"Her own accent is faintly Eastern European-so subtle it took me a few playbacks to notice. The ad was for BoldVoice, an AI-powered "accent training" app. A few clicks led me to its " Accent Oracle," which promised to guess my native language. After I read a lengthy phrase, the algorithm declared: "Your accent is Korean, my friend." Smug. But impressive. I am, in fact, Korean."
"I've lived in the US for more than a decade, and my English isn't just fluent. You could say it's hyperfluent-my diction, for one, is probably two standard deviations above the national average. But that still doesn't mean "native." I learned English just late enough to miss the critical window for acquiring a native accent. It's a distinction that, depending on the era, could lead to certain complications."
An Instagram ad promoted BoldVoice, an AI-powered accent training app with an "Accent Oracle" that guesses users' native languages. The narrator tested the tool; the algorithm identified a Korean accent and assigned scores ranging from 89 percent ("Lightly Accented") to 92 percent ("Native or Near-native"). The narrator has lived in the US for over a decade and speaks highly fluent English, yet still lacks a native accent due to missing a critical developmental window. Historical examples show accent-based identification can carry deadly consequences. Accents function as social signals, revealing origin, class, education, and acting as forms of social capital.
Read at WIRED
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