It is well documented that newcomers with foreign names and/or physical attributes that differ from the majority population suffer from discrimination when looking for housing or employment (Gaddis 2015; Gaddis and Ghoshal 2015; Hanson and Hawley 2011; Widner and Chicoine 2011). Similarly, members of visible minority backgrounds tend to be seen more negatively than others by the majority population (Terkildsen 1993; Harell et al. 2012; Iyengar et al. 2013; Weaver 2012). Being visibly different is thus a well-documented obstacle to successful inclusion. Beyond being visibly distinct, however, newcomers can also be audibly different, that is they may sound different when speaking the official languages of a society. We refer to these people as “audible minorities”. Yet, despite some evidence demonstrating that such audible minorities may also suffer from prejudices (Peled and Bonotti 2019), little research systematically studies how much speaking with a foreign accent may impede newcomers’ successful inclusion. Our project tackles this question by investigating the prevalence of discrimination against audible minorities and its consequences on their capacity to be recognized as true members of the community.
The successful inclusion of newcomers depends in part on developing a sense of belonging to the community. The consequences of a weak sense of belonging and feeling of rejection range from low self-esteem, mental and physical illnesses (Branscombe et al., 1999; Finch et al., 2000; Whitbeck et al., 2002), to disengagement from the social and political affairs (Bilodeau et al. 2019; Oskooii, 2016). Accordingly, if speaking with a foreign accent serves as an obstacle to being accepted and recognized as true members of the community, identifying why and under which conditions such discrimination occurs becomes an important tool to help foster inclusion.
The objectives of our project are threefold. First, we assess the prevalence of discrimination against audible minorities and their consequences on the extent to which they are perceived as true members of the community. In order to reach this objective, we will conduct a survey with an embedded experiment aiming to assess how majority populations react to messages communicated by Canadians with accents of four different national origins: local mainstream, Polish, Haitian/Jamaican, and Chinese.
Second, we examine the intersectionality between being a visible and an audible minority. Following insights on intersectionality research (McCall, 2008), we want to know if the negative consequences of speaking with an accent are greater when locutors are also members of a visible minority. We hypothesize that respondents of all origins will be discriminated against when speaking with a foreign accent, but we expect the consequences of being an audible minority to be greatest for individuals who are also members of a visible minority.
Finally, we verify to what extent discrimination against audible minorities is context-dependent. To that effect, we assess the prevalence of discrimination against audible minorities separately in Ontario and Quebec. We hypothesize that discrimination against audible minorities will be more prevalent in Quebec than in Ontario given the centrality of language (insecurity) for Quebec identity (Bouchard, 2012). Moreover, in each of Ontario and Quebec, we assess the prevalence of discrimination against audible minorities separately in urban (Montreal and Toronto) and non-urban areas. Given that non-urban areas offer fewer opportunities of contact with ethnocultural diversity that are known to be of central importance to reduce xenophobic reactions (Forbes, 1998; Dirksmeier, 2014), we hypothesize that discrimination against audible minorities will be more prevalent in non-urban than in large urban ones such as Toronto and Montreal.
Our project on the prevalence and consequences of discrimination against audible minorities is articulated around three different types of activities, which are described in detail under the section "What are the Stages of the Project" below. These include: a survey, presentations, and a peer-reviewed publication.
- The first activity will be to conduct a survey of 2,400 Canadians, of which 1,200 will reside in Ontario (600 from the Greater Toronto Area and 600 from the rest of the province) and 1,200 will reside in Quebec (600 from Greater Montreal, and 600 from the rest of the province). All respondents will be born in Canada, will not be members of a visible minority and will either be native English speakers (Ontario) or native French speakers (Quebec). We want to measure how “majority-group Canadians” react to foreign accents.
Respondents will be presented with an audio clip of roughly 20 seconds. This clip will be an advertisement for a “fake” awareness-raising campaign on a social-political issue (specific issue to be determined). The message will promote support for the issue using arguments, facts and statistics. The same message will be recorded using locutors with four different accents: local mainstream, Polish, Haitian/Jamaican, and Chinese. Respondents will be randomly attributed to only one version of the message. Given the prevailing language in each province, the experiment will be done in English only in Ontario and in French only in Quebec.
To assess how the prevalence and consequences of discrimination against audible minorities intersects with discrimination against visible minorities, the experiment will use a factorial design. This means that a second manipulation will be included in the design. All respondents will see a poster ad of the awareness campaign accompanying the audio clip. The poster ad will present the main topic of the issue with a slogan. One half of respondents will see a poster ad featuring nobody, only the text. The other half of respondents will see the same poster ad but this time featuring one of three people: a white person (for local mainstream or Polish narrator), a black person (for Haitian/Jamaican narrator) or an Asian person (for Chinese narrator).
Respondents will then be asked to answer a few questions about the clip they heard. We will assess the consequences of discrimination based on accents in terms of cognition, affection, and evaluation. First, in terms of cognition, we will evaluate whether respondents exhibit lower retention of key information from the audio message depending on the accent and origin of the locutor. Second, in terms of affection, we will evaluate how much respondents are able to identify with and trust the message depending on the accent and origin of the locutor. And third, in terms of evaluation, we will assess how effective and convincing survey participants evaluate the message to be, again depending on the accent and origin of the locutor. The survey will also include multiple controls, such as demographic characteristics.
- The second type of activities are presentations. This includes one presentation at an academic conference (Métropolis 2021) as well as one presentation to our community partner, PROMIS. We are also open to present the findings of our research to other community and government partners in Quebec or Ontario. The objectives of these presentations are 1) to increase awareness about the prevalence of discrimination based on accent, 2) to better prepare service providers and beneficiaries to this reality, and 3) to develop better practices to address such discriminatory practices.
- The third type of activities is the publication of one peer-reviewed scientific article. Consistent with the objectives pursued in this project, this publication will assess the extent of discrimination against audible minorities and evaluate the extent to which such discrimination varies across contexts (provincial and urban or not) and the extent to which such discrimination varies with the national origin of locutors and October 2019 intersects with being a visible minority.
Publications to date:
Presentations
Conferences and Meetings
- Gauvin, J-P., A. Bilodeau. 2023. « À qui faire confiance? L’accent et la couleur de la peau comme source de discrimination envers les experts » Colloque : Colloque 413. Au-delà des clichés sur les immigrants et la langue au Québec : l’heure juste sur les enjeux et défis d’une réalité aux contours multiples, ACFAS, Montréal, 9 mai.
- Gauvin, J-P. and A. Bilodeau. 2023. “Who Do You Trust? Assessing Discrimination against Audible and Visible Minority Experts in Canada.” 25th Metropolis Conference, March 16-18th. Ottawa.
- Gauvin, J-P. and A. Bilodeau. 2022. “Who Do You Trust? Assessing Discrimination Against Policy Experts Based on their Accent and Race”. Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association. Virtual Meeting. May 30th – June 3rd.
Project Director:
- Antoine Bilodeau, Professor, Political Science, Concordia, antoine.bilodeau@concordia.ca
- Dr. Jean-Philippe Gauvin, Postdoctoral fellow, Political Science, Concordia
- PROMIS Aid to immigrants and refugees (Montreal)
What is our approach?
Research on diversity has long established that individuals’ attitudes toward minority group members are influenced by their ethnic cues. However, this literature focuses heavily on visual cues, such as ethnic sounding names on a resume, or the skin color of racialized individuals. Interestingly, the literature on language attitudes finds that auditive cues such as foreign-sounding accents are especially important when developing attitudes about newcomers. Both fields of research find that ethnic cues have a significant impact on perceptions of trust and credibility: majority group members are less likely to find minority group members as trustworthy and credible as members from their own group. However, it is not clear which has a stronger effect on trust and credibility, auditive or visual cues? And are the effects additive and intersectional, thus leading to members of both an audible and visible minority group to be even more discriminated against? We attempt to answer these questions using data from an online survey experiment, administered to 1,200 adult residents of Quebec and 1,200 adult residents of Ontario. We examine how members of the majority group perceive the credibility of climate change experts of varying ethnic backgrounds and accents. Our findings suggest that having a foreign accent and being racialized both hinder the ability to be perceived as a legitimate, trustworthy, and credible expert by members of the majority group in Canadian society. Moreover, we find striking differences in the effect of ethnic cues in Ontario and Quebec, the latter focusing more on auditive cues than the former.
