Polish, Scottish, Scouse?

Turning the lens of my professional research interests in language and emotion onto my own lived experiences as an academic – first in Glasgow, then in Liverpool – this essay explores the tensions between accents, emotions and identity. It reflects on the difficulties in navigating multicultural and multilingual environments and the resulting clash of cultural scripts and communication norms. The essay draws on personal experiences of and sociolinguistic research on accent bias in the UK to investigate the notions of belonging and otherness. It also examines the role of languages in shaping connections with friends and family, the challenges of bilingual parenting, and the difficulties in articulating complex emotions. Language becomes something that divides us and connects us, bridging the gap between worlds.