Presentation

Accent and acceptability

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Abstract

Applied linguists have focused on the ideological underpinnings of accent-based discrimination against second language (L2) speakers, and proposed strategies for raising awareness of accentism. Less attention has been paid to pronunciation training helping L2 speakers mitigate its effects, reflecting the growing consensus that such training should prioritize intelligibility over accentedness. Yet even intelligible speech may attract negative evaluations from first language (L1) and L2 listeners. Awareness of accent features affecting credibility may therefore benefit those experiencing accentism. This calls for renewed attention to acceptability as a learner-centered complement to intelligibility, focusing on listener evaluations of socially meaningful pronunciation features. Although incorporating this construct into pronunciation training may appear to reinforce L1-speaker norms and biases, it may neither be possible nor desirable to exclude nativeness altogether. Moreover, because L2 speakers routinely evaluate one another’s pronunciation, their acceptability judgments, informed by L1-speaker and/or local norms, should play a central role in operationalizing the construct.

Keywords: nativeness, intelligibility, acceptability, listener judgments, accentism

How to Cite:

van den Doel, R. (2026). Accent and acceptability. In P. Trofimovich, A. Bodea, T.-N. N. Le, R. Suzuki, & C. Teló (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference (pp. 1–10). Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, October 2025. https://doi.org/10.31274/psllt.22675