As The Lede points out in an article posted below, a number of the recently arrested Russian spies (or “illegals” as they say in русский) were able to persuade people in their community that their accents were derived from countries other than Russia. One woman sold herself as Dutch. Another spy turned the question around… “Where do you think I am from?”.

The question from a linguistic perspective is… To what extend are we able to mask our accents? How noticeable are they? And how much are we judged by these accents?

Research has shown that we tend to evaluate an accent on a socioeconomic basis, that is, based on class, status, wealth, etc.

What are your thoughts?

The Lede Article

Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications. He is an executive public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in New York City.

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