The world is obsessed with accents. Tyla, a South African breakout star, has gotten attention for her Johannesburg-Durban cadence.
Hollywood star Thuso Mbedu also got waves of opinions on her accent after her career was established in America.
Most recently, X users got carried away when a Stellenbosch University described her outfit, but all people cared about was her pronunciation.
Stellenbosch student’s “good” accent delights South Africa
The way you speak can offer clues about one’s status, education etc. The value of an accent goes up in a country like South Africa, with a sordid history of colonialism, the closer to English, the better. Most South Africans would describe a “good accent” as a Model C accent, to describe what students in formerly white schools sound like.
Tarka Harford went viral after describing her outfit and was lauded for her accent. Online users raved that she sounded wealthy. Watch the original video by @dixoncapetown:
People were so mesmerised they investigated the student. Many immediately looked into the Stellenbosch students’ background and dug into her family out of curiosity.
@_reneiloe on X complained:
“Tarka’s outfit videos have been on Instagram for months. Once they reach Twitter, people start searching for her family and bookmarking? Social media continues to show how dangerous it can be, it’s not even “impressive investigative skills”.
What’s wrong with Thuso Mbedu’s accent?
The accent standard comes with exceptions. Thuso Mbedu was recently compared to Tyla, both South African-born stars in America.
While Tyla has been applauded for being authentically South African because of her accent, Thuso has faced harsh criticism for having a twinge of an American accent in South Africa.
For Thuso, a dark-skinned actress, her accent ‘change’ has been under much scrutiny since she is Zulu. She has been accused of being inauthentic because of the American inflections she developed over years in the States. It must be considered that in America, Thuso Mbedu may have a similar effect Tarka had on South Africans.
Netizens immediately showered Tarka with positive assumptions about her character, as a good communicator etc. An accent can act as a halo effect of sorts and, in America, Thuso Mbedu would be under pressure to sound just right for that job.
Thuso would not be perceived the same way if she did not have the accent to signal that she was of a certain class, education and status. Grogger Jeffry, in Speech Pattern and Racial Wage Inequality, reported that certain accents can affect employment as some accents are deemed the most “qualified.” This is known as accent bias.
Tyla and Thuso Mbedu comparisons
On the other hand, Tyla’s more South African-coloured accent is applauded in America, but she comes in a different package and is a conventionally attractive lighter-skinned woman. Her accent is less harshly judged and, due to desirability politics, becomes exotic and attractive.
See a post by @leratoMabuzaM, who sparked that debate about Thuso and Tyla:
Accent privilege runs rampant
The general attitudes towards accents indicate how our society has been shaped by -isms. Racism and classism play a role in how people react to Tarka and the way she speaks. Comments were full of admiration as many went feral that the non-ambiguous black girl had a “good accent.”
How you sound in an English-speaking world is important and many people, not just celebs, take it seriously.