My accent is unremarkable. But it has almost certainly helped me

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One thing I’ve probably benefited from growing up is my accent. While my parents, who moved here 30 years ago, speak with noticeable Japanese accents, both my brother and I sound pretty Australian … so much so that I’m sometimes told I sound a bit bogan.

It has meant that growing up, although I lived in a predominantly Anglo-Australian neighbourhood where I looked a bit different, ate strange foods at lunch and switched languages between home and school, I’ve never been bullied or discriminated against for how I speak.

My brother and I grew up bilingual but with noticeably Australian accents.When a stranger has said anything racist to me, a family member, or friend, based on how we look, they’ve generally been taken aback – and backed off – as soon as I opened my mouth. And like many others, I’ve seen the difference in how some people treat international students or migrants based on how they speak.

This differential treatment can have profound personal effects on individuals. But it can also shape their economic outcomes including employment and education opportunities, and our economy more broadly.

It wasn’t until university, when I was training to adjudicate high school debates, that I was first given a framework for what I’d been noticing. As adjudicators, we listened to students from various schools and backgrounds argue about topics, and graded them based on how persuasive they had been in their reasoning and presentation skills.

We were taught about the tendency for adjudicators to unfairly evaluate a speaker’s intelligence, credibility or persuasiveness based on accents — and to make sure that as we were listening to students and grading them, to recognise our own listening biases and separate how an argument sounded from its substance. It’s something I still try to keep in mind when listening and speaking with people.

Australian National University linguistics senior lecturer Dr Ksneia Gnevsheva recently wrote a paper on language-based discrimination and inclusion in Australia. Her research showed that the way we see, evaluate and treat people continues to be affected by the accent they speak with – even though we’re a society that generally values multiculturalism and diversity.

Gnevsheva points out that nearly one-quarter of Australians speak a language other than English at home and that we’re one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, encountering a wide range of accents across workplaces, schools, universities, public services and the media.

So how is it that we still see discrimination based on people’s accents? And what can we do about it?

We know from existing research that listeners make rapid social judgements based on a person’s speech.

“Within seconds of hearing a speaker, listeners form impressions about a person’s intelligence, competence, trustworthiness, friendliness, social status, education and professional suitability,” Gnevsheva says, noting these judgements are often made unconsciously.

Second-language speaking women often face “double disadvantage”.iStockWhile accent-based discrimination has been documented in education, employment, housing, healthcare and law across many countries, with big consequences, including for economic outcomes, Gnevsheva says it often gets less attention than other types of discrimination.

She also says it’s an especially tricky form of discrimination because it is often normalised or justified in ways that other forms of prejudice are not. “Employers, educators, or service providers may claim that concerns relate to communication ability, professionalism, or organisational fit rather than bias,” Gnevsheva says.

There are occasions where an accent may be especially strong or difficult to understand, leading to genuine communication challenges. But Gnevsheva says the research consistently shows that accent often influences people’s judgments even when a person’s speech is fully comprehensible. “As a result, accent can become a socially acceptable basis for unequal treatment despite a lack of evidence that it predicts competence or performance,” she says.

Most of us like to think we’re decent people who can objectively evaluate what people are saying regardless of the accent it is spoken in. But often, listeners judge identical content differently based solely on the speaker’s accent.

International research, for example, has shown that those with foreign or “non-prestigious” sounding accents may be judged less favourably in decisions made about hiring and leadership.

That’s despite no accent being inherently more intelligent, competent or trustworthy than another. “Instead, attitudes reflect broader social hierarchies and ideologies that become attached to particular ways of speaking,” Gnevsheva says. “Accent often serves as a proxy for assumptions about ethnicity, nationality, migration background, social class or education.”

Even within the “Australian” accent, there are different types which sit at different positions of the social hierarchy, according to Gnevsheva.

For example, “general Australian English” – seen as the mainstream accent – and “received pronunciation” (the traditional prestige English accent) are generally seen as the most favourable, being linked with competence, education and sophistication.

The “broad Australian” and second-language English accents, meanwhile, are judged less favourably.

The fact that there continues to be a relatively negative perception of second-language English accents suggests greater linguistic diversity (thanks largely to migration) doesn’t automatically reduce accent-based bias.

This has real-world consequences. And it hits some people harder than others.

Research looking at employability judgments in Australia, for example, found listeners’ evaluation of speakers varied according to accent but also gender, meaning second-language-speaking women in particular were rated as the least employable, resulting in them facing a “double disadvantage”.

Accent-based discrimination is bad for individuals but also employers and society more broadly.

Those with accents may find they get fewer employment opportunities and less workplace progression. They may also feel pressure to suppress or modify their accent to avoid negative judgement which can reduce their wellbeing, confidence and sense of belonging. An accent is also something which often cannot (and perhaps should not) be erased completely.

Accent bias affects workplaces, schools, universities and public services.AdvertisementFor organisations, accent bias can lead to inefficient decision-making, according to Gnevsheva.

“Employers who rely on subjective impressions of speech may overlook qualified candidates whose accents differ from expected norms,” she says, reducing their access to valuable skills and expertise, especially in an increasingly globalised world.

“Multilingual populations provide linguistic skills, cultural knowledge, international connections, and economic opportunities.”

Accent bias is a problem when we’re already dealing with stagnant productivity growth (our ability to improve how we make goods and services). It’s also something that harms social cohesion and equal access to opportunity, both of which are crucial to a well-functioning society and economy.

Gnevsheva points out that Australia’s anti-discrimination frameworks – which ban discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, age, disability and religion – provide limited legal protection against accent-based discrimination. Not explicitly recognising accent-based discrimination might unintentionally reinforce the idea that it’s a less serious form of prejudice, she says.

She also says we need to recognise accent bias as a workplace inclusion issue, including ensuring employers have objective criteria in hiring and promotion processes that limit chances for decision-makers to make subjective linguistic judgements that are unrelated to job performance.

Representation also matters, she says, meaning we need to have a wide range of accents represented in broadcasting, education, government services and public-facing roles that can help normalise linguistic diversity and challenge assumptions about who can be in positions of authority and expertise.

Finally, Gnevsheva says we should promote linguistic awareness in schools, universities and training programs, tearing down myths about “good” and “bad” accents and replacing them with evidence-based understandings of linguistic diversity.

Having grown up seeing the effect of accent bias close up, speaking with an Australian accent (even if it may be slightly broad) is something I never take for granted. It has undoubtedly helped me get to where I am and face fewer challenges than I might have otherwise.

But as international ties and understanding become more crucial, having a wide variety of accents across industries and leadership positions might be a sign of strength: societally and economically.

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