People from Glasgow and people from Texas can both speak English and still sound nothing alike. An accent is a distinctive pattern of pronunciation tied to a speaker’s region, social background, or first language.

Accents involve vowel quality, consonant articulation, rhythm, and intonation. They do not by themselves equal a separate dialect, though accent is often the most immediately noticeable part of dialectal difference. Listeners use accent cues, sometimes unfairly, to make social judgments about education or origin.

Second-language accents arise when the sound system of a speaker’s first language influences the new one. Phonetic training can reduce certain features, yet many speakers keep a recognizable accent throughout life. Linguists study accents to map sound change and social identity rather than to rank them as correct or incorrect.

• Distinctive pronunciation pattern of a language
• Linked to region, class, or language background
• Involves vowels, consonants, rhythm, and pitch
• Studied as a marker of identity and contact