised as a guessing game, in which I got more than 100 participants to say a bunch of “I” words. </p>
<p>In the first part of the game, they read a series of clues on their computer screen – things like, “this U.S. coin is small, silver, and worth 10 cents.” </p>
<p>Then they named the word being described – “dime!” – and I recorded their speech. </p>
<p>In the second part of the game, I had participants listen to clues read by a noticeably Southern-accented talker and instructed them to respond in the same way. By comparing their speech before and after hearing a Southern accent, I could determine whether they converged.</p>
<p>Using <a href="https://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/">acoustic analysis</a>, which gives us precise measurements of how participants’ “I” vowels sound, I observed that Southerners and non-Southerners alike did, in fact, shift their “I” vowels toward a slightly more Southern-like pronunciation when listening to the Southern-accented talker. </p>
<p>They never actually heard how the Southerner produced this vowel, since none of the clues contained the “I” vowel. This means they were anticipating how this Southerner might say “I,” and then converging toward those expectations.</p>
<p>This was pretty clear evidence that people converge not just toward speech they observe but also toward speech they expect to hear. </p>
<h2>Social asset or faux pas?</h2>
<p>What does this say about human behavior? </p>
<p>For one, it means that people perceive accents as coherent collections of different linguistic features. Hearing accent features X and Y tells people to expect accent feature Z, because they know X, Y and Z go together. </p>
<p>But it’s not just that people passively know things about others’ accents. This knowledge can even shape your own speech.</p>
<p>So why does this happen? And how do those on the receiving end perceive it?</p>
<p>First, it’s important to point out that convergence is usually very subtle – and there’s a reason. Overly exaggerated convergence – sometimes called <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Accommodation_Theory.html?id=s_jVSAAACAAJ">overaccommodation</a> – can be perceived as mocking or patronizing.</p>
<p>You’ve probably witnessed people switch to a slower, louder, simpler speech style when talking to an elderly person or a nonnative speaker. This type of over-the-top convergence is often based on assumptions about limited comprehension – and it can socially backfire. </p>
<p>“Why are they talking to me like I’m a child?” the listener might think. “I understand them just fine.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drawing of woman speaking to elderly woman in bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464020/original/file-20220518-17-395nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464020/original/file-20220518-17-395nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464020/original/file-20220518-17-395nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464020/original/file-20220518-17-395nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464020/original/file-20220518-17-395nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464020/original/file-20220518-17-395nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464020/original/file-20220518-17-395nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Overly exaggerated convergence can be perceived as mocking or patronizing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nurse-helping-a-senior-citizen-with-breakfast-by-franklin-news-photo/526990218?adppopup=true">Franklin McMahon/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>For expectation-driven convergence – which, by definition, is not rooted in reality – such a faux pas might be even more likely. If you don’t have an actual speech target to converge toward, you might resort to inaccurate, simplistic or stereotyped ideas about how someone will speak. </p>
<p>However, subtler shifts – in what might be called the “sweet spot” of convergence – can have a number of benefits, from social approval to more efficient and successful communication. </p>
<p>Consider a toddler who calls their pacifier a “binky.” You’d probably be better off asking “where’s the binky?” and not “where’s the pacifier?” </p>
<p>Reusing the terms our interlocutors use is not just cognitively easier for us – since it takes <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-04570-010">less effort to come up with a word we just heard</a> – but it often has the added benefit of making communication easier for our partner. The same could be said for using a more familiar pronunciation.</p>
<p>If people can anticipate how someone will speak even sooner – before they utter a word – and converge toward that expectation, communication could, in theory, be even more efficient. If expectations are accurate, expectation-driven convergence could be a social asset.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that people necessarily go around consciously making these sorts of calculations. In fact, <a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/PICTAM">some explanations</a> for convergence suggest that it is an unintentional, automatic consequence of speech comprehension.</p>
<p>Regardless of why convergence happens, it’s clear that even beliefs about others play a major role in shaping the way people use language – for better or for worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lacey Wade receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>We often imitate styles of speech we hear – what’s known as ‘linguistic convergence.’ But a researcher wanted to see if we alter our speech based on the mere expectation of how someone will sound.Lacey Wade, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1821732022-05-16T13:58:22Z2022-05-16T13:58:22Z‘You can’t even talk English, so don’t talk!’ How linguistic racism impacts immigrants in the UK<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463286/original/file-20220516-21-re3mf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From the playground to the workplace, people from immigrant communities in the UK say accent-based racism impacts their daily lives.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/serious-african-american-young-businesswoman-hold-1613072614">fizkes | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Holan Liang was 17, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/feb/19/to-be-happy-you-have-to-feel-you-belong">she spent her holidays</a> working at her father’s computer parts company. In her <a href="https://guardianbookshop.com/a-sense-of-belonging-9781a780724683">recent book</a>, A Sense of Belonging: How to Find Your Way in a Fractured World, Liang, now a psychiatrist, recounts the racist ways in which customers would respond to her family’s Chinese roots. </p>
<p>Her father, who had a PhD in hydraulic engineering, was called “a useless Chinaman” who “can’t speak a bloody word of English”. Liang points out that he actually could speak fluent English, but did so with an accent and some grammatical errors because English was his second language.</p>
<p>What Liang’s family experienced – discrimination due to accent, dialect or speech patterns – is called <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13670050.2020.1783638">linguistic racism</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/ask-or-aks-how-linguistic-prejudice-perpetuates-inequality-175839">linguicism</a>. It is directed at people who speak in ways considered to be non-standard or “foreign-sounding”. It is not based on the proficiency or intelligibility of a language speaker, but rather on their accent and verbal delivery. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/accentism-is-alive-and-well-and-it-doesnt-only-affect-the-north-of-england-148825">Accentism</a> sees people suffer comments and ridicule for regional accents and dialects. But as an extension of racism, linguistic racism in the UK centres whiteness by deeming any so-called non-standard ways of speaking English to be abnormal and inferior. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Secondary-school pupils in uniform walk out of school grounds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463283/original/file-20220516-11-rj350l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463283/original/file-20220516-11-rj350l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463283/original/file-20220516-11-rj350l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463283/original/file-20220516-11-rj350l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463283/original/file-20220516-11-rj350l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463283/original/file-20220516-11-rj350l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463283/original/file-20220516-11-rj350l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young people from immigrant communities report being ostracized and bullied for their accents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-0309-secondary-school-pupils-1933374749">Yau Ming Low | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Impact on family relationships</h2>
<p>Our respective doctoral research projects, which focus on Zimbabwean and South Asian communities in the UK, show that bilingual immigrants suffer from linguistic racism, due to their English accents <a href="https://aclanthology.org/2020.cllrd-1.7.pdf">being influenced</a> by their mother tongue and the community’s particular speech patterns.</p>
<p>We have found that this discrimination can affect their access to education, employment and social opportunities. It also impacts their self-esteem, resilience and efficacy.</p>
<p>Christine researches young people within the Zimbabwean community, who have reported experiencing playground bullying, mocking and exclusion from peer social groups at school, due to linguistic racism. “At the beginning, it was rough,” one participant in the research said. “I had a different accent to everyone else and hadn’t caught the London accent so people would try to pick on me, and no-one wanted to hang out with me.”</p>
<p>Young people described how linguistic racism impacted their self-esteem and sense of belonging, leading some to become ashamed of their ethnic identity. For some this in turn affected their relationships with their parents, often due to resentment of their heavy foreign accents. </p>
<p>One girl said of her mother, “When she does talk English, her accent is annoying. You know like, a person’s who’s got a really strong Zimbabwean accent, trying to talk in English? It annoys me, actually aggravates me. I don’t even want her to talk to my friends, because she’s embarrassing, because she just tries to talk and be all normal with them, in English, and it’s just like ‘Mum, you can’t even talk English, so don’t talk!’” </p>
<p>Other participants said they would avoid being seen in public with their parents or try to prevent them attending school events. </p>
<h2>Impact on access to opportunities</h2>
<p>Zanib has interviewed south Asian-heritage Muslim women at Apna Haq, a Rotherham-based charity. Most of the women reported facing accent-based microaggressions daily, despite many being proficient English speakers, born and raised in the UK. </p>
<p>One interviewee reported an incident in a library, where a stranger mockingly shouted out, “You talk Bud-Bud English!” “Bud-Bud” is a derogatory term that supposedly mimics south Asian accents. </p>
<p>This type of interaction led the women to experience feelings of deep shame and a loss of confidence in speaking English publicly. This limited their engagement with social and professional opportunities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a pink headscarf talks on the phone as a woman in a blue headscarf looks on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463274/original/file-20220516-20-omcus7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463274/original/file-20220516-20-omcus7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463274/original/file-20220516-20-omcus7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463274/original/file-20220516-20-omcus7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463274/original/file-20220516-20-omcus7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463274/original/file-20220516-20-omcus7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463274/original/file-20220516-20-omcus7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women in South Asian communities in the UK have spoken about how accent bias impacts job opportunities and social interactions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/muslim-business-woman-on-phone-over-740839630">UfaBizPhoto | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2020, sociolinguists at Queen Mary University of London conducted research into the effect of <a href="https://accentbiasbritain.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Accent-Bias-Britain-Report-2020.pdf">accentism and linguistic racism in job recruitment</a>. They found that this discrimination affects interviewer perceptions of candidate suitability for particular occupations. </p>
<p>They also found that candidates’ success at interview was disproportionately lower the further their accents were from received pronunciation, regardless of how strong their qualifications, skills or interview proficiency were. This mainly affected non-white candidates. </p>
<p>France set a positive example in 2020, when it passed <a href="https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/glottophobie-la-discrimination-par-l-accent-sera-desormais-sanctionnee-par-le-code-penal-et-le-code-du-travail-896872.html">a ground-breaking law</a> banning what French sociolinguist Philippe Blanchet terms <a href="https://theconversation.com/la-glottophobie-ou-la-langue-comme-outil-de-discrimination-53345">“glottophobie”</a>, racism based on regional or foreign accent. The new law attracts a <a href="https://www.thelocal.fr/20201127/france-approves-law-banning-discrimination-based-on-a-persons-accent/">maximum penalty</a> of three years’ imprisonment and €45,000 fine. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, in the UK, there is little clarity on linguistic racism within the Equalities Act (2010), and therefore no real protection. Unchallenged, linguicism endures as a pretext for perpetuating racism under the radar.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zanib Rasool was a community researcher on the University of Sheffield Imagine project that received Arts and Humanities Research Council /Economic and Social Research Council (AHRC/ESRC) funding.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Makuve does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Non-standard ways of speaking are often deemed inferior, affecting schooling, social lives and job prospects.Zanib Rasool, Doctoral Researcher in Education, University of SheffieldChristine Makuve, Doctoral Researcher in Social Anthropology, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772802022-02-17T12:59:50Z2022-02-17T12:59:50ZSahel security: what a wave of military coups means for the fight against jihadi groups in West Africa – podcast<p>Mali. Guinea. Burkina Faso. Military juntas in West Africa have seized power in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa-is-beset-with-coups-and-conflicts-how-the-trend-can-be-reversed-177252">series of coups in recent months</a>. In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a>, we ask security experts what the coups mean for the war against jihadi insurgents in the Sahel – and for the presence of French and European soldiers in the region. </p>
<p>And, we talk to a psychologist who’s been trying to find ways to alleviate the discrimination faced by people who speak English with a foreign accent. </p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/620e36777b2790001219df97" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="190px"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-561" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The French military intervention in Mali began in 2013 when the government requested help to fight an Islamist insurgency that threatened the capital Bamako. French troops have been in Mali ever since as part of Operation Barkhane, a regional mission to fight jihadist groups across the Sahel. </p>
<p>But two military coups in Mali, in August 2020 and then May 2021, severely strained the relationship between Mali and France. Mali <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/5/thousands-in-mali-celebrate-expulsion-of-french-ambassador">expelled the French ambassador</a> in early February 2022 and a <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220208-mali-pm-accuses-france-of-seeking-country-s-partition">war of words ensued</a>. On February 17, France <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/france/20220217-live-macron-holds-conference-on-sahel-engagement-as-france-poised-to-withdraw-troops-from-mali">announced it would withdraw its troops</a> from Mali, although it plans to continue fighting the insurgency from neighbouring countries. The European Union’s special forces Takuba taskforce in the region also <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/17/france-allies-announce-military-withdrawal-from-mali">announced its withdrawal</a> from Mali. </p>
<p>France and the EU have limited options for regional military partners in the Sahel. In September 2021, Guinea’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/guinea-has-a-long-history-of-coups-here-are-5-things-to-know-about-the-country-167618">President Alpha Condé</a> was also deposed in a military coup, and then in January 2022, <a href="https://theconversation.com/burkina-faso-coup-latest-sign-of-a-rise-in-the-ballot-box-being-traded-for-bullets-175642">Burkina Faso’s President Roch Kaboré</a> was overthrown by a military junta. People took to the streets to celebrate the military takeovers in both Guinea and Burkina Faso. </p>
<p>“Those coups are very problematic,” says Thierry Vircoulon, a researcher at the University of Paris in France and an associate research fellow at the French Institute of International Affairs think tank. Vircoulon predicts the departure of French troops will lead to “a deterioration of the security situation,” both in Mali and elsewhere in the Sahel. Attacks have already spread into neighbouring countries, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220211-death-toll-in-benin-national-park-attacks-rises-as-france-opens-terror-probe">such as Benin</a>. </p>
<p>“The conflict is expanding and it’s also becoming more and more complicated with more and more entrepreneurs of violence with very different backgrounds,” says Vircoulon. “It’s not only a counter terrorism war, it’s also a civil war, a conflict for resources, and a war between trafficking networks.”</p>
<p>Mady Ibrahim Kanté is a lecturer at the University of Legal and Political Sciences of Bamako in Mali. He says he’s heard frustration at the French presence in Mali first hand from local people during a number of research visits to the north of the country. “They haven’t been able to protect the population,” says Kanté. “A number of villages have been completely destroyed by the terrorists that were not very far from military bases, whether that’s a French military base from Operation Barkhane, or one from the G5 Sahel force (a regional military coalition between Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad).” </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/mig2022-01-surge-militant-islamist-violence-sahel-dominates-africa-fight-extremists/">Africa Center for Strategic Studies</a>, the number of attacks increased 70% between 2020 and 2021. An estimated 2.4 million people have been displaced during the years of conflict. </p>
<p>Folahanmi Aina, a PhD candidate in leadership studies at King’s College London in the UK, says the jihadist insurgencies in the region “revealed the fragility of these states” and their “inability to provide protection and security for their citizens.” Aina says the military has capitalised on this vacuum. “As long as jihadism remains prevalent across the region, there’s every tendency for the military to use this as a justification for acquiring and seizing political power under the guise of being guardians of the state,” he warns. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mapping-the-contours-of-jihadist-groups-in-the-sahel-168539">Mapping the contours of Jihadist groups in the Sahel</a>
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</em>
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<p>In our second story in this episode, we hear about new research searching for ways to alleviate discrimination faced by people who speak English with a foreign accent. Studies show native English speakers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08853134.1991.10753857">rate salespeople</a> as less knowledgeable and convincing if they have an accent, and employers <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-10713-003">can overlook</a> people with accents during hiring or promotion decisions. Shiri Lev-Ari, a lecturer in psychology at Royal Holloway University of London in the UK, and her colleagues ran experiments to <a href="http://pc.rhul.ac.uk/sites/SNL/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Budoch-Grabka-Lev-Ari-2021-Exposing-individuals-to-foreign-accent-increases-their-trust-in-what-nonnative-speakers-say.pdf">reduce the bias against non-native speakers</a>. She tells us what they found. Listen from 31m40s.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-people-might-discriminate-against-foreign-accents-new-research-172539">Here’s why people might discriminate against foreign accents – new research</a>
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</em>
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<p>And Jack Marley, an environment editor for The Conversation in Newcastle, England, recommends some recent articles on the ethical questions raised by eating meat. Listen from 43m40s.</p>
<p>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter?utm_campaign=PodcastTCWeekly&utm_content=newsletter&utm_source=podcast">free daily email here</a>. </p>
<p>Newsclips in this episode are from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi_wAbwzPVQ">Boima TV</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZZPPqZMGMY">Al</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNfSwAWeeqg">Jazeera English</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txNx5kJJ4Y0">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVPODscYcW8">France</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75v3Ty6NPFU">24</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3_AJupDeo">English</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSeQN76xHk">RFI</a>.</p>
<p><em>You can listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a>, or find out how else to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thierry Vircoulon is a researcher associated with the l'Institut Français des Relations Internationales et a collaborator with the think-tank Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime. Folahanmi Aina does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Mady Ibrahim Kanté also teaches at École de Maintien de la Paix - Alioune Blondin Bèye de Bamako and is a member of the African Union's African Science and Technology Advisory Group.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shiri Lev-Ari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Plus, why do people with a foreign accent get a hard time – and how to prevent it. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationDaniel Merino, Assistant Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1725392021-12-03T12:41:29Z2021-12-03T12:41:29ZHere’s why people might discriminate against foreign accents – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435584/original/file-20211203-23-1dlm7of.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/diversity-people-group-team-union-concept-379530769">Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If someone asked you to read this text aloud in a French accent or an Italian one, you would likely understand what that means and be able to produce some version of it, even if it’s not entirely accurate (assuming you’re not a native French or Italian speaker). You might even adopt one spontaneously if quoting from The Godfather.</p>
<p>On the face of it, we often enjoy hearing different accents. The way we talk simply reflects the sounds of the language in the environment in which we grew up. It should not have any social significance. But in reality, people do attribute value to accents and discriminate against non-native speakers. </p>
<p>Although some accents, such as French, might be perceived as pleasant, research into English speakers in the US and UK shows that a foreign accent is often perceived negatively.</p>
<p>For example, people rate salespeople as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08853134.1991.10753857">less knowledgeable and convincing</a> if they have an accent, and some research indicates that they are <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-10713-003">less likely to recommend</a> someone for hiring or promotion if the person has a foreign accent.</p>
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<img alt="Man at wheel of car" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435056/original/file-20211201-27-ftr5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435056/original/file-20211201-27-ftr5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435056/original/file-20211201-27-ftr5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435056/original/file-20211201-27-ftr5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435056/original/file-20211201-27-ftr5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435056/original/file-20211201-27-ftr5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435056/original/file-20211201-27-ftr5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">We’re less likely to trust car salespeople with non native accents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/8e2gal_GIE8">Why Kei / Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Interestingly, the discrimination often seems to be independent of whether the accent of the speaker is perceived as desirable or not. For example, people were <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0149206314541151?casa_token=PoLGhaeTPlEAAAAA:pyKIYGoNrIm5uspQQ5_G79CRwvHRPabGpfKHsT9_C3tLYKFUBGVlqEd55ER9flMdl3jh-C2kqiUi">more interested</a> in receiving a voucher for a coffee shop if they listened to a message from a native speaker rather than someone with a foreign accent, regardless of whether the foreign accent was French (an accent often considered as desireable), or Chinese. </p>
<p>Part of the bias seems to derive from the fact that a foreign accent signals a person as an outgroup member – someone who is not part of their usual circles – and people tend to favour ingroup over outgroup members. This is a behaviour that starts in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/104/30/12577.full.pdf">infancy</a>, probably because it’s a direct cue as to whether someone is familiar and part of our “social group”.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/working-class-and-ethnic-minority-accents-in-south-east-england-judged-as-less-intelligent-new-research-162886">Working-class and ethnic minority accents in south-east England judged as less intelligent – new research</a>
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<hr>
<h2>It’s not just prejudice</h2>
<p>In our <a href="http://pc.rhul.ac.uk/sites/SNL/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Budoch-Grabka-Lev-Ari-2021-Exposing-individuals-to-foreign-accent-increases-their-trust-in-what-nonnative-speakers-say.pdf">recent study</a> we show that people might discriminate against non-native speakers even if they are not prejudiced. That’s because it can be harder to process foreign-accented speech – which is pronounced differently to the native norms – including accents which we do not perceive in a negative way at all. And people tend to believe information less if it’s harder to process.</p>
<p>When we presented participants with recordings of trivia statements such as “the sun shrinks five feet every hour”, participants rated the same trivia statements as more likely to be true when they were said by a native speaker compared with a Polish-accented speaker.</p>
<p>If at least part of the bias was due to difficulty in processing foreign-accented speech, then making it easier for participants to understand the accent should increase their tendency to believe non-native speakers. We know from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027707001126?casa_token=5M52nDD0bBcAAAAA:uvCz16Fj1NERbJO1IGzIcq1P-n4Jlcsgz2vQcH5I1X2s1YWKyAjbtgekluMWEiVJrqsO8FYbVA">prior research</a> that exposure to accent makes it easier to understand it. So, we exposed half of our participants to stories read by Polish-accented speakers before they rated the trivia task. The other half listened to the same stories read by native speakers. </p>
<p>First, we checked whether exposure to Polish-accented speakers improved participants’ comprehension of Polish-accented speech. An accent comprehension task showed that it did. </p>
<p>A key finding of our study was that the exposure to Polish-accented speech also reduced participants’ bias against non-native speakers. </p>
<p>While participants who were first exposed to Polish-accented speech still rated trivia statements as more likely to be true when they were read by native speakers than when they were read by Polish-accented speakers, the difference was smaller. We also found that the participants who performed better on the accent comprehension task were more likely to believe the trivia statements read by the Polish-accented speakers.</p>
<h2>Let’s celebrate accents</h2>
<p>Our study shows that simply increasing exposure to foreign-accented speech can reduce difficulties in accent processing and bias. So by creating more diverse environments where native and non-native speakers regularly interact, we could potentially help counteract any unconscious discrimination on the basis of accent. Contact between native and non-native speakers can also help to reduce prejudice. </p>
<p>At the same time, a cultural change is needed. In addition to promoting diversity, we should all, as a first step, be aware of the fact that each of us has an accent. And that it is simply based on the sounds of the linguistic environment in which we grew up. Accents do not reflect intelligence, and nor are they related to our proficiency in a language. Indeed, non-native speakers can of course be highly fluent in a language even while retaining their native accent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shiri Lev-Ari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research shows that increasing exposure to foreign accents makes it easier to process - and that can reduce bias which is not based on negative perceptions or prejudice.Shiri Lev-Ari, Lecturer in Psychology, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1628862021-10-07T12:28:06Z2021-10-07T12:28:06ZWorking-class and ethnic minority accents in south-east England judged as less intelligent – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407664/original/file-20210622-25-1bvvpqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6221%2C4138&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/excited-multiethnic-female-employees-discuss-work-1382655365">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s been much – and rightful – scrutiny of prejudice towards accents in the north of England. For instance, research has highlighted teachers with northern accents being told to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-with-northern-accents-are-being-told-to-posh-up-heres-why-88425">posh up</a>” and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/19/students-from-northern-england-facing-toxic-attitude-at-durham-university">northern university students</a> being ridiculed for their accent. </p>
<p>But there is also prejudice towards accents in south-east England. In this region there are various regional accents which, among others, include cockney (which you may now be most likely to hear in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/abs/phonetic-variation-and-change-in-the-cockney-diaspora-the-role-of-place-gender-and-identity/68653062DDBD66EEE307A87CBC0B3FD3">Essex</a>), and <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/language/research/projects/mle/what-is-mle/">“multicultural London English”</a>, which is spoken mainly by young people in London and is influenced by the city’s many different ethnic communities. Not all south-eastern accents are treated equally, which both reflect and reproduce societal inequalities. </p>
<p>In my recent <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-linguistic-geography/article/disambiguating-language-attitudes-held-towards-sociodemographic-groups-and-geographic-areas-in-south-east-england/650982BA00C290DFAB93504BFD0A3CFE">research project</a>, a group of almost 200 people aged 18 to 33 from south-east England were played ten-second audio clips of other young people reading the same sentence. Clips were played of over 100 people from different areas of London and across every county in the south-east. </p>
<p>The participants were not provided with any information about the people whose voices they heard. They were asked to make judgments on sliding scales about how friendly, intelligent and trustworthy they thought each person sounded. </p>
<p>My study shows that certain groups were evaluated more negatively than others. Based only on their accent, lower-working-class people were judged to be on average
14% less intelligent, 4% less friendly and 5% less trustworthy than upper-middle-class people. People from ethnic minority backgrounds were evaluated as 5% less intelligent than white people, regardless of class. </p>
<p>Compared with other areas of the south-east, negative judgments were made about people from London and Essex, places where the accents have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/accentism-is-alive-and-well-and-it-doesnt-only-affect-the-north-of-england-148825">routinely devalued</a>. For instance, people from Essex were judged on average 11% less intelligent than those from south-west London. Also, women were evaluated as being 2% less intelligent but 5% more friendly and trustworthy than men. </p>
<p>Above all, this is deeply unfair. When some people speak, regardless of the clarity or weight of their words, they are seen as less intelligent, friendly or trustworthy than other people. Accent bias is a mirror of societal biases. It is propping up class prejudice, racial inequality, gender stereotypes and cliched ideas of people from certain areas.</p>
<h2>‘Standard’ English</h2>
<p>In Britain, many people still subscribe to the mindset that a few limited ways of speaking English (such as the “Queen’s English”, which is at the extreme) are legitimate and correct while others aren’t. Even if many regional dialects are considered quaint or fun, they are also often judged to be a rejection or rebellion against “correct” English or a reflection of poor education. </p>
<p>For instance, in the report <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/so-why-cant-they-read">So why can’t they read?</a>, commissioned by the then London mayor, Boris Johnson, the author discusses a link between speaking “street” (most likely referring to multicultural London English) and the alleged shortcomings in literacy among London school children.</p>
<p>What we might consider being correct or proper English – in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar – is inherently no better than any other way of speaking English. No dialect of English is deficient, they too have complex grammatical systems, and have the same range and power of expression and fluidity. </p>
<p>Indeed, the English that any of us speak today is a snapshot in time. English’s grammar, words and pronunciation have flexed and evolved for thousands of years. If not, we would be able to read <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/beowulf?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpuu_4oef8QIVWdTtCh0_iADpEAAYASAAEgLSfPD_BwE">Beowulf</a> unassisted, a poem written in Old English around a thousand years ago. </p>
<h2>Challenging accent bias</h2>
<p>What we think of as correct English is like a yardstick in quicksand. Concepts of standard English are bolstered through the media, the education system, politics, and our own adherence and faithfulness to these ways of thinking. </p>
<p>So ingrained and pervasive are concepts of standard English that we accept it to be true even if it disadvantages us. In my study, working-class people also judged other working-class people to be less intelligent than they judged middle-class people to be. And people from an ethnic minority background perceived white people to be the most intelligent group based on their accent. </p>
<p>So what can we do about accent bias? Awareness comes first. There are already some brilliant projects that hope to raise awareness of accent bias, such as <a href="https://accentbiasbritain.org/">Accent Bias Britain</a> and <a href="https://accentism.org/">the Accentism Project</a>. </p>
<p>As individuals, let’s reevaluate phrases like “they have an accent” (if you speak, you have an accent) or “they don’t speak properly”. In fact, most people speak in a way that relects who they are – where they are from, their class, their ethnicity, their sense of identity and their life experiences. These aren’t things we should expect anyone to leave at the door. </p>
<p>When we hear someone’s accent, we very quickly group them into categories and make judgments about them. This is something we all do. It is often unconscious and is not intended to be hurtful. But you can challenge that visceral response, the feelings and ideas about that person that begin to surge inside you. Only when we are aware of accent bias – and its role in propagating inequalities – can we begin to challenge it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Cole has received funding from the University of Essex Doctoral Scholarship and an ESSEXLab seedcorn grant</span></em></p>Outdated and harmful ideas associated with certain south-east England accents are still pervasive, according to new research.Amanda Cole, Lecturer in Department of Language and Linguistics, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1663242021-08-27T12:31:27Z2021-08-27T12:31:27ZTikTok, #BamaRush and the irresistible allure of mocking Southern accents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417869/original/file-20210825-19-1bffixs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=211%2C30%2C2548%2C1840&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The University of Alabama's Alpha Phi sorority runs out of Bryant-Denny Stadium during bid day in 2014.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AlabamaSororities/2f63d36f739d40aea211a77cb69ac367/photo?Query=alabama%20AND%20sorority&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=50&currentItemNo=26">AP Photo/Brynn Anderson</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As college students across the country return to campuses grappling with the COVID-19 delta variant, Greek letters of a different variety have captivated social media feeds with stunning virality.</p>
<p>The #BamaRush trend on TikTok introduced followers to the annual recruitment process for <a href="http://www.npcwomen.org/">National Panhellenic Conference</a> sororities at the University of Alabama. The popular videos offer a firsthand perspective on the recruitment process, showcasing the various events and the women’s corresponding fashion choices – the “outfit of the day,” or #OOTD – for each stage.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/style/bama-rush-explained.html">this phenomenon</a> came to my attention, I noticed that TikTok’s algorithm fed me not only the posts of women participating in #BamaRush but also <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@i_delz/video/6994805208417111302?is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6904819716789044741">parody videos</a> made by people glued to the unfolding events.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1428841325546274816"}"></div></p>
<p>In these videos, I immediately observed a fixation on the women’s accents, which <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/daily/alabama-sorority-rush-tiktok-bamarush">one reporter</a> described as “thick” and “heavy.” </p>
<p>Having been born and raised in northeast Georgia and educated in North Carolina, I was quite young when I intuited that, if I were to be taken seriously as an actor, a scholar and a human, my accent would have to go. By the time I arrived in New York in 2006, I had successfully erased most markers of my Southernness from my speech. What remained I was able to surgically remove after receiving notes and feedback from directors and coaches. </p>
<p><a href="https://theatre.utk.edu/people/katie-cunningham/">Now I teach voice and speech</a> to actors in a theater program in the South, and I think a lot about how people perceive the native speech varieties of this region. What’s behind this enduring fascination with – and thinly veiled disdain for – some Southern American accents?</p>
<h2>Sorority culture rife with issues</h2>
<p>I speak from personal experience about sorority culture because, for a short time, I was a member of one at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I experienced recruitment from within and witnessed some of the problematic aspects of this system. My sophomore year, I formally withdrew – what’s called “<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/10-things-to-know-about-dropping-your-sorority">de-sistering</a>.”</p>
<p>During the flood of media coverage of the #BamaRush trend, Slate’s ICYMI podcast did an <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/alabama-rush-tiktok-videos-explained.html">explainer episode</a> addressing all the “-isms” inherent to certain Greek organizations, including racism, sexism, classism and weight discrimination.</p>
<p>In fact, the University of Alabama’s own student newspaper, The Crimson White, <a href="https://cw.ua.edu/16498/news/the-final-barrier-50-years-later-segregation-still-exists/">published an article</a> in 2013 that investigated racism in sorority recruitment, spurring <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/17/sorority-segregation-ended-university-alabama">a process of integration</a>. (Yes, in 2013!) </p>
<p>To be clear: There are plenty of things to criticize about the National Panhellenic Conference’s sorority culture.</p>
<p>Accents, however, aren’t one of them.</p>
<h2>Inside the #BamaRush accents</h2>
<p>Among the #BamaRush vloggers, one who garnered intense attention during the unfolding recruitment process was Makayla Culpepper, whose <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@whatwouldjimmybuffettdo/video/6994056773153967365?is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6904819716789044741">pronunciation of “philanthropy”</a> in an early round was the subject of much mockery. In fact, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@whatwouldjimmybuffettdo/video/6996715146299067654?is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6904819716789044741">she credits</a> this pronunciation as the genesis of her newfound internet stardom. Culpepper, who is biracial, was <a href="https://www.seventeen.com/life/school/a37291501/alabama-rush-tiktok/">subsequently dropped</a> from recruitment under dubious circumstances.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1426906951837958144"}"></div></p>
<p>Other pronunciations that have <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@gabbyyhorne/video/6997066057445838085?traffic_type=google&referer_url=amp_bamarushtok&referer_video_id=6997066057445838085&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6904819716789044741">piqued the interest</a> of onlookers include words in what linguists and accent coaches call the PRICE <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_set">lexical set</a>, a category of words that are generally pronounced with the same vowel sound in their stressed syllable. </p>
<p>Several of the #BamaRush TikTokkers pronounce words in the PRICE set – such as “bite,” “rice,” “my” and “right” – with a single vowel that sounds something like “ah.” This differs from the way these words are pronounced in a <a href="https://vimeo.com/75961485">so-called General American</a> accent, in which a speaker glides through two different vowel sounds, resulting in something like “aight” in “right.” Some of the women’s pronunciations of “on” and “own” are nearly indistinguishable, <a href="https://www.southerncultures.org/article/on-and-on-appalachian-accent-and-academic-power/">another marker of some dialects of Southern American English</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://bittersoutherner.com/with-drawl#.YSahZS2cbs0">The quality described as Southern drawl</a> may be related to the way some speakers vocalize words like “dress” and “hair” with a lengthened glide between vowels and syllable break: “dray-ess” and “hay-ur.”</p>
<p>It is questionable to connect the undeniably performative aspects of these videos – the fashion shows, the bid day envelope opening <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hannahmorris2/video/6996761679719582982?is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6904819716789044741">videos</a>, the choreographed <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ebbabyyy/video/6995531572199836933?lang=en&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6904819716789044741">dorm room introductions</a> – with the mistaken idea that these accents are part of the performance. When investigating the #BamaRush trend, I heard these women described more than once as “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@torikonchel/video/6995003127602613510?lang=en&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6904819716789044741">characters</a>” in an unfolding “drama.” </p>
<p>But this is not a scripted series with characters or a reality show with contestants. They are not playing at sounding like this. It’s just their speech. And speech is essential to identity.</p>
<h2>The cost of satirizing Southern accents</h2>
<p>In 2019, an episode of the podcast series <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america/episodes/dolly-partons-america-episode">Dolly Parton’s America</a> included interviews with students at my institution, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In it, they shared their encounters with the realities of linguistic bias. As one interviewee noted, her own mother cautioned her: “If you want people to take you seriously, we’re going to have to work on the way you talk.” </p>
<p>One cost of scoffing at Southern accents is the ceaseless perpetuation of negative stereotypes about Southern people. <a href="https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/J_DeJesus_Northern_2013.pdf">A 2013 study</a> found that by the age of 9 or 10, all children – including Southern children – identified Northern-accented speakers as sounding “smarter,” which indicates that they’re internalizing stereotypes about speech at a young age. </p>
<p>Psycholinguist <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_You_Say_It/pkSvDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">Katherine Kinzler</a> has also shown that accent-based biases may be tied to the mistaken assumption that speakers should be able to adjust their speech to conform to societal norms. Kinzler argues that this “perception of controllability” is at the root of weight- and mental health-based stigmas as well. </p>
<p>Furthermore, most mockery of Southern accents underestimates the <a href="https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/LDC2012S03">linguistic diversity</a> of the South and creates the false perception that Southern accents are all the same. In addition, <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article-abstract/93/3-4/497/136131/Southern-Speech-With-A-Northern-AccentPerformance?redirectedFrom=fulltext">research shows</a> that most accent imitations are not especially accurate. There is a reason accent and dialect coaches are specially trained to help actors do this work respectfully and convincingly. </p>
<p>The harm of stereotypical accent imitations is one familiar to many whose speech exists outside the accepted “standard,” like speakers of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-American-English">African American English</a> and those for whom English is a second language. The same forces that reduce Southern speech to a uniform monolith also run the risk of reducing the idea of “Southernness” to a single stereotype: white, unintelligent, bigoted. This discounts the diversity of the South, and the significant cultural and political power of Black Southerners, who make up large shares of the populations of many Southern states – <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/AL">including Alabama</a>.</p>
<p>So why should people care about Southern accents being the butt of viral jokes? </p>
<p>Ignoring the way that speech and identity are so inextricably linked erases the people behind the voices. Going after these women’s accents when there is much about the institutions themselves to legitimately critique feels like punching down. This is especially true when the accent is played only for laughs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author was a member of an NPC sorority from 2001-2002.</span></em></p>There’s plenty to critique about sorority culture. But going after Southern accents is punching down.Kathryn Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Theatre, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1633082021-06-25T11:38:47Z2021-06-25T11:38:47ZMispronunciation: why you should stop correcting people’s mistakes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408224/original/file-20210624-17-1u1ehqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=67%2C25%2C5592%2C3615&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-young-man-speaks-words-power-1419108692">J.K2507/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9716129/Probly-expresso-Artick-10-annoying-mispronunciations-revealed.html">recent survey</a> of 2,000 adults in the UK identified the top ten “mispronunciations” people find annoying. Thankfully the majority (65%) of annoyed people do not feel comfortable correcting a speaker in public.</p>
<p>But leaving aside the fact that 2,000 is hardly a representative sample of the UK, with its population of <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/mid2019estimates">over 66 million</a>, this survey raises longstanding linguistic questions: why do people pronounce words differently, why does pronunciation change, and why does so-called mispronunciation upset some people to the point of making it possible (and interesting) to compile a top ten list?</p>
<p>I’m a phonetician – an expert in the way people make speech sounds and pronounce language. I’ve also written about what we can learn about a person <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/your-voice-speaks-volumes-9780192843029?prevNumResPerPage=20&prevSortField=1&sortField=1&resultsPerPage=20&start=140&lang=en&cc=gb">from the way they speak</a>. </p>
<p>A universal truth about language is that it is subject to constant change – and pronunciation is just as likely to change over time as aspects like grammar or vocabulary. </p>
<h2>How language changes</h2>
<p>One criticism of speakers who pronounce nuclear (“NU-cle-ar”) as “nucular” is that it does not match the spelling. In fact, English is known for having some very irregular spelling-to-sound correspondences, so that argument does not always hold up. The most extreme cases are probably family and place names: the surname Featherstonehaugh can be pronounced to sound like “Fanshaw”, for example, while Torpenhow in Cumbria is pronounced “Trepenna”. </p>
<p>How did we get to those pronunciations? Through a process of gradual, historical language change. These changes could be the result of social interaction (“other people say it like this”), mishearings, spelling pronunciations, phonetic processes or the influence of other languages, among other things. Certainly, language change is inevitable, which is handy because it keeps us linguists in business and generates a lot of copy for newspapers and the like.</p>
<p>Let’s have a look at some of the pronunciations people objected to in that survey. </p>
<p>“Espresso” is pronounced “expresso” by many people, even though there is no “x” in the spelling. This pronunciation probably arose by analogy with the word “express”. The two are actually cognate words with similar origins, both meaning “press out” or “obtain by squeezing”. </p>
<p>If you hear someone ask for an espresso, it’s easy to see how you might mishear this to be nearer to a word you already know, and therefore adopt that pronunciation. Importantly, you are unlikely to misunderstand what the speaker has asked for. </p>
<p>We don’t have a similar issue with the pronunciation of “cappuccino” or “macchiato” because we simply don’t have anything similar to those words in English. Incidentally, I’m reliably informed that the French word for “espresso” is “expresso”. <em>Vive la différence.</em></p>
<p>The pronunciation of “probably” as “probly” likely arises from a process called weak syllable elision or deletion. The weak second syllable in “probably” is often deleted in speech. A similar phenomenon happens in “especially”, pronounced “specially” – the first syllable is weak and is deleted. In English, the <a href="https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/15589/5966.pdf?sequence=1">most important syllables</a> for listener comprehension are stressed. That’s why young <a href="https://sltforkids.co.uk/ages-and-stages-developmental-milestones/phonological-milestones/">children</a> acquiring language say “tatoes” for “potatoes”, or “jamas” for “pyjamas”.</p>
<p>In rapid adult speech, it is very likely that these weaker syllables will be deleted. As George Bailey, a sociolinguist at the University of York, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9716129/Probly-expresso-Artick-10-annoying-mispronunciations-revealed.html">notes</a>, it is interesting that “probably” and “especially” are singled out when we do this with many words. He gives the examples “memory” (pronounced “MEM-ry”) and “library” (pronounced “LI-bry”), which did not make the list. </p>
<p>I have, however, noticed a recent change in the way some words which have historically had weak syllable elision are pronounced. For example, “irreparable” seems to be changing from four syllables with a main stress on the second (“ir-REP-ra-ble”) to five syllables with the main stress on the third (“ir-re-PAR-a-ble”), with the stressed syllable sounding like “pear”. I’m not entirely sure what is going on here, but it could be by analogy with the word “repair”, or with “comparable”, which seems to be shifting from “COM-pra-ble” to “com-PAR-a-ble”.</p>
<p>The last word I’ll draw out for examination is “Arctic”, pronounced “Artick”. It is possible that the first “c” might not be heard in rapid speech, even if a speaker is articulating it. This is because it is produced further back in the oral cavity than the following “t”, and so its release can be masked. </p>
<p>Historically, as Graham Pointon, formerly the BBC’s pronunciation adviser, <a href="https://twitter.com/Linguism/status/1407705914229071874">has noted</a>, the Chambers Etymological Dictionary lists the earliest English version as “Artic”. The “c” could have been reinserted during the Renaissance period, when scholars sought to reform English spelling to reflect classical languages such as Latin and Greek. </p>
<p>Unfortunately they also reformed the spelling of words which had entered the language via other routes. This gave us such fun spellings as “debt” for what had been written “dette” in Middle English and came from Old French “dete” (and of course we don’t pronounce the “b” in “debt”).</p>
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<p>Another route for language change is the influence of other speakers. I’m half-expecting people to start pronouncing “microwave” quite differently following this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KrUxLBHVu8">viral clip of Nigella Lawson</a>. I’ve already had discussions with people who say they have adopted it “just for fun”. How long before it goes mainstream?</p>
<h2>Pronunciation and prejudice</h2>
<p>So what does all this say about the 35% of people who feel compelled to correct so-called mispronunciations in public? Nothing good, in my opinion. It seems to be a pedantic display of perceived superiority which can only result in the person with the “unacceptable” pronunciation looking stupid. </p>
<p>The way people speak and pronounce words is very much dependent on their language background and experience. By correcting a pronunciation that you have actually understood but somehow object to, you could be inadvertently – or even purposefully – pointing out perceived deficiencies arising from differences in social class, culture, race, gender, and so on. </p>
<p>Correcting pronunciation can actually be an act of linguistic prejudice. This is different from correcting a language learner in a pronunciation classroom or asking someone to repeat something you have not understood, for example. Taking someone politely aside is less threatening, but you should still consider your motivations for doing so. </p>
<p>It might not always be the case that the corrector’s motivations are self-centred. My father always corrected me (in private) because he believed that having a “non-standard” accent – particularly one which is perceived as ugly by some – would negatively affect my career prospects. Sadly, at the time (this was the 1980s), I think my father was right.</p>
<p>Issues of linguistic prejudice linked to race and class are still alive and well, as was recently brought into sharp focus in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/02/deion-broxton-bison-montana-journalist-accent">an article</a> on the American television news journalist Deion Broxton. The good news is that linguists in the UK are actively working on <a href="https://accentism.org/">research</a> and <a href="https://accentbiasbritain.org">resources</a> to help combat accent prejudice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Setter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bothered by ‘expresso’? An expert on speech and language explains why you shouldn’t correct mispronunciations.Jane Setter, Professor of Phonetics, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1430932021-02-08T05:10:46Z2021-02-08T05:10:46ZDon’t be afraid to pass your first language, and accent, to your kids. It could be their superpower<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382898/original/file-20210208-21-hi4hmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-asian-family-using-tablet-laptop-1542488750">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is a multicultural society. There are different traditions, cultures, accents and languages all over the country.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/media%20release3">The latest Census data</a> show almost 30% of Australians speak a language other than English, or English and another language, at home.</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://surveyswesternsydney.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_74hkzh3mqjXJEwJ">latest survey</a>, we have had responses from 281 multilingual families across Australia, who speak a variety of languages at home. They include Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Teo Chew and Spanish. </p>
<p>We found many first-generation migrant parents are hesitant to pass on their first language to their children. This is because they believe a different language at home will give their children a foreign accent. Yet some parents also feel if they speak English to their children, their children will pick up their own accented English. </p>
<p>This can leave some parents in somewhat of a catch-22, feeling that no matter what, their children will be faced with the same discrimination as them. </p>
<p>But it’s important to speak to your children in your own language, and your own accent. By being exposed to multiple ways of communicating, children learn multiple ways of thinking. </p>
<p>They learn to understand that everyone plays different roles, has different identities; and that others may speak or look different. </p>
<h2>Bias against foreign languages</h2>
<p>Research suggests people are highly biased in their preferences for certain accents and languages. According to the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0261927x09341950">linguistic stereotyping hypothesis</a>, hearing just a few seconds of an accent associated with a lower-prestige group can activate a host of associations. </p>
<p>Hearing a stereotypical “foreign accent”, for example, can lead people to immediately think of that person as being uneducated, inarticulate or untrustworthy. </p>
<p>These kinds of biases develop early in life. In a 2009 study, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096936/">five-year-old children</a> chose to be friends with native speakers of their native language rather than those who spoke a foreign language or had an accent.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bias-starts-early-most-books-in-childcare-centres-have-white-middle-class-heroes-130208">Bias starts early – most books in childcare centres have white, middle-class heroes</a>
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</em>
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<p>One hypothesis is that this is due to our broader survival mechanism. Babies learn early to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2010.00050.x">tune in more to the voice of their caregiver</a> rather than a stranger’s voice. This means they are better able to detect when they are in a dangerous situation. </p>
<p>However, over time, these stranger-danger associations become stereotypes, which can lead us to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/05/02/scientists-show-how-we-start-stereotyping-the-moment-we-see-a-face/">hear or see what we expect</a>. When we get older, we need to unlearn our biases that once kept us safe to become more accepting of others.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A migrant family." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382900/original/file-20210208-16-1ur4hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Almost 30% of Australians speak a language other than English at home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/arabian-family-portrait-park-792334939">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In Australia, there is systematic discrimination towards speakers of <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-ways-aboriginal-australians-made-english-their-own-128219">Australian Aboriginal English</a>, as well as towards speakers of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/gogglebox-and-what-it-tells-us-about-english-in-australia-75295">ethnolects</a>”, which are a way of speaking characteristic of a particular ethnic group — such as Greek, Italian or Lebanese. </p>
<p>When people hear these accents, they may think that person does not speak English well. But having an accent is special: it signals you are multilingual and you have the experience of having grown up with multiple cultural influences. </p>
<h2>Accentuate the positive</h2>
<p>Many of the parents we surveyed felt hesitant to speak multiple languages at home, or felt their efforts were not being supported at school.</p>
<p>One parent told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Instead of helping her (my daughter) develop the language, all primary teachers assessed her language in comparison with the monolinguals and demanded to cut the other languages “to improve” the school language. </p>
<p>I would not have dared to experiment here in Australia with the kid’s second language. The peer pressure, the teacher’s pressure and the lack of language schools are main factors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But over the centuries, some of the world’s brightest people, such as author <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/life-bilingual/201101/bilinguals-and-accents#:%7E:text=He%20was%20trilingual%20in%20Polish,strong%20Polish%20accent%20in%20English!">Joseph Conrad</a> spoke with a strong accent. Many others, such as <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/life-bilingual/201911/those-amazing-special-bilinguals">Vladimir Nabokov, Gustavo Pérez-Firmat and Eva Hoffman</a> (who wrote Lost in Translation in her second language) harnessed the benefits of being bilingual to produce astounding literary works, drawing on the <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/life-bilingual/201603/living-in-parts-dreaming-wholeness">different “voices” in their heads</a> to act out different characters.</p>
<p>In this way, a second language can be a superpower.</p>
<p>Children who can speak several languages tend to have <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/how-foreign-languages-foster-greater-empathy-in-children/432462/">higher levels of empathy</a>. They also <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171002084841.htm#:%7E:text=It%20is%20often%20claimed%20that,than%20monolinguals%20at%20learning%20languages.&text=The%20study%2C%20conducted%20at%20Georgetown,learning%20languages%20later%20in%20life.">find it easier to learn languages later in life</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-migrant-school-students-do-better-than-their-local-peers-theyre-not-just-smarter-93741">Why some migrant school students do better than their local peers (they're not 'just smarter')</a>
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<p>Multilingual exposure <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/opinion/sunday/the-superior-social-skills-of-bilinguals.html">facilitates interpersonal understanding</a> among babies and young children. This social advantage appears to emerge from merely being exposed to multiple languages, rather than being bilingual per se. </p>
<p>Being multilingual is also an amazing workout for the brain: speaking multiple languages throughout your life can help <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393206004076">delay the onset of dementia and cognitive decline</a>.</p>
<h2>Parents’ confidence translates to children</h2>
<p>Research shows migrant parents who feel pressured to speak to their children in their non-native language <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284550282_Minority_language_parenting_in_Europe_and_children's_well-being">feel less secure in their role as parents</a>. But if they feel supported in using their first language, they feel more confident as parents, which in turn has a positive effect on children’s well-being. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A migrant family at the table, eating lunch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382901/original/file-20210208-24-1c0ao6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Migrant parents who raise their kids with more than one language say they feel like they’ve given them an advantage in life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multi-generation-family-enjoying-meal-on-216530335">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We found <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00163/full">migrant parents who do raise their children in more than one language</a> report feeling good about passing on their culture to their children, and feel they have given them an advantage in life. They also feel as though their children are more connected to their extended family.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-politicisation-of-english-language-proficiency-not-poor-english-itself-creates-barriers-98475">The politicisation of English language proficiency, not poor English itself, creates barriers</a>
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<h2>So, what could you do?</h2>
<p>Here are some ways you could help your children keep their native language, and accent, alive:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>check out your local library or <a href="https://www.borrowbox.com/">BorrowBox</a> for books or audiobooks in different languages</p></li>
<li><p>connect with other multilingual families on social media for virtual or face-to-face playdates</p></li>
<li><p>schedule <a href="https://theconversation.com/grandparent-grandchildren-video-calls-are-vital-during-covid-19-here-are-simple-ways-to-improve-them-141534">video chats</a> with grandparents and extended family members. Encourage them to speak their language with your child</p></li>
<li><p>find out if your child’s preschool has a program for learning a new language, or check out <a href="http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/lmm/">Little Multilingual Minds</a>. If your child is older, encourage them to take up a language in primary or high school. It’s never too late.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>One parent shared their strategy for helping their child speak in different languages and accents:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I play games with accents, one child is learning French, the other Italian, so I play games with them about the pronunciation of words and get them to teach me words in the language they are learning and emphasise the accent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We hope linguistic diversity becomes the status quo. This way, all children will gain cultural awareness and sensitivity. They will become more attuned to their evolving identities, and accept others may have identities different to their own.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Do you speak more than one language at home? Help us find out more about multilingualism in Australia by responding to this <a href="https://surveyswesternsydney.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_74hkzh3mqjXJEwJ">survey</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>You can also help us find out Australian’s attitudes towards accents by taking part in <a href="https://surveyswesternsydney.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8ps8oDFBLRnRfGB">this survey</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143093/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloé Diskin-Holdaway receives funding from The Irish Research Council, the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language and the University of Melbourne. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paola Escudero receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) via the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language and an ARC Future Fellowship.</span></em></p>Many migrant parents are hesitant to pass their language accent onto their children. They fear this may lead them to experience discrimination. But speaking two languages has many advantages.Chloé Diskin-Holdaway, Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, The University of MelbournePaola Escudero, Professor in Linguistics, MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1526302021-01-06T11:59:10Z2021-01-06T11:59:10ZHilaria Baldwin, cucumber-gate, and why being bilingual is complicated<p>Hilaria Baldwin, wife of actor Alec, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/30/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-heritage-new-york-times">has recently been widely accused</a> of <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9108297/Chynna-Phillips-defends-sister-law-Hilaria-Baldwin-fake-Spanish-roots-controversey.html">faking Spanish heritage</a> in what <a href="https://pagesix.com/2020/12/28/what-still-doesnt-add-up-about-hilaria-baldwins-spanish-heritage/">one reporter called</a> a “decade-long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person”. </p>
<p>The press and social media are having a field day – numerous clips have been unearthed in which Baldwin appears to imply that she was born in Spain. What now seems clear is that she was born in Boston and originally named Hilary by her parents, and that these facts had previously been misreported – whether through genuine misunderstandings or intentional falsification. </p>
<p>Of particular interest, however, is the incensed response to the way in which Baldwin uses English. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGukSHEOfqI">YouTube clips calling out her “fake” accent abound</a> and an episode of a cookery show, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uui8TfMXgc">in which she momentarily struggles to remember the word “cucumber”</a>, has gone viral.</p>
<p>Baldwin does appear to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjk5UIWFrzM">speak Spanish flawlessly</a>. Everything we know about second language acquisition indicates that in order to reach this level of proficiency, she must have spent considerable time – in all probability including her childhood – in a Spanish-speaking country. And this fact could go a long way towards explaining the observation that her English is sometimes tinged with a Spanish accent and that she has at times appeared to struggle to think of a word in English.</p>
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<p>In the western world – and particularly in English-speaking countries – most people are convinced that it is natural to have one native language, which you speak like everyone around you. You might possibly (but not necessarily) speak one – or several – foreign languages as well, but not be native-like in those. In the English-speaking world, the latter is often regarded <a href="https://travelblog.dailymail.co.uk/2013/04/learn-a-new-language-forget-itenglish-is-spoken-so-widely-its-entirely-pointless.html">as a bit of a useless luxury</a></p>
<p>If (like Baldwin) you were born in an English-speaking environment and to English-speaking parents, the assumption is that English is and will always remain that single authentic native language. You will develop it in the same way as any monolingual would, and it will remain invariable for the rest of your life – irrespective of where you live most of the time.</p>
<p>This assumption is wrong – a Scot who moves to North America, for example, may find themselves the object of ridicule on visits back home because of their changed accent. The same can happen to anyone who moves to a country <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/03/first-language-voice-mother-tongue-attrition-brexit">where an entirely different language is spoken</a>. </p>
<p>My own research has demonstrated that many people living abroad are perceived by other native speakers to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/applied-psycholinguistics/article/perceived-foreign-accent-in-first-language-attrition-and-second-language-acquisition-the-impact-of-age-of-acquisition-and-bilingualism/3A03CC339EEFDDE394A02712AF7E0C50">have a foreign accent in their native language</a>, similar to that of foreign language learners. The younger you are when you begin speaking another language, the more pronounced the accent in your mother tongue is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/lang.12316">likely to be</a>. </p>
<p>How strong this foreign accent is may fluctuate over time – it <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/%7Ermk7/HC/HC_Readings/Sancier_Fowler.pdf">may be less pronounced</a> after a visit to one’s native country and then gradually become stronger again. Anecdotally, it also appears that factors such as wellbeing and emotional states may influence how “foreign” you sound. Baldwin reports that she finds how strongly accented her English is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/style/hilaria-baldwin-interview.html?searchResultPosition=1">depends on whether she is happy or upset</a> and that’s not entirely beyond the realms of possibility. </p>
<h2>Fumbling for words</h2>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/abs/illusory-benefit-of-cognates-lexical-facilitation-followed-by-sublexical-interference-in-a-word-typing-task/004E5B5A197886449247CD857DDFB8CA">getting stuck on a word</a> in one language to the extent that it blocks the other is very common. When two languages inhabit the same brain, every time we reach for a concept (for example, the notion of a cucumber), the word attached to this concept <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00188/full">is activated to some degree</a> in all of the languages we know. </p>
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<p>We <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0911604406000716">have to engage a neural control mechanism</a> to ensure we say it in the right language. This control mechanism can sometimes fail us and we end up <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027719302008">being unable</a> to come up with the word we want. </p>
<p>Most people are prepared to accept and even expect any such phenomena – a foreign accent, word-finding difficulties, grammatical errors – as an inevitability in any foreign language learner. But at the same time they are adamantly stuck on the notion that a “native language” – one that you were exposed to from birth – must be resilient enough to withstand years or decades of coexisting in the same brain with another language.</p>
<p>This is not how languages and identities work. People do not have one “true” or “native” language which inevitably, inextricably and immutably ties us to one identity and one culture. As <a href="http://yolainebodin.com/the-language-nook/quotes/he-who-learns-a-new-language-acquires-a-new-soul">the proverb goes</a>, learning a new language means acquiring a new soul – and bilinguals often feel that <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=x0YWC_g23isC&printsec=frontcover&dq=bilingual+minds&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfwJvtrILuAhXCUBUIHZS4AOwQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg">different parts of their personality come into play</a> when they speak different languages. </p>
<p>Which language is the dominant one <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Language_Dominance_in_Bilinguals/070wCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=language+dominance+in+bilinguals&printsec=frontcover">can shift</a> with experience, with context, and with time. But all the languages living in our brain are in a constant exchange with each other and influence one another to some degree, and the same is true for all of our identities. Bilinguals are not, as the linguist and psychologist François Grosjean noted, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0093934X89900485">two monolinguals in one person</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika Schmid receives funding from DFG, NWO, AHRC and ESRC. She joined the Conservative party in 2018 for the sole purpose of voting against Boris Johnson in the leadership contest. </span></em></p>Studies of bilingualism show that accents and vocabulary can change depending on your circumstances.Monika Schmid, Professor of Linguistics, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1520332020-12-14T14:22:26Z2020-12-14T14:22:26ZBarbara Windsor: you’re more likely to hear a cockney accent in Essex than east London now<p>The word “cockney” conjures up a plethora of London-based cultural expectations. Maybe you envisage the muted criminality of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006xthd">Only Fools and Horses</a>, which epitomises the centuries-old depiction of cockneys as the “<a href="https://prezi.com/cjzo-pynkyzu/between-nottin-ill-gite-and-bleckfriars-the-enregisterment-of-cockney-in-the-19th-century/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy">playful rogue</a>”. Or maybe you think of ’er indoors: headstrong kitchen matriarchs bustling over dusty, shoeless children who dart in and out of labyrinths of alleys and cobbled streets. Or perhaps what comes to mind is the <a href="https://public.oed.com/blog/cockney/">legend of the Bow Bells</a> in the City of London, within whose earshot a true cockney is supposedly born.</p>
<p>Or maybe you think of Dame Barbara Windsor, who died on December 9. She was a cockney icon, born in 1937 in Shoreditch, east London. She was best known for her impassioned cries of “get outta my pub!” as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. </p>
<p>Windsor encapsulated popular imaginings of the cockney; she was joyous, riotous, staunchly working class and spoke with an unmistakably cockney accent. Cockneys are often described as the white working class in east London who speak, well, cockney. But there is more to it than that. Windsor’s cockney accent is relatively far removed from the accent now spoken by many young people in modern-day east London – <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/language/research/projects/mle/what-is-mle/">Multicultural London English</a> – which has supplanted cockney.</p>
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<p>So is the cockney accent soon be brown bread (dead in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/09/guide-to-cockney-rhyming-slang">cockney rhyming slang</a>)? <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/abs/phonetic-variation-and-change-in-the-cockney-diaspora-the-role-of-place-gender-and-identity/68653062DDBD66EEE307A87CBC0B3FD3">My research</a> suggests that cockney may instead be alive and well in Essex – although the people that speak it may not consider themselves cockney.</p>
<h2>Who speaks cockney?</h2>
<p>Since Barbara Windsor’s rise to fame, there has been a dramatic reconfiguration of who is and who speaks cockney. Although east London is the spiritual home of cockney, the cockney culture and accent may now be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346971405_Language_and_identity_in_the_Cockney_Diaspora_to_Essex">most prolific in Essex</a>.</p>
<p>Essex has long been one of the most popular destinations for day trips and holidays for east Londoners. But after the second world war, many relocated to Essex, leading to what is now known as the cockney diaspora. This large-scale movement was provoked by <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137003638_7">many interrelated factors</a>. </p>
<p>Some families chose to leave behind the poverty and overcrowding in east London, others lost their jobs through deindustrialisation, such as the closure of the London Docks. Others lost their homes due to the 1920s-1960s government-led slum-clearance programmes. As part of the slum-clearance programmes to Essex, many post-war new towns and council estates were constructed, such as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48462491">Becontree</a>, which at the time the world’s largest estate.</p>
<p>Another such estate was Debden, which was the research site of sociologists Michael Young and Peter Willmott’s highly influential <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/136/13652/family-and-kinship-in-east-london/9780141189123.html">Family and Kinship in East London</a>. This book traced the relocation of cockneys to Essex, which supposedly damaged family and kinship ties. </p>
<p>Debden is also where I’m from. Both sets of my grandparents were moved from east London to council houses in Essex by the then London County Council. My dad was born in his parents’ home in leafy Debden, and my sister and I were subsequently brought up and schooled there.</p>
<p>Like me, many in Debden are born into families with direct links to the East End and are firmly part of the cockney diaspora, but does that make us cockney? Well, it’s complicated. </p>
<h2>Essex Cockneys</h2>
<p>When my grandparents left east London, they left behind substantial poverty (not that they or my parents lived without economic hardship in Essex), but in some ways, they also left behind their sense of self. Although they lived out the remainder, and the majority, of their lives in Essex, they always considered east London to be home.</p>
<p>As a result, subsequent generations have been born to cockney families in Essex, like me, and have had to calibrate our identities. Although we may frequent the local pie and mash shop and dance the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7q3PxD__VA&ab_channel=OfficialPlayMeMusic">Cockney Knees Up</a> at weddings, it feels implausible that cockneys could be born into red-brick houses with spacious gardens in suburban Essex. This is too far from the poverty and vibrancy of east London that our grandparents vividly recounted. We are more credibly described with the derisive trope of the brash and materialistic “<a href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/64517#eid5261280">Essex girl or boy</a>” which emerged to soothe middle-class egos after the new-found success of the working class in Essex. </p>
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<p>I wanted to look into this confused sense of identity and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/abs/phonetic-variation-and-change-in-the-cockney-diaspora-the-role-of-place-gender-and-identity/68653062DDBD66EEE307A87CBC0B3FD3">found</a> that in Debden, the cockney identity is dwindling. Within two generations, there has been a dramatic decrease in those who consider themselves and their accents to be cockney. Instead, young people believe they have an “Essex” accent, even though their accent has not notably diverged from the accent of their cockney parents or grandparents. </p>
<p>What many consider to be the Essex accent is no longer the previously documented, rural east Anglian accent – whose decline <a href="http://www.essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/how-to-speak-essex-20th-century-voices-from-the-essex-sound-and-video-archive/">is lamented in parts of Essex</a>. Instead, although not a perfect replica, a modern-day Essex accent is notably a descendent of cockney. </p>
<p>As all accents do, the cockney accent has evolved, transmuted and taken on flavours and colours of other accents. While you are now less likely to hear Barbara Windsor’s famous cockney lilt in east London, the cockney accent is alive and well. Instead, it’s bought a new whistle and flute (suit), got a haircut, and moved to a semi-detached house in Essex.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Cole received funding from the University of Essex Doctoral Scholarship as well as ESSEXLab seedcorn funding.</span></em></p>Barbara Windsor was the Cockney queen of EastEnders but you’re more likely to hear her famous accent in Essex now rather than London.Amanda Cole, Lecturer in Department of Language and Linguistics, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1488252020-10-26T12:43:24Z2020-10-26T12:43:24ZAccentism is alive and well – and it doesn’t only affect the north of England<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365525/original/file-20201026-19-1urel1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C0%2C4470%2C2817&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not just Northern accents that face discrimination. The Essex accent is also the source of stigma. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/welcome-essex-sign-uk-rural-english-744671455">pxl.store/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman despise him,” George Bernard Shaw wrote in the preface to <a href="https://www.bl.uk/works/pygmalion">Pygmalion</a> in 1913. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/24/uk-top-universities-urged-act-classism-accent-prejudice">Recent headlines</a> suggest that accent prejudice (or “<a href="https://accentism.org/">accentism</a>”) is no relic of the past but continues to blight the university experience of many students. Even at northern universities, students from the north of England face commentary and ridicule for their accents.</p>
<p>There is a hierarchy of accents in Britain which <a href="https://accentbiasbritain.org/results-labels/">has changed little</a> over the years. The accents of Britain’s highest classes are seen as neutral, “accentless” and correct, while others are seen as divergent or inferior and are often stigmatised. As such, those who have “non-standard” accents are seen as legitimate and admissible targets for comment and judgement. They are also saddled with an apparent responsibility to <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-with-northern-accents-are-being-told-to-posh-up-heres-why-88425">change how they sound</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/british-people-still-think-some-accents-are-smarter-than-others-what-that-means-in-the-workplace-126964">British people still think some accents are smarter than others – what that means in the workplace</a>
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<p>The higher-class standard accent – “received pronunciation” – is consistently rated the highest on scales <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03740463.2005.10416087">such as prestige</a> and perceived intelligence. Such judgments continually reproduce and reaffirm social inequalities. </p>
<p>The association between the ability to speak in a certain way and being intelligent is especially relevant in the university context, where this particular trait is most valued. Being able to sound intelligent in a classroom translates directly into gaining recognition and respect amongst peers and teachers. The repercussions of accentism <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/14/do-accent-matter-modern-britain">in the job market</a> are a further consequence for students.</p>
<h2>Stereotyping</h2>
<p>Five years ago, then employment minister Esther McVey <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avoid-regional-accent-discrimination-when-recruiting">made a plea</a> for employers to look beyond an applicant’s accent. This is all very well, but with MPs themselves being shamelessly mocked for their accents (including the deputy opposition leader <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/mp-angela-rayner-hits-back-13309268">Angela Rayner</a>), it is difficult to reconcile the best wishes of policymakers with the realities of our prejudices. While it is illegal under UK law to discriminate against a person based on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights">protected characteristics</a> such as gender, race, religion or disability, accent is not recognised in this list.</p>
<p>Addressing these prejudices may be an uphill battle. We start to become aware of accent distinctions from a very early age, with children as young as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2010.00050.x">five months</a> demonstrating a preference for a familiar accent over an unfamiliar one. <a href="http://repository.essex.ac.uk/25381/">Children from three years old</a> have shown the ability to group speakers according to regional accent distinctions. </p>
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<img alt="Students in a white hallway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365524/original/file-20201026-15-1y9j8nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C44%2C5912%2C3911&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365524/original/file-20201026-15-1y9j8nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365524/original/file-20201026-15-1y9j8nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365524/original/file-20201026-15-1y9j8nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365524/original/file-20201026-15-1y9j8nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365524/original/file-20201026-15-1y9j8nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365524/original/file-20201026-15-1y9j8nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A recent investigation has found that students with northern accents are still discriminated against.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multiracial-students-walking-university-hall-during-685407757">4 PM production/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This process of categorisation lays the building blocks for the social judgements. Once group membership is perceived based on accent, it is no longer solely a mark of regional origin but linked with broader stereotypes. Accents thus become associated with being lazy, incorrect, effeminate, friendly, standoffish and so on – and these character traits are then ascribed to anyone who speaks in that way. </p>
<p>Such judgements have nothing to do with linguistic characteristics – no English dialect is inherently better, more beautiful or more correct – but represent a form of classism. As such, accentism often reflects camouflaged prejudices. When we judge someone’s characteristics based on their accent, we are not judging them on their own merit but making assumptions about their social class, education and ethnicity because of how they speak. Needless to say, these assumptions are often false.</p>
<h2>The Cockney diaspora</h2>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/24/its-had-a-lasting-impact-students-on-being-bullied-over-their-accents">Guardian investigation</a> rightly called out accentism faced by students from the north of England at elite universities across the country. Discrimination against northern accents is a frequent topic in the news, but in research, accentism cannot be reduced to “south good, north bad”. In fact, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339177589_Contact_details_Class-based_linguistic_distinctions_in_Southeast_England_the_role_of_technology_in_aggregating_perceptual_dialectology_data">research has consistently shown</a> that some of the most stigmatised accents in Britain are, in fact, spoken in south-east England – particularly in Essex.</p>
<p>This is a fairly recent development, brought about by large-scale relocation of working-class Cockney speakers to the outskirts of London, the home counties and Essex in the so-called “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/phonetic-variation-and-change-in-the-cockney-diaspora-the-role-of-place-gender-and-identity/68653062DDBD66EEE307A87CBC0B3FD3">Cockney diaspora</a>” since the turn of the 20th century. In the 1980s these communities in Essex, which had predominantly been working class, began to be transformed through more widespread educational attainment, employment and home ownership. This lead to an association of the Essex accent with upstarts and the <em>nouveau riche</em>. </p>
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<img alt="Map of Essex and the surrounding regions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365527/original/file-20201026-19-10ls2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365527/original/file-20201026-19-10ls2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365527/original/file-20201026-19-10ls2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365527/original/file-20201026-19-10ls2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365527/original/file-20201026-19-10ls2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365527/original/file-20201026-19-10ls2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365527/original/file-20201026-19-10ls2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Cockney diaspora moved to the outskirts of London, the home counties, and Essex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/vector-map-essex-east-england-united-1630918825">Weredragon/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The derisive tropes of the gaudy, flashy and materialistic <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137314130_2">“Essex man” and “Essex girl”</a> and their often mocked and mimicked accents reflect middle-class gatekeeping towards social status. For those from Essex, their home, accent and background have become at best a humorous anecdote and at worst, a burden. Indeed, based solely on accent, young people (18-33) in south-east England <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339177589_Contact_details_Class-based_linguistic_distinctions_in_Southeast_England_the_role_of_technology_in_aggregating_perceptual_dialectology_data">consistently evaluate</a> east London and southern Essex speakers more negatively and consider them less intelligent. </p>
<p>University is a place and a time where people come together from all over the country and all over the world. This can have very interesting effects on students’ accents as they might naturally start to <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Plasticity-in-vowel-perception-and-production%3A-a-of-Evans-Iverson/26c46c0b87256b63f67c546175fa982eaa9ef83f">change the way</a> that they speak due to their new surroundings. This is a completely normal process known as accommodation. It is not the same thing as the enforced undermining of credibility and intelligence through the mockery and stereotyping of someone’s regional accent. </p>
<p>There are many interesting things to learn about how someone from another part of the country has a different way of pronouncing a word or uses a different word for the same thing. For instance, have you ever seen how many different words there are for a <a href="http://projects.alc.manchester.ac.uk/ukdialectmaps/lexical-variation/bread/">bread roll</a>? We need to counteract our biases by understanding and celebrating such diversity, instead of mocking those who don’t conform to an ideological standard rooted in discrimination from the outset.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika Schmid receives funding from the Dutch National Science Foundation NWO, the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, the ESRC and the AHRC. She joined the Conservative Party in 2018 for the sole purpose of voting against Boris Johnson in the Leadership contest.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Cole received funding from the University of Essex Doctoral Scholarship as well as ESSEXLab seedcorn funding.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ella Jeffries received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and is currently undergoing research funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>Stereotyping people based on their accents is still a big problem at universities in England.Monika Schmid, Professor of Linguistics, University of EssexAmanda Cole, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Institute for Analytics and Data Science) Department of Language and Linguistics, University of EssexElla Jeffries, Lecturer in linguistics, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1318062020-03-02T12:19:56Z2020-03-02T12:19:56ZWhy do Americans say ‘bay-zle’ and the English say ‘baa-zle’?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316917/original/file-20200224-24676-1lhaasp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Depending on where you're from, you say words like 'basil' a specific way.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-female-cook-cutting-basil-on-251585563">Leonie Broekstra/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Why do Americans say “bay-zle” and the English say “baa-zle”? – Sly M., age 6, Cambridge, Massachusetts</strong></p>
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<p>A person’s voice is like their <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-i-get-my-own-unique-set-of-fingerprints-128391">fingerprint</a>. Everyone talks differently, and everyone’s voice is unique.</p>
<p>Some of these linguistic differences are because of how our individual bodies are shaped, especially the <a href="https://voicefoundation.org/health-science/voice-disorders/anatomy-physiology-of-voice-production/understanding-voice-production/">size of our vocal cords and tracts</a>.</p>
<p>Our families, our friends and other people in our communities also <a href="https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/why-do-some-people-have-accent">influence how we talk</a>. I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Gu8Um_gAAAAJ&hl=en">study language, literacy and culture</a>, and I’ve found that how we use language – including accents – is a way of showing who we are.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5aXmNle560k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Language influences who we are.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why we have accents</h2>
<p>We develop different accents because of whom we interact with and where we grow up.</p>
<p>An accent is <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accent">how a person sounds</a>. Kids who grow up in Australia develop Australian accents. Kids who grow up in England develop British accents. And kids who grow up in the United States develop American accents. Everyone has an accent.</p>
<p>When we pick up on another person’s accent, it means we are identifying clues in their <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/451308/aunt-adult-pajamas-why-cant-agree-how-pronounce-common-words">pronunciation</a> that tell us something about who they are. These differences can be as small as a single sound, but we often spot them right away.</p>
<p>For example, in the U.S., the word “basil” is pronounced “bay-zle.” But in England, it is pronounced “baa-zle,” like the word “dazzle.” In the U.S., “schedule” is pronounced with a “sk” sound at the beginning, but in England, it’s pronounced with a “sh” sound.</p>
<p>There are also spelling differences, like “theatre” in England versus “theater” in the U.S., and word differences, like “aubergine” in England versus “eggplant” in the U.S.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UcxByX6rh24?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Everyone has an accent.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Across the country</h2>
<p>There are also linguistic differences within countries. Not all people from England sound the same, and the same goes for people from the U.S. </p>
<p>In my own research, <a href="https://christinemallinson.com/research/">I study differences</a> in English spoken in the U.S. In the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/smokies/">Great Smoky Mountains</a>, you might hear the word “fire” pronounced like “far,” and “tire” pronounced like “tar.” In the <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315768076/chapters/10.4324/9781315768076-5">U.S. South</a>, the words “bide” and “ride” tend to sound more like “bad” and “rad.”</p>
<p>And in the city of <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-insider/bs-lt-baltimore-slang-20170209-story.html">Baltimore</a>, you might hear some African American residents pronounce “dog” as “dug,” and “frog” as “frug.” </p>
<p>Even in a globally connected world, where it is easier to meet people from other countries than ever before, the way we talk still represents who we are.</p>
<p>So be proud of your vocal fingerprint. A kaleidoscope of languages and accents helps make our world a culturally rich and exciting place.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Mallinson receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
</span></em></p>Accents differ depending on where we’re from, even in the same country.Christine Mallinson, Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture and Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1259812019-10-29T10:19:37Z2019-10-29T10:19:37ZHere’s how your foreign accent can unfairly destroy your credibility<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299060/original/file-20191028-113998-n5x28f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not what you say... it's how you say it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU3MjMyNDMwNSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTAyNTQxOTYyMSIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMDI1NDE5NjIxL21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIkdIWlB2OUdaYUEvOFd6MFJXa2Z2TzU4eE8rUSJd%2Fshutterstock_1025419621.jpg&pi=33421636&m=1025419621&src=FZJ99iEfACDonCfVqL6BcQ-1-64">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s an old Punch magazine <a href="https://punch.photoshelter.com/image/I0000eHEXGJ_wImQ">cartoon depicting a rather typical business boardroom</a>. The group in the illustration includes one woman and several men, with the chairman saying, “That’s an excellent suggestion, Miss Triggs. Perhaps one of the men here would like to make it?”</p>
<p>The cartoon is still regularly shared on social media in the context of the debate around <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/02/unconscious-bias-what-is-it-and-can-it-be-eliminated">unconscious, or automatic, bias</a>. This bias can happen when people unknowingly favour people who appear to be more like themselves, and discriminate against those who appear “different”. Examples include white people being more likely to <a href="https://psmag.com/economics/black-male-faces-3571">find black male faces more threatening</a>, or applicants with ethnic minority sounding names being <a href="https://fullfact.org/economy/job-applicants-ethnic-minority-sounding-names-are-less-likely-be-called-interview/">less likely to get a job interview</a>, even when they have the same qualifications. </p>
<p>Many employers now require their employees to take courses aimed at making them aware of this bias. Judging another person’s capability or credibility based on their gender, race or whether they use a wheelchair is obviously discriminatory, as such characteristics are unrelated to competence and expertise. </p>
<h2>What accents say</h2>
<p>But most people never stop to reflect on the degree to which accent can affect their opinion of the person speaking – particularly (but not only) if the accent gives the speaker away as someone who did not learn the language as a native speaker.</p>
<p>A particularly disturbing example was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/ezekiel-verdict-1.5305096">recently reported</a> in the form of a judgment by Canadian judge Terry Clackson. The judgment lists in great detail a range of grammatical and phonetic “errors” committed by the Crown’s expert medical witness, Dr Bamidele Adeagbo – who is of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/ezekiel-verdict-1.5305096">Nigerian descent</a> – rejecting the expert opinion delivered in his capacity as the physician who performed an autopsy that was a key element in the case.</p>
<p>In the present day and age, one would very much hope that stereotypes based on race, gender or sexual identity would not be seen as remotely acceptable arguments in a court ruling. So how can a supposedly imperfect command of the English language by someone who did not have the good fortune of being born and raised in what linguist David Crystal has termed an <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/english-as-a-global-language/690D300092A3B5E4733677FCC9A42E98">“inner circle” country</a> – such as the UK, the US or Canada – be acceptable grounds for dismissing their considerable expertise? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299061/original/file-20191028-113958-1pksesr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299061/original/file-20191028-113958-1pksesr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299061/original/file-20191028-113958-1pksesr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299061/original/file-20191028-113958-1pksesr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299061/original/file-20191028-113958-1pksesr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299061/original/file-20191028-113958-1pksesr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299061/original/file-20191028-113958-1pksesr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘You’re not from 'round here!’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU3MjMyNDUyNiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTE5MjE2OTE4OCIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMTkyMTY5MTg4L21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIld5UzRneG1LUzB5WHlmK3A5SWt6UVpHSHBUZyJd%2Fshutterstock_1192169188.jpg&pi=33421636&m=1192169188&src=XLoITNFHW7wu2kKdl3YFZA-1-21">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like the non-male, the non-white and the non-able-bodied, non-native speakers often face an uphill struggle to be heard and taken seriously. Research shows that they <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1088868309359288">are seen as less intelligent and competent</a>, are <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1980-31288-001">less likely to be found suitable for higher-status jobs</a>, and are less likely to be believed when delivering trivia statements such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103110001459">“ants don’t sleep”</a>.</p>
<p>How well we speak the language therefore is a measuring stick for how competent we are at anything else. <a href="http://www.viviancook.uk/Writings/Papers/MC16Premises.html">As the linguist Vivian Cook pointed out</a>, foreign language speakers are typically evaluated not on the basis of how far they have come, what they have achieved and how much they are able to do, but by the gap that still separates them from the “ideal” native. The enumeration by Justice Clackson of the imperfections in Adeagbo’s use of English is a textbook example of such an evaluation.</p>
<p>Such biases are particularly common in societies where it still is considered the norm for people to grow up speaking only one language, and where foreign language learning is deemed to be <a href="https://travelblog.dailymail.co.uk/2013/04/learn-a-new-language-forget-itenglish-is-spoken-so-widely-its-entirely-pointless.html">a “useless” luxury</a> – although similar biases have been shown <a href="https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/rela/15/3/article-p285.xml">to apply among other non-natives</a> who presumably should share the pain.</p>
<h2>‘Where are you from?’</h2>
<p>Even more disturbingly, labelling someone as “foreign”, with all the prejudices and stereotypes that this incurs, is something that literally happens within a split second. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6491043">One study</a> found that judgements on whether or not a speaker is a native can be surprisingly accurate upon hearing a speech segment that is just 30 milliseconds long.</p>
<p>Certainly, after a sentence or two, the listener will have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6491043">made up their mind</a> – and often will follow it up with the inevitable and ubiquitous question: “Oh, where are you from?” At that point, you know you have been labelled – and that your credibility is in tatters. What you say is now less important than how you say it.</p>
<p>While it is essential that these prejudices should be called out and recognised as part and parcel of unconscious bias, and that we should try to work against them, it is clear that this will have to be a marathon, not a sprint. The view that someone with a more “native” command of a language must be more knowledgeable than one who doesn’t – even if we are talking about a non-native who is considerably more expert – is deeply rooted and hard to challenge.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, society should treat everyone as equal, regardless of their wealth, power, status, race, gender – or accent. We do not live in such an ideal world. But there is a reason why many societies represent Lady Justice as wearing a blindfold: the judiciary must put facts and expertise in the balance and be able to abstract away from base prejudices.</p>
<p>“Thank you for your excellent analysis, Dr Adeagbo – perhaps a native speaker would care to present it?” is simply not good enough.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika Schmid receives funding from the Dutch National Science Foundation NWO, the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences KNAW and the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council ESRC.</span></em></p>Non-native speakers often face an uphill struggle to be heard and taken seriously.Monika Schmid, Professor of Linguistics, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216142019-09-08T12:26:36Z2019-09-08T12:26:36ZToddler language learning: Richer and more complicated than you might think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289726/original/file-20190827-184211-1i4nr8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Toddlers quickly adapt to the fact that words can be pronounced differently depending on many factors. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you consider how children learn words, you might think of this kind of scenario: an adult points to an object (for example, a dog), clearly says a word in isolation (dog!), and the child immediately understands what the word means. </p>
<p>Almost everything about this scenario is wrong! The meaning of a word <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1105040108">is not obvious</a>. Most words occur <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01290.x">in longer sentences without any spaces before or after them</a>, which means that where a word begins or ends is not clear. And children work out <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.08.008">the meanings of words over a longer period of time</a>, rather than all at once. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/lab-infant-development-language/">Lab for Infant Development and Language</a> at the University of Waterloo, our research has examined how toddlers deal with another complicated aspect of word learning: that of speech variability. </p>
<h2>Children understanding other children</h2>
<p>Speech variability refers to the fact that a word like <em>dog</em> is pronounced differently every time we hear it. Even a single person will say it differently each time — they could be talking faster or slower, whispering or yelling. With different speakers, the pronunciations can vary even more. </p>
<p>When adults listen to language, such variability is complicated enough to deal with. But imagine facing this situation as a baby or a young child whose language knowledge is still developing. </p>
<p>One group of speakers who pronounce words very differently is children. For example, when a young child says a word, like flower, it can be very different from the adult version — it might sound more like <em>fowa</em>. </p>
<p>With these substitutions and deletions of sounds, it’s not surprising that parents may understand their own children better than other adults do (since different kids might make different changes). </p>
<p>So, can young learners recognize words produced by other children? </p>
<p>To see whether toddlers understand a word like flower, one technique is to show them pictures, say of a flower and a shoe, and then play a recording that asks them to look at the flower. If a toddler understands the word, that’s exactly what she’ll do. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289725/original/file-20190827-184192-dgz2fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289725/original/file-20190827-184192-dgz2fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289725/original/file-20190827-184192-dgz2fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289725/original/file-20190827-184192-dgz2fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289725/original/file-20190827-184192-dgz2fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289725/original/file-20190827-184192-dgz2fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289725/original/file-20190827-184192-dgz2fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a study, toddlers easily understood the speech of older children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers have found that two-year-olds <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.12.013">have difficulty understanding the speech of toddlers</a>. In other words, when they hear a toddler pronounce <em>fowa</em>, they may not look at the correct picture. In fact, this is true even if they hear their own voice! This means that, even though toddlers themselves make mispronunciations, they aren’t very tolerant of them when listening to speech. </p>
<p>But in a study we did, we found that two-year-olds are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2019.04.021">extremely good at understanding the speech of children six years and older</a>. They were just as fast and accurate as when they listened to adults.</p>
<p>This is neat, because even six-year-olds still produce sounds differently than adults. But toddlers had no trouble with these pronunciations. Interestingly, we found that this was true whether or not the toddlers had much previous experience with other children. One important implication of this is that even though most work on language development has focused on the input young learners get from adults, our results suggest toddlers might be able to use speech from other children to help them learn, too.</p>
<h2>Noticing, and adapting, to accents</h2>
<p>Hearing a child’s voice introduces one kind of variability. But what happens when a speaker has a different accent? For example, when a French-accented speaker says the English word pig, it might sound more to an English listener like the word big, because of how “p” and “b” sound in French and English. </p>
<p>Given the prevalence of different language backgrounds in Canada — for example, according to Statistics Canada <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016010/98-200-x2016010-eng.cfm">19.4 per cent of Canadians speak more than one language at home and more than 7.7 million Canadians speak an immigrant mother tongue</a> — this is a type of variability that many Canadian children will encounter.</p>
<p>Research suggests that toddlers aged 20 months and younger are sometimes unable to figure out what words mean when they first hear a new accent. For example, a study at the University of Toronto found that when <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2013.879636">Canadian monolingual English-learning toddlers heard the word dog in an Australian accent, they did not look at a picture of a dog</a> — at least not the first time they heard it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291342/original/file-20190906-175714-1k0tcuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291342/original/file-20190906-175714-1k0tcuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291342/original/file-20190906-175714-1k0tcuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291342/original/file-20190906-175714-1k0tcuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291342/original/file-20190906-175714-1k0tcuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291342/original/file-20190906-175714-1k0tcuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291342/original/file-20190906-175714-1k0tcuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One study found that toddlers can quickly learn about a new accent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in one study, we found that children can quickly learn about a new accent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00986.x">after just a couple of minutes of listening</a>. In this research, toddlers aged 18 - 20 months heard words like <em>ball</em> produced with an accented vowel. After a couple of minutes of hearing the accented words paired with images of their meanings, toddlers were not only able to understand those particular accented words, they were also able to understand other words in that accent (even if they hadn’t heard them before). </p>
<p>How do we know they learned the specific accent instead of just becoming more tolerant of vowel changes? If we instead presented the words with a different vowel after the learning period, toddlers rejected those pronunciations. </p>
<p>In fact, we have found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2015.1024835">even babies can remember the specific accents used by two different people</a>.</p>
<p>All of this variability in speech makes the path to language learning quite rich and complicated. But young learners have the tools to navigate it! </p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121614/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine White receives funding from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).</span></em></p>Adults aren’t the only language teachers: six-year-olds still produce sounds differently than adults, but toddlers are extremely good at understanding the speech of children six years and older.Katherine White, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1168742019-06-10T12:55:11Z2019-06-10T12:55:11ZWhy people will beat machines in recognising speech for a long time yet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278371/original/file-20190606-98033-nax9u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-talking-alphabet-letters-coming-out-332951597?src=JmJwhI9-qaIbaT-ymkdDmQ-1-41">Pathdoc/Shutterstock.cim</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine a world in which Siri always understands you, Google Translate works perfectly, and the two of them create something akin to a Doctor Who style translation circuit. Imagine being able to communicate freely wherever you go (not having to mutter in school French to your Parisian waiter). It’s an attractive, but still distant prospect. One of the bottlenecks in moving this reality forward is variation in language, especially spoken language. Technology cannot quite cope with it. </p>
<p>Humans, on the other hand, are amazingly good at dealing with variations in language. We are so good, in fact, that we really take note when things occasionally break down. When I visited New Zealand, I thought for a while that people were calling me “pet”, a Newcastle-like term of endearment. They were, in fact, just saying my name, Pat. My aha moment happened in a coffee shop (“Flat white for pet!” gave me a pause). </p>
<p>This story illustrates how different accents of English have slightly different vowels – a well-known fact. But let’s try to understand what happened when I misheard the Kiwi pronunciation of Pat as pet. There is a certain range of sounds that we associate with vowels, like <em>a</em> or <em>e</em>. These ranges are not absolute. Rather, their boundaries vary, for instance between different accents. When listeners fail to adjust for this, as I did in this case, the mapping of sound to meaning can be distorted. </p>
<p>One could, laboriously, teach different accents to a speech recognition system, but accent variation is just the tip of the iceberg. Vowel sounds can also vary depending on our age, gender, social class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, level of intoxication, how fast we are talking, whom we are talking to, whether or not we are in a noisy environment … the list just goes on, and on. </p>
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<h2>The crux/crooks of the matter</h2>
<p>Consider that a <a href="https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/98762868/strut_foot_paper_final.pdf">recent study</a> I was involved in showed that even moving house (or not) can affect one’s vowels. Specifically, there is a correlation between how speakers of Northern English pronounce the vowel in words like <em>crux</em>, and how many times they have moved in the last decade. People who have not moved at all are more likely to pronounce <em>crux</em> the same as <em>crooks</em>, which is the traditional Northern English pronunciation. But those who have moved four times or more are more likely to have different vowels in the two words, similarly in the south of England. </p>
<p>There is, of course, nothing about the act of moving that causes this. But moving house multiple times is correlated with other lifestyle factors, for instance interacting with more people, including people with different accents, which might influence the way we speak.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277383/original/file-20190531-69075-1o7hhtr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277383/original/file-20190531-69075-1o7hhtr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277383/original/file-20190531-69075-1o7hhtr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277383/original/file-20190531-69075-1o7hhtr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277383/original/file-20190531-69075-1o7hhtr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277383/original/file-20190531-69075-1o7hhtr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277383/original/file-20190531-69075-1o7hhtr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Level of overlap between ‘crooks’ and ‘crux’ vowel categories, depending on the number of house moves in the last decade. Data from 143 speakers from the north of England.</span>
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<p>Other sources of variation may have to do with linguistic factors, such as word structure. A striking example comes from pairs of words such as <em>ruler</em>, meaning “measuring device” and <em>ruler</em>, meaning “leader”.</p>
<p>These two words are superficially identical, but they differ at a deeper structural level. A <em>rul-er</em> is someone who rules, just like a <em>sing-er</em> is someone who sings, so we can analyse these words as consisting of two meaningful units. In contrast, <em>ruler</em> meaning “measuring device” cannot be decomposed further. </p>
<p>It turns out that the two meanings of <em>ruler</em> are associated with a different vowel for many speakers of Southern British English, and the difference between the two words has increased in recent years: it is larger for younger speakers than it is for older speakers. So both hidden linguistic structure and speaker age can affect the way we pronounce certain vowels.</p>
<h2>End never in sight</h2>
<p>This illustrates another important property of language variation: it keeps changing. Language researchers therefore constantly have to review their understanding of variation, which in turn requires continuing to acquire new data, and updating the analysis. The way we do this in linguistics is being revolutionised by new technologies, advances in instrumental data analysis, and the ubiquity of recording equipment (in 2018, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_smartphone_penetration">82%</a> of the UK adult population owned a recording device, otherwise known as a smartphone). </p>
<p>Modern day linguistic projects can profit from the technological advancement in various ways. For instance, the <a href="http://englishdialectapp.com/">English Dialects App</a> collects recordings remotely via smartphones, to build a large and constantly updating corpus of modern day English accents. That corpus is the source of the finding concerning the vowel in <em>crux</em> in Northern English, for example. Accumulating information from this and many other projects allows us to track variation with increased coverage, and to build ever more accurate models predicting the realisation of individual sounds. </p>
<p>Can this newly refined linguistic understanding also improve speech recognition technology? Perhaps, but in order to improve, the technology needs to know a lot more about you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116874/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrycja Strycharczuk received funding from The British Academy.
The research discussed in this article features in an exhibit at the British Academy's 2019 Summer Showcase.</span></em></p>Having problems with Siri and Google Translate? Here’s why.Patrycja Strycharczuk, Lecturer in Linguistics & Quantitative Methods, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.