Ever wonder what the Bible, Inglorious Basterds, internet authentication codes, and accent modification have in common? Read on, padawan.
English not your first language? Click on hyperlinks for definitions of idioms and vocabulary!
Once upon a time, two tribes in the Bible were fighting. This particular disagreement involved two neighboring tribes: Gileadites versus Ephraimites. The Gileadites had the upper hand; they controlled an important part of the Jordan river. As it happens, some of the Ephraimites really wanted to cross the Jordan river (perhaps the the grass was greener on the other side?).
The Jordan River
As one might imagine, the Gileadites did not want the Ephraimites to cross the river. The Gileadites controlled the crossing, but were faced with quite the quandary. In those days, it was hard to tell who was who. Both the Gileadites and the Ephraimites spoke the same language and presumably shared a similar wardrobe of Jesus sandals and chic homespun sack dresses. What’s a warring Semetic tribe to do? The clever Gileadites devised a state-of-the-art defense system to prevent their enemy from crossing into their hard-won territory: a one-word language test. Those who wanted to cross the mighty Jordan river had only to say the word “Shibboleth” to traverse the river. Simple enough, huh? Maybe not. See, the Gileadites pronounced the word “Shibboleth” /ʃɪbəlɛθ/ (with an “sh” sound at the beginning), but the Ephraimites said “Sibboleth” /ˈʃɪbələθ/ (with an “s” sound at the beginning). According to the King James Bible, this simple language test resulted in the death of “forty and two thousand” (42,000?) Ephraimites.
SAY WHAT (see what I did there?). Yep, accents, dialects, and differences in language and speech serve as identity markers. The language(s) you speak and the way(s) you speak give listeners information about who you are. In this case, the difference in pronouncing one sound, was the difference between Gileadite and Ephraimite and life and death. Rough deal.
For a more contemporary take on Shibboleths, check out the Inglorious Basterds vid below:
Basically, all hell breaks lose when this handsome Nazi-killer-posing-as-a-Nazi (left side) orders some whiskey at 0:47 using the wrong hand gesture, and therefore exposing his non-German identity. 
The hand gesture for “3” in German = SHIBBOLETH. Dope, huh?
Shibboleths occur all around us and on many levels. There’s an internet authentication system called Shibboleth, there are shibboleths for dialects of German, Spanish and French. There are Shibboleths within dialects and accents of languages (look here for a brief explanation of the difference between accents and dialects). Click here for a working list of shibboleths. Share one in the comments!
So, what’s the drama, mama?
In short, Shibboleths are the culmination of the linguistic, cultural, and personal identities that are encoded in language. As a result, accents and dialects carry a great deal of emotional baggage. They say whether you’re part of the group, or not.
As it turns out, my hometown was voted to have the ugliest accent in the whole world. Like, BBC said it was the worst accent in the world. Watch on:
Now, in my undergraduate Applied Linguistics courses, we learned that there is nothing inherently superior about one language, accent, or dialect. That is, there is no “right” way to speak any language in terms of grammar or pronunciation. Dialects of English like African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Southern dialects have their own, systematic sets of grammar and pronunciation rules that are used consistently by speakers of those dialects. Stay with me…
Language is defined as, “a : the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community”
“Language.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
They key part here is: “understood by a community.” Language is an abstract set of symbols to which groups of humans assign meaning.
The rules of language are determined by how people use that language. Perceptions of an accent are determined by who the people using that language, dialect, or accent are.
This is my dog, Kelbi. If I were French he would be my chien. Israeli, כלב (kelev).
Each word combines different sounds and different letters, yet they all refer to the same thing:
this guy
It’s just that my fellow Americans have an unspoken agreement that the letters D-O-G represents a furry four-legged canine. People identifying as French-speakers have an implicit group-knowledge that this guy is a C-H-I-E-N.
See where I’m going with this?
We assigned a concept some letters, and it works because we all agree to use this combination of letters to represent this idea.
But besides the image of my furry guy with four legs, the abstract combination of symbols (words) dog and chien actually have other meanings that we, as groups, assign to them. If I hear a person in the airport talking about their chien, I might make the presumption that this person is French. Depending upon his accent, I might be able to detect French (France) vs. French (Cameroon). Perhaps then, my brain might imagine that this person enjoys wearing berets and eating baguettes.
By the same token, if I hear a person say, “That ain’t right,” instead of “That isn’t right,” my brain might jump to several conclusions about that person’s race, socioeconomic background, level of education, etc.
This is where things turn ugly.
In an oft-cited series of studies, Dr. John Baugh found that people are sensitive to different accent and dialect markers.
“Baugh’s ongoing study shows that over the phone many Americans are able to accurately guess the age, race, sex, ethnicity, region of heritage and other social demographics based on a few sentences, even just a hello.”
Rice, P. (2006, February 2). Linguistic profiling: The sound of your voice may determine if you get that apartment or not. Washington University in St. Louis: Newsroom.
His studies involved calling to inquire about apartment advertisements using a Spanish-English dialect, African American dialect, and what some call, “Standard English” (though technically, no such thing exists. See: idiolects). He found that people on the other end of the line were easily able to identify different dialects. He also found that those speaking with an African American or Spanish-English dialect were less likely to get return phone calls and were more likely to be told that the apartment vacancy had already been filled. If you’re thinking, “That’s racist!” Then, you’re right.
This idea that we judge people based on their accent (coined, “Linguistic Profiling”) has picked up momentum in recent years.
So, while certain accents may sound great on movie stars, and charming men on vacation, for the average José, foreign-accented speech can make life in the US a little difficult. Here are some things I found whilst poking around some academic articles:
*Keep in mind that these results pertain only to specific accents and dialects in specific situations, under specific conditions.
Listeners can have negatives biases towards nonnative accents even if they have no problem understanding them. (Hosoda & Stone-Romero, 2010)
According to marketing research, “individuals were more likely to choose a company or a product when a message was read with an American-English accent than in Mandarin or French accents.” (Carver, 2014)
“Research shows that applicants with an accent of a dominant group in society are judged to be suited for high status jobs, whereas applicants with foreign accents are viewed as appropriate for low status jobs (e.g. de la Zerda and Hopper, 1979; Giles et al., 1981; Kalin et al., 1980; Kalin, 1982; Ryan et al., 1984)” (Hosoda & Stone-Romero, 2010)
For a comprehensive review of accented language literature and methodologies check out Gluszek & Dovidio, (2010)
So, what does this all mean? It means that having an accent is a Shibboleth. It is a distinct marker that one does not belong to a certain group. Not belonging to the dominant language group can have positive or negative implications for your career, social life, and identity.
In order to mitigate some of the negative outcomes associated with having foreign-accented speech, some people turn to accent coaches and to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) for accent modification services.
According to the American Speech & Hearing Association (ASHA):
“An SLP can provide services to speakers who want to modify or reduce their accent.”
“SLPs work with the full range of human communication and swallowing disorders in individuals of all ages.”
Yet there is a controversy surrounding SLP involvement in accent modification. On one hand, SLPs have a unique knowledge of language and skill set that, to me, seems readily applicable to accent modification. On the other hand, I’ve also heard SLPs say that accent modification is a communication difference, not a disorder and is thus beyond our scope of practice.
Then there the ethical implications of changing (I prefer, modifying) someone’s accent. When a classmate asked me if I thought accent modification was ethical, it gave me pause. Accent and identity are inherently intertwined. Is it ok to change someone’s accent? Does changing your accent change your identity? Is accent modification ethical?
Here is my take: Accent modification is a service provided to those who seek it for personal or professional reasons. If someone is not being understood or their accent is interfering with their daily life (i.e. avoiding social situations or phone calls, experiencing negative service encounters, negatively impacting career growth), that is a functional language problem, which an SLP is trained to alleviate.
I pose this question to you: if you were an Ephraimite or a badass Nazi-killer with access to a stellar accent modification service, would you use it?
Bibliography:
http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/6500.aspx
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/10/accents-impact-workplace-and-consumer-choices
Click to access frthcoming%20ijrm%20d-12-00014_wang%20et%20al%20.pdf
http://psr.sagepub.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/content/14/2/214.full.pdf+html
Click to access newsrelease.20100719.accents.pdf
Megumi Hosoda, Eugene Stone‐Romero, (2010) “The effects of foreign accents on employment‐related decisions”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 25 Iss: 2, pp.113 – 132
The Accenturist 