Accents

Accents

by Liv Published on October 6th, 2009, 8:17 pm Rift: SCIENCE

Older but interesting article on accents. Apparently some people will never change their accents past some sort of childhood "programming" while others are capable and often change their accents on a whim. I'm definitely in the later group. It's gotten so bad in recent years I will commonly adjust my accent from pseudo Hispanic to standard dialect to southern, to southern Californian merely by whom I'm speaking with. Though I'm aware of the phenomenon and really try to stick to the standard.

Why do some people hold on to their accents all their lives while others drop them overnight?

She suggests that if someone wants to develop a new accent, they may want to imagine a person with that accent and then think themselves “into the skin” of that individual.

[Serendipitous]

I sometimes get so used to goofing with an accent that it finds its way into my regular speech. Lately it's been saying "out" like I'm Canadian. I slip into southern when I'm lazy or when I'm surrounded by others with the thick drawl, but for the most part I think I'm nondescript... it's my vocabulary that might suggest where I grew up.

[eddiebuckle]

I was born and raised in Boston, so needless to say I started out with a discernable accent. I haven't lived in New England for almost twenty years but if I have a week back home, upon return my southern friends ask me what's up with the language. It's all adaptation to ones surroundings....

[Sanjuro]

I slip into southern when I'm lazy .

Knowing you, and based on your own statement, I can deduce you are the laziest person on earth.... LOL

[A Person]

I suspect that it depends on how many accents you were exposed to as a child and the age at which you aexposed to the new accent.

Although I have been iin North America for 27 years I still have an English accent. There is only one accent I can slip into and that's Australian because one summer as a young teen I hung out with a bunch of Australian kids and had a definite Australian twang by the end of the summer.

I have deliberately learned to use some North American pronounciations: al-oo-min'm instead of al-u-min-i-um. tom-ay-to not tom-ah-to but that's more idiom than accent

[Liv]

English do seem to maintain their accents, it seems to be almost like a "base code"... Look at Hugh Laurie, or John Barrowman (Scottish) who can turn it on and off on a dime. Like A.P. I don't believe I've met a U.K. born individual who has adapted to a American accent full-time.

I once knew someone from the states who lived in the U.K. for only four years and you would have never known she hadn't lived there her whole life. (at least from a American perspective.)

Me I grew up in Ohio, moved to NC, took standard dialect voice training here to correct the NC accent, then moved to California, got cast in a role that required me to use a southern accent, then moved back here.

Shannon say my "normal mode" is a standard dialect with a "valley" twinge. She says she rarely hears the southern. Which is mainly because every time I hit a word wrong I self-correct by hearing my voice coach in my head saying it's "TOUR!!!!" not "tuuuuurrrrrrrr".

[Pineview Style]

I sometimes get so used to goofing with an accent that it finds its way into my regular speech. Lately it's been saying "out" like I'm Canadian. I slip into southern when I'm lazy or when I'm surrounded by others with the thick drawl, but for the most part I think I'm nondescript... it's my vocabulary that might suggest where I grew up.

People where I grew up say "co-cola" instead of "coca-cola." It never rubbed off on me until about a year ago I was telling some northern coworkers about that and it became a running joke. Unfortunately the "co-cola" pronouncitaion has started slipping out unintentionally on a frequent basis.

[Nfidel]

I slip into southern when I'm lazy or when I'm surrounded by others with the thick drawl,

Hey! I resemble that remark!

[Liv]

French babies have accents when they cry.

On a side note, Amanda Tapping's accent in Sanctuary.... is like fingernails on a chalk board.