We’ve all witnessed this scenario. A professional Black man or woman, or someone from a brown country, being complimented for “speaking such good English.”
In other, less subtle cases, people are mocked for an accent or a different way of speaking.
But a dialectal or foreign accent is not merely about pronunciation or inflection.
It’s unfortunately about power.
In America and in many other societies, how you sound sadly determines whether you’re seen as intelligent, trustworthy, or even fully human.
Let’s be honest. Accent bias is just a polite cousin of racism. Subtle, deniable, but still deeply exclusionary.
Accent hierarchies originated in colonialism, and they persist throughout much of the world today.
British colonial rule exported not just the English language, but the idea of “the right way” to sound educated. The notion of a “neutral” accent (BBC English, Mid-Atlantic English) emerged as an imposed standard of civilization. Post-colonial nations internalized these hierarchies. English became both liberation and gatekeeping.
For example, in India, “convent English” still signals class and whiteness. In formerly colonized African nations, British pronunciation continues to shape job interviews.
And in the U.S., linguistic racism operates in everyday life.
Studies show that candidates with racially-based or foreign accents receive fewer callbacks even when resumes are identical. Field experiments have found strong discrimination against candidates with non-standard “white” accents, especially those signaling minority or immigrant status.
Witnesses with non-native accents are perceived as less truthful. Research by the University of Chicago revealed that statements delivered with an accent were rated as less credible, even when content was scripted word for word.
Media and culture reflect this bias as well. “Standard” accents become heroes; “ethnic” or “Black-sounding” accents are too often relegated to humor or villainy. How many cartoon superheroes had an accent from an African or Latin American country? How many heroes in TV shows or movies have a “Black sounding” or other non-white dialect or accent?
Even students with non-native English pronunciation are frequently underestimated despite fluency.
The impact of accent bias goes beyond direct discrimination.
It also imposes an emotional labor on people who sound different of having to change one’s accent, tone, rhythm, or affect simply in order to survive in certain spaces. Code-switching is not just linguistic but also performative. The psychological cost is high. There’s often a feeling by many that authenticity and professionalism cannot coexist.
Here’s the ironic kicker. White speakers often borrow these very speech patterns as “cool,” even as the original speakers are penalized for the same accent.
There are ways to confront these harsh realities.
For one, artists, educators and podcasters should embrace their accents and dialectic speech as identity rather than liability. Multilingual creators should use hybrid English, things like Spanglish, Hinglish, Singlish, as forms of resistance. Change can come about through forcing society to just get over it.
More importantly, language policy and diversity training should promote “accent inclusion.” We’re often dialed in on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age and the like. But we forgot to learn about accent and linguistic bias. It’s important for our workforce to understand that intelligence and talent don’t have to be nicely boxed in one type of speech.
Accent bias isn’t about our ability to understand people. It’s about whose voice we choose to believe. Whose we trust. Whose we think is smart.
True linguistic diversity isn’t just adding new words to the dictionary. Or picking up some cool phrases. It’s about widening the range of voices we deem credible. Every accent and type of speech carries a beautiful map of journeys, histories and survival.
We just have to learn how to listen.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Jeffrey Kass' work on Medium.