abstract
In this essay, I carefully considered the ideas of the courses readings and composed and essay that demonstrates engagement with those ideas.
Accent discrimination in the workplace: negative effects and solutions
Accent is a distinctive mode of pronunciation of a language, especially one associated with a particular nation, locality, or social class, but our society has made it more than it is. Accent is now seen as a source of stereotypes, a measure of intelligence and a judgement of capability, which is not supposed to be. America is one of the most culturally diverse countries due to large-scale migration from many countries throughout history, so it is only natural that a number of different accents would be present, however, this presence of many accents has led to accent discrimination—judgment of people because of the way they speak a certain language. Accent discrimination happens in school environments, work places and even in day to day interactions amongst people.
I’m going to focus on accent discrimination in workplaces and the negative effects of it. Sociolinguist and ethnic dialect specialist, Walt Wolfram, in his article, “everyone has an accent”, argues that no dialect should be oppressed. Wolfram asserts that “In the workplace, perfectly capable workers who speak non-mainstream dialects may be denied occupational opportunity because they “just don’t sound right for the job”” (Walt wolfram,3). Wolfram acknowledges the fact that people who are worthy of a particular job, are being denied employment because of accent discrimination. American author, Rosina Lippi-Green, in her book, “English with an accent” says that “dialect discrimination is so commonly accepted, so widely perceived as appropriate, that it must be seen as the last back door to discrimination. And the door is wide open.” (Green,12). Green elucidates the fact that accent discrimination is not seen as a serious issue even though it is.
I fully agree with the arguments given by these authors. “Workplace accent discrimination complaints in the United States have increased by 76 percent since the year 1997” (Koster,1). Across the country, workers have won large settlements claiming they were harassed or reprimanded for speaking in foreign languages or accents. In Utah, a FedEx contract driver has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was fired because of his Russian accent. As these cases show, accent discrimination is increasing and getting out of hand. This isn’t fair, as most people can’t really control the accent in which they speak a certain language, but are still judged for it. Such discrimination is a result of classification of different accents, from superior to inferior. Studies have shown that an employer is more likely to hire people with an accent of the prestigious groups in the society. Wolfram states in his article, “everyone has an accent”, that “if people belong to a socially oppressed group, they can count on having their language stigmatized; if they belong to a prestigious group, their language will carry prestige value” (Wolfram,9). Wolfram identifies how certain accents are seen as better and why certain accents get criticized. This is proof that one’s accent is seen better than another’s merely because of the group in which they belong.
Accent discrimination has a myriad of negative impacts in the work place. One of the main disadvantage people with non-mainstream accents have is the issue of people not taking them seriously. American author, Amy tan, in her article “mother tongue” asserts that “the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke perfect English—and lo and behold—we had assurance the CAT scan would be found . . . a most regrettable mistake” (Tan, 2). Tan exemplifies a situation in which her mother was not taken seriously in the hospital because of her Chinese accent. Tan also asserts in her article that people “believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say”. She implies that people judged the importance of what her mother had to say based on her accent. Accents should never be used to judge the importance of one’s opinion or statement, as it just a certain way of speaking a language.
Another disadvantage of accent discrimination in the workplace is that it makes room for classification and stereotypes. Authors, John Quin and Joseph Petrick, in their article, “Emerging strategic human resources and challenges in managing accent discrimination and ethnic diversity”, assert that, “in dealing with accent discrimination, there seems to be differential social stereotypes that come into play. . . southern Georgia accent could be competent as president” (Quin, Petrick,80). The authors illustrate certain stereotypes that come with different accents, by giving examples of what type of behavior or attitude is expected from specific accents. Accent stereotypes are very wrong, especially in workplace, because it makes one’s coworkers and employers, have certain assumptions about them, even without interaction. Accent discrimination in the workplace can also be negative, as accent is sometimes used as a measure of intelligence and capability. When one has a non-mainstream accent/dialect, some people might view them as uneducated or not having the ability to do a particular task or job. Quin and Petrick mention that “Accent problems, materially relevant to professional service employment decisions, reinforced the earlier standard of unimpaired competent performance at work”. The authors explain that some employers don’t see people with non-mainstream accents as capable of doing professional jobs. This is very wrong, as there are a lot of well-fitted people for certain job that are seen as incompetent because of their non-mainstream accent.
Accent discrimination could lead to depression and lack of self-confidence amongst victims. Wolfram states that “if someone has been told enough times that she speaks badly, it is just a matter of time before she starts believing that she is as worthless as her speech” (Wolfram,3). Wolfram stresses the fact that accent discrimination can drastically bring down one’s self esteem. This is bad in the workplace because a job is something one has to do almost every day, and if you don’t have enough courage to talk in front of your co-workers, with the fear that they might judge you, it could lead to depression and sadness, which can be harmful in the long run. Low self-esteem could also lead to excessive self-criticism and self-neglect. America scholar, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, in her article, “how to tame a wild tongue” asserts, “Shame. Low estimation of self. Inchildhood we are told that our language is wrong. Repeated attacks on our native tongue diminish our sense of self. The attacks continue throughout our lives.” (Anzaldúa,39). Anzaldúa claims that attacks on her dialect made her think less of herself. This shows that accent discrimination can hurt a person emotionally, this can later affect the mental health of victims because of constant depression and reduction of self worth.
As studies have shown, there are many negative impacts of accent discrimination, but solutions to help reduce this issue are also possible. Walt wolfram states that “For over a decade now, a small group of linguists and educators have been piloting programs . . .to provide accurate information about the nature of dialect differences and promote understanding of the role of dialects in American society.” (Wolfram,3). Wolfram proposes an idea that could help reduce accent discrimination. This idea is excellent because if people are more knowledgeable about accents, they are less likely to discriminate people because of it. John Quinn and Joseph Petrick also outline a reasonable solution, they declare that “in order to address these serious legal and moral lapses, a proactive U.S. accent discrimination policy is emerging” (Quin, Joseph,86). This policy would help because it increases the probability of equal chances of employment and forces employers to see beyond a potential employee’s accent, which could be beneficial for the company. In our day to day lives, we could also be more accepting to those with accent different from ours by asking politely if we don’t understand what they said or stopping the use of remarks against another person’s accent.
This picture is an example of the negative effects of accent discrimination and how it could
affect our day to day lives. In this picture an employer is confronting an employee about the use of her accent, which she has no control over.
This can be very demoralizing for her, as it is a situation that can not be easily changed. Because of her non-mainstream accent, she has a fear of losing a job that she is worthy of having. This fear is not something that people should be going through.
In conclusion, accent discrimination can have many negative effects. I believe that everyone should be given an equal opportunity for employment regardless of their accents and that the only criteria to be looked at in a job application, is whether the person is suitable or not. By all helping to reduce accent discrimination from the solutions I mentioned early on, we could make our society a less discriminative place.
Work cited
Anzaldúa, Gloria. “Tame a Wild Tongue”. Borderlands/La Frontera, 1987, pg 33-45
Koster, Melind. “Accent Discrimination: An Overview”. Eblog, https://sanfordheisler.com/accent-discrimination/
Lippi-Green, Rosina. English with accent, Routledge,1997.
Quinn, John and Petrick, Joseph. “Emerging strategic human resources and challenges in managing accent discrimination and ethnic diversity”. Applied H.R.M. research, vol.15 no. 2, 1993, pg. 79-93.
Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” The Threepenny Review, 1990, pg. 1-5.
Wolfram, Walt. “Everyone Has an Accent”. Teaching Tolerance, 2000, pg. 40-44
Cover letter
In this essay, I talked mainly about the negative effects and solutions to accent discrimination in the workplace. During the course of writing this essay I used a lot of examples and explanations to engage my audience.
In this exploratory essay I used a lot of evidence from articles and books of authors to craft my ideas. My essay was written in a formal tone with a scholarly essay format. My main audience in mind were people who are going through accent discrimination in their various workplaces. My purpose of writing this essay was to raise awareness on accent discrimination and introduce ways to solve it.
In the course of writing this essay, I reflected mainly on the activities we learnt in phase 2. Things like citations in MLA format, academic summaries and learning how to use CCNY’s library database really improved my knowledge on how to write certain essays. Knowing how to use in-text quotations and synthesize texts, made my writing experience a lot easier.
Before writing this essay, I looked at past articles we were given to read in class and got very inspired by them. Most of them were surrounding the topic of accent/language discrimination, so I decided to do the same. One of the passages that really stood out to me was “everyone has an accent” by Walt Wolfram. I loved this piece because he exemplifies his point by giving certain scenarios, which paints a picture in the readers mind and makes them understand more. I used the student sample and certain online tips to help guide my steps, which was very useful. I picked this essay topic, as I know many people can relate to it. My stance in the essay was supporting the authors that I mentioned.
In conclusion, in the course of writing this essay, I used a lot of class readings and worksheets to improve and guide it. This vastly improved my knowledge not only on how to write certain essays, but also on the topic of accent discrimination. I believe that the experience of writing this essay made me more effective on doing research, which was very surprising to me.
