The accents of outsourcing: the meanings of “neutral” in the Indian call centre industry

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This is an ethnographic study of an agency which handles “accent training” for major call centres in Bangalore, South India. It investigates (1) the requirements of call centres in terms of accent training, (2) agency staff's interpretation of these requirements, and (3) trainees' response to the expectations of the agency and their future employer. Call centres which may have initially demanded accents as close to the L1 variety as possible now formulate their need as one for a “neutral” accent, which in some corporate circles is considered to be a regionless international variety. “Neutral”, however, is interpreted quite differently among the staff of the training agency. Older staff with a background in ELT saw their role as one promoting a shift in the direction of “educated Indian English”. This group positively evaluated British accents and emphasized the British origins of IE. Younger staff, on the other hand, without this professional background, were more oriented towards American accents. Trainees, too, reflected this diversity of accent attitudes in their self‐presentation in mock telephone calls. Some showed an accommodation to callers with American accents, and others not at all.