In the Ear of the Listener: The Role of Foreign Accent in Interethnic Friendships and Partnerships

Abstract

This article examines the association between accented speech and the formation of friendships and partnerships among immigrants and native-born majority residents in Germany. Drawing on the sixth wave of the German extension of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries, we analyze a neglected aspect of language — pronunciation — and find that speaking with a foreign accent is a more important correlate of the incidence of interethnic partnerships than of interethnic friendships. We argue that beyond its primary function of understandability, accented speech possesses socially communicative power. Accent transmits signals of an individual’s foreignness and cultural differences and, thus, becomes an additional marker of social distance. Such signals serve as a greater obstacle to more consequential intimate interethnic relations such as partnerships. Our findings extend the scholarly debate on the role of symbolic boundaries in social interactions between ethnic groups by yet another important boundary maker — accent.

Non-native Accents among School Beginners and Teacher Expectations for Future Student Achievements

“…Our study contributes to recent sociological research highlighting that non-native accent must be considered a meaningful social cue, potentially creating social boundaries and affecting interpersonal perceptions and behavior (Kogan et al 2021; Schmaus 2020; Schmaus and Kristen 2022). Our results demonstrate that non-native accents within schools are negatively associated with teacher expectations for future student achievement.…”

“…In addition to using this continuous variable as a predictor of teacher expectations, we created a categorical version of the accent variable differentiating between the categories “no non-native accent” (value 1 on the interval accent scale), “moderate non-native accent” (values 2–5), and “strong non-native accent” (values 6–9). This approach reflects our assumption that stronger accents have stronger effects on teacher expectations than do weaker accents (for a similar application, see Kogan et al 2021). Categorization of the accent variable followed the logic of using the lowest value as an indicator of accent-free speech and splitting the remaining answer categories in the middle.…”

“…Existing evidence indicates that individuals who speak with a non-native accent are perceived to be less credible (Lev-Ari and Keysar 2010), are more often sanctioned for norm violations (Lippi-Green 2011), have a lower probability of getting an apartment (Horr, Hunkler, and Kroneberg 2018), and are treated less positively in the service sector (Klink and Wagner 1999). Non-native accents also restrict the establishment of intergroup friendships and partnerships (Kogan, Dollmann, and Weißmann 2021), resulting in disadvantages in the labor market (Schmaus 2020; Schmaus and Kristen 2022). In the educational context, however, non-native accents have thus far received little attention.…”