In English with an Accent, Rosina Lippi-Green scrutinizes American attitudes towards language. Using examples drawn from a variety of contexts: the classroom, the court, the media, and corporate culture, she exposes the way in which discrimination based on accent functions to support and perpetuate unequal social structures and unequal power relations.

English with an Accent focuses on language variation linked to geography and social identity; looks at how the media and the entertainment industry work to promote linguistic stereotyping; examines how employers discriminate on the basis of accent; reveals how the judicial system protects the status quo and reinforces language subordination.