I'm a New Enfoguri and you can think of me as your friendly guide to the English language.

We talk about writing, history, rules, and other cool stuff.

Today we're going to talk about some linguistic studies about accents that absolutely blew

my mind.

And then we're going to talk about a common tool called the false range that can set some

people's teeth on edge, and yet other people don't even notice.

Research has shown over and over that people tend to prefer people who sound like them,

leading to what's called accent bias, or negative feelings about people who speak with

a different accent.

Researchers have found that accent bias leads to problems for non-native speakers by making

it harder for them to have the same chances as native speakers to succeed in school or

in work.

And people often don't have as much legal recourse when they're discriminated against because

of the way they sound.

For example, employers may argue that the accent would interfere with work performance.

But researchers have shown that even the belief that speakers have an accent rather than

any accent itself creates a barrier to comprehension.

This means that some speakers, especially those who might be mistaken as non-native,

might suffer from accent bias without even having an accent.

And it may be that the increased cognitive processing required when encountering an unfamiliar

accent or just expecting to hear one, is partially to blame for problems with communication.

This means that some speakers, especially those who might be mistaken as non-native,

...