accents- turning it on and off

Yep, keep it real!

It's called code-switching, and sometimes it's not intentional. My family is a bunch of very loud hillbillies with a strong accent. When I'm around my aunts and uncles and cousins, I speak the way they do. When I'm with most other people, I speak with a standard American accent, no drawl. I used to have a good friend from Poland, and when we spent time together I would pick up her accent within an hour, completely unintentionally. I've started picking up pieces of the local accent where I live now, but it only comes out when I'm with local natives. It's not fake, it just happens.

I can easily switch from English to French and have my French accent be pronounced as much as I want when I'm speaking English, it's just something you develop over time.

It's hard to explain.. I was born and raised in England and still have an English accent and (like others have said) it becomes even stronger when back in England or talking with friends/family from there. With my friends I talk in my normal English accent but sometimes when talking to strangers or customers I will switch to my generic American accent because (for some reason) a lot of people don't understand me and I end up repeating myself a lot, or some days you just don't want to have the "oh my gosh you're from England" conversation

I agree with Shweedog: I'm from North Dakota, now residing in Texas. While I've been in Texas for 20+ years, I'm still told I have a northern accent, but only by southerners. My northern friends tell me I sound like a Texan. It varies depending on with whom I having a conversation with at the time. Strange, I know. Then again...I'm strange! I get told that by both parties.

I'm fairly well spoken English, and I find that when I speak to americans or Canadians, I enunciate and articulate better, and I sound much more "british"
My mother talks the same, except when she's in the presence of an American, all her intonation changes, and every sentence becomes a question? It's so annoying?
:noway:

I think it depends on the situation that one switches back and forth without thinking. It's the same as when you're with a group of people and you use the same words and phrasing that they do and when you switch to another group, you fall into their speech patterns. Like others said, it just sort of happens.
I have one British friend who only speaks with an accent when she is very angry. Another friend, who is German, speaks with a heavy accent when she is angry. Normally, you would never even know my German friend was not an American from the midwest--she learned fluent english in Kansas and has been speaking it for over 35 years.

I am an Army Brat...I was born in Europe The Netherlands to be exact..lived in Germany, NJ, VA, SC, TX, OK...just to name a few

My accent constantly changes....It's nothing to do with being fake...it's just that I have never lived anywhere longer than 3 years...and simply do not have one distinct accent...People from the south think I am from NY or NJ, people from NY or NJ, think I am from the south...

Bleh

Yeah, I also go between a few accents, depending on who I'm talking to. It just starts coming out of my mouth and I can't help it!

I dunno about american midwest having no accent in particular, though! LOL

born and raised a new yorker, went to college in ohio in 2006. back and forth every few months, i have lived out here now since 2010. i do still have my ny accent, but since i do not hear it all the time it has slowly started to go away. i do not notice this, but i have been told when i go home to ny, on the phone with family or friends from ny, drink a lot or am angry then my accent comes out, A LOT. i do not really try and control this, it just kind of happens. it is fairly noticeable still when i say things like dog, call, all, ball, coffee, talk, etc. i don't think i can really turn it on or off per say, it just kinda comes out how it is.

I live in Southern Alabama and I have a thick southern accent. I never realized it until one day at work they let me in on the secret of how they all laughed and thought it was "cute" when I'd call for "Mike" because they all thought it sounded like I was saying "Mack".

I'm now much more aware of it, and at work I try to tone it down as much as possible. When I'm around my family, it comes out more.. and when I'm angry or drinking.. it's terrible.

It's called code-switching, and sometimes it's not intentional.

Ding ding! Linguistics is an amazing field. I'm sorry you find it annoying and fake, but I doubt your coworker is trying to make her language seem different. American English, British English, and Australian are all different languages, they just feel very similar at the base. She is likely just switching to a new language in her mind when she speaks to different people.

I grew up in Scotland and speak Scots and English interchangeably, but during my travels I found that some non-Scots didn't always understand me, so I learnt to round my vowels more and enunciate better. I went to University in England (Hull, E Yorks) and I picked up a bit of a Yorkshire accent whist there which it still there when I speak English, but if I'm with fellow Scots or speaking to my folks, then I switch to Scots and sound very Scottish. It also happens when I say certain words like purple (where the r gets rolled) or film (where I add a schwa between the l and m.)

I have an ear for accents and languages and speak several European languages using several different languages. Dutch, which I speak as if it were my mother tongue, I naturally have a Rotterdam accent as that's where I lived, but can also speak ABNs (standard Dutch) as well as Antwerps (Flemish).

For me, it's very natural that I adapt how I speak to my audience. It's not a pretentious thing; it's just how my subconscious seems to operate :happy:

I don't generally have much of an accent, but when I'm around my mother's side of the family I develop this THICK southern drawl. I just can't help it. And then when I visit my dad's side of the family that lives in Maryland, by the time the visit is through (usually a week or so) I start saying things here and there with that Baltimore accent. I don't do it on purpose at all, it just happens.

The southern one is worse though, since I learned to talk with a southern accent. You can always tell when I've been around the family because that drawl is outta control! But typically I don't have much of an accent at all, aside from my regular use of the word "y'all" (I can't talk without saying y'all). I don't think anybody really does it on purpose, more of a subconscious thing.