Words Apart: A Study of Attitudes Toward Varieties of South African English Accents in a United States Employment Scenario

This study investigates Americans’ attitudes toward the four major accents of South African English (SAfE) and several of their subvarieties in a hypothetical U.S. employment scenario. Participants perceived that SAfE accents possess positive language personality traits in comparison with standard American English; however, respondents identify SAfE speakers as foreign and perceive specific SAfE-accented varieties to be superior and more dynamic (e.g., General/Cultivated White SAfE and Indian SAfE) in relation to other SAfE-accented speakers (e.g., Mesolect Black SAfE and Cape Flats SAfE), even when they do not correctly identify the speaker’s country of origin