Anything wrong with foreign accents?

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. You might even adopt one spontaneously if quoting from The Godfather.

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.

Although some accents, such as French, might be perceived as pleasant, for the most part a foreign accent is perceived negatively.

 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 more interested 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 desirable), or Chinese.

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 vs outgroup members. This is a behaviour that starts in infancy, probably because it’s a direct cue as to whether someone is familiar and part of our “social group”.

It’s not just prejudice

A recent study shows 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 – words spoken using unfamiliar sounds which our brain does not expect to hear – 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.

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 prior research that exposure to accent makes it easier to understand it. 

Let’s celebrate accents

The 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.

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.