“Accentism” is real, but impossible to end
The way I understand it, linguistic standardization is a modern and artificial process. Even such seemingly scientific and well determined concepts such as language or dialect are in fact arbitrary distinctions imposed on a continuous phenomenon.<p>In this light, you could say that there&#x27;s essentially no such thing as the &#x27;right&#x27; accent. Whatever is considered standard is simply a reflection of the power structures that currently dominate a society, e.g. if the South had won the Civil War, it&#x27;s entirely possible that today people would have been making fun of Yankees and their &#x27;hick&#x27; accents.<p>These observations are in line with the spirit of the article. I however disagree with its sort-of conclusion:<p>&gt; [...] the future belongs to the privately-educated head of HR lecturing you about the latest initiative in Diversity and Inclusion.<p>&quot;Accentism&quot; can be overcome by first overcoming class and power differences - not easy, but not impossible either.