ABSTRACT
Drawing on the work of sociolinguistic and postcolonial theorists (Gee, 2012; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000; Thiong’o, 1986), this chapter explores accentism and intersecting forms of linguistic discrimination. By accentism, it is meant accent-based discrimination often connected to one’s nonstandard accent along with one’s linguistic and social class background, nationality, and country of origin. Accent-based discrimination has affected many people, particularly bilingual and multilingual students speaking dominant languages with a distinct accent (Phillipson, 2010; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000). What is accent? What does it mean to speak with an accent?
