All accents matter: an anticolonial examination of the effects of standard accent hegemony on linguistic minorities in the United States

Abstract

Around the world, English is spoken with a variety of accents. However, due to the legacy of linguistic imperialism, American and British English accents remain the most valued ones. As a result, those whose accent is different are often ill perceived and treated unjustly in society. This article draws on several case studies and the work of postcolonial theorists and sociolinguists and participants’ narratives collected over a semester to examine ways in which English speakers from diverse linguistic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds and countries of origin have been subject to accent discrimination in colleges and universities. Study findings suggest that the intersection of participants’ native language, ethnicity, and country of origin played various roles in the way and the degree to which they experienced accent discrimination.