How much of emotional influence do accents have on people's perception of one another?

But I do believe the BBC news presenter, Katy Kay, is highly intelligent, and that is not just based on hearing her British accent.

I always thought the GEICO gecko had an Aussie accent.

You do provide some clearifying insights. I am thankful to be amung thinkers like y'all...

In the Netherlands we also have accents that come with the stereotypes. Actors often use them to fuel the comedy in their characters. Here by making use of the preconceptions sticking to the accents. Striking to me is, that a lot of these accents are associated with ignorance and 'bluntness' in a theatrical view. Allthough most people tend to look beyond this in real life, a chuckle of comedy is not uncommon as an initial response. I suppose people just can't help themself.
We also have a generally accepted, offical 'usage' of Dutch, wich we call 'Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands' (Translation: Generally Civilized Dutch). Most people are bi-accentual (probably not a word) because, well, if you want to be taken serious and make a good impression at let's say a job interview, this 'ABN' is the way to go. Sad but true. We have got óne quite severely different accent, even language, wich is 'Fries'. This is now a dying language because of the age of centralizing communication we are now living in.
Wich brings me to my next question wich is similar to the topic title but very different (...):
Does a language influence the culture of a country or people in a structural way. Like, solely looking at the language of a people. How much do you guys think a language has impact on the 'thinking' and culture of a people. Is there a language wich may be the best for making progress? Maybe even a language with a more fascist tendency? I suppose this would be a rather controversial viewing point.
Just to plant this questionary seed deeper into your minds a hypothesis:
Identical twins living under the same conditions, in the same culture and every other aspect except for the language (One spanish, one english f.e.) would (because of the language) think in a considerably different way.

Hope you guys can distil a provocation out of this.

Which reminds me of an old nursery rhyme.

And

Bad English is regretable
Bad Scotch in unforgiveable

Frisian by the way, is spoken in Germany as well.
"Saterland Frisian" (Sater Frisian or Saterlandic, Seeltersk) as even more different (Frisian and Saterlandic are both recognised minority languages ... and official languages in those parts of Germany.


Example from wikipedia

Saterfrisian, to give some more information not related to the actual topic, has been taught academically by an American, professor Marron Curtis Fort, PhD (educated at Princetown and Pennsylvania university, taught at New Hampshire university and in Germany at Oldenburg university).

He got entries in wikipedia in Esperanto, German and nearly all German minority languages.

Well she did go to Oxford. She's not on our screens much, more for an American audience.

That's why BBC World News (not BBC America) has Zeinab Badawi as 'lead anchor'

She's very good, I remember her from Channel 4.

One of my favourite comics back in the 1970's was from Ost Friesland. Now I'm going to have to look for him tonight and see if there are any youtube clips.

Your loss is our gain.

No way. Apparently Brits with similar accents are always getting asked if they are Australians when they go on vacation to Florida.

You are absolutely correct Set, and this seems prevalent in the Midwest. I grew up in Ohio and have been living in South Carolina for 25 years. Prejudice against the southern accent is still widespread. I will admit that it took me some time to get over it myself. I still recognize my feelings when I hear someone from Kentucky speak. I have come to the conclusion that many (all?) of the initial thoughts or judgments we form about people upon first seeing or hearing them are incorrect.

Perhaps it is akin to our fight or flight response necessary to survive?

If survival is the result of a quick decision, perhaps we don't always have time for a considered response. Is the accent indicative that the other party is not part of our own tribe ?

I mean no justification by this, just trying to understand the mechanism.

...if you are looking for a mechanism think about a group thrust "gene" being ingrained in our heritage or something of the sort...the specific parameters are irrelevant is just a symptom of awareness of strangers.

Awareness? I would agree, the observations are valid, this person sounds different, but the question is the response. What do we 'do' about those differences ? Fight, Flight, or acceptance?

We can do all the three depending on the situation being advantageous or disadvantageous, we manage it...but by default strangers are often danger...
I don't think there is any mechanism of fight or flight at play here as means of explanation...we just like to have prediction and control at work without disruptions, be it things or people, the motive is the same. If you want to go way back up to physics think of inertia having no cost while a change in direction will require some trust...

This is the first time i've ever heard that Frisian catch-phrase described as a nursery rhyme. I looked around online to see what i could find, and came up with this, which is what i remember reading in college more than 40 years ago. My memory is not good enough to have supplied from my own resources.

bûter, brea, en griene tsiis, wa’t dat net sizze kin is gjin oprjochte Fries.

"Butter, bread and green cheese, who cannot say that is no upright Fries."

Frisia est omnis divisa in partes tres...

Y0u've got a Gaul to say that . . .