Alfaro, Ph.D., is associate vice president of international affairs and professor of multilingual and global education at San Diego State University. She lives in Escondido. The visceral and powerful ...

Have you found yourself altering how you speak when you find yourself in a more formal situation? Do you tone down your accent or stay away from words that may only be known in the area you are from?

Vice President Kamala Harris ruffled some feathers when she appeared to adopt a different tone or accent with a crowd than she had previously during her recent campaign trip to Detroit to talk about ...