become a focus for arguments in favor of both restrictions of their use and
imposition of Standard American English” (Heath et al. 1981: 10).
Non-native English-speaking Asian Americans, as a large and diverse
group, experience something in common, regardless of their economic
status, education, or national origin: there is a special stigma attached to
their presence which is externalized in reactions to the way they speak
English. So conditioned are we to expect a different world view, a different
accent, that we hear one where none is present. Individuals experience this
regularly.
A young woman of Asian Indian heritage, but a native and monolingual
speaker of English, relates a story in which a middle-aged man in a music
store is unable to help her when she asks for a recently released Depeche
Mode tape (Kapoor 1993). “You’ll have to speak slower because I didn’t
understand you because of your accent,” he tells her. She is understandably
hurt and outraged: “I have no discernible accent. I do, however, have long
dark hair and pleasantly colored brown skin. I suppose this outward
appearance of mine constitutes enough evidence to conclude I had, indeed,
just jumped off the boat and into the store.”
The pain of this experience is real whether or not a foreign accent is
present. In this case, the harm was real, but without repercussions which
affected the young woman in a material way. Others are less fortunate:
In February 1992, at the Department of the Treasury building on Main
Street in San Francisco, a Treasury official called down to the lobby with a
question. Irritated by the quality of response that he or she received, this
official made a formal complaint of “communication difficulties” based
on Filipino accent. He or she did not provide the name of the security
guard responsible for the poor service. Subsequent to this report, the
General Services Authority directed the subcontractor who supplied the