accents- turning it on and off

2

Replies

  • brattyworm
    brattyworm Posts: 2,137 Member
    this is amusing. I do have that issue as well. It drives my husband nuts. His exwife had a heavy southern accent and he hates the way it sounds. The issue comes when we go back home for me (Texas) or another heavily southern state like Tennesee or something. The accent comes back naturally simply because its what i was engrained with growing up. you dont really notice it and he caught me a few times and got agitated just recently when we were in tenn.

    that doesn't mean some people dont do it intentionally, but for some folks that no longer live in the area they grew up, while they may sound 'normal' just wait till they do get around the peeps they were raised with
  • impyimpyaj
    impyimpyaj Posts: 1,073 Member
    I don't generally have much of an accent,

    Yes you do. Everyone has an accent. Maybe you speak with a standard American accent, but that's still an accent. "Accent" simply defines the way you pronounce sounds in a given language. So unless you're not speaking at all, you have an accent.
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
    I dunno about american midwest having no accent in particular, though! LOL

    The midwest accent is commonly known as the "standard" or "neutral" accent. In other words, the accent that is actually the absence of an accent!
  • dalgal26
    dalgal26 Posts: 781 Member
    I am from the deep south and have the southern 'drawl'. It is worse when speaking to others with the same accent. I try to be careful, but sometimes it is just there. :smile:

    My husband will not even let me leave the welcome message on the answering machine because it is so bad. :sad:
  • chauncyrenayCHANGED
    chauncyrenayCHANGED Posts: 788 Member
    Code switching is natural and harder for some people to switch off.

    Another contributing factor could be her learning style.

    I am an audio learner and no matter who I'm around I pick up their style of talking. Every day I have to work really hard to not adopt other's language style.

    She may not be doing it on purpose. I would try to let this one go.
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
    I tend to do it as well. I grew up in the ghetto and I can throw down my ghetto when I'm home. But at work, I have no accent.
  • lickmybaconcakes
    lickmybaconcakes Posts: 1,063 Member
    I do it a lot depending on who I am talking , it changes their perception of you a great deal.
  • Bpothik13
    Bpothik13 Posts: 135 Member
    I've done whatever Ive could to tone down my Midwestern accent...growing up with my parents who would say things like "WaRsh" and other heavy-handed "R" words (my father would say things like "tarlet" for "toilet"...not sure where that came from!) but I think living in St. Louis, there is a good combination of Southern accents and haRder NaRthern accents so mine is some kind of blend.

    But, as an English teacher to 7th graders I try to speak properly, but use all sorts of accents to make my kids laugh and keep their attention!
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,810 Member
    I don't generally have much of an accent,

    Yes you do. Everyone has an accent. Maybe you speak with a standard American accent, but that's still an accent. "Accent" simply defines the way you pronounce sounds in a given language. So unless you're not speaking at all, you have an accent.

    Well obviously, that's what I meant by "not having much of an accent", by American standards, I figured that was implied. Next time I'll use text-book terminology only.
  • embersfallen
    embersfallen Posts: 534 Member
    I tend to pick up accents VERY easily... it may be totally unconcious. When I talk to my BF in Canada... I tend to get that accent...when I talk to my family in Jersey...same thing...and being stuck in the midwest... it's a constant struggle to not sound so * minneeeehhhsooohhtaaa*. lolol.
  • Musikelektronik
    Musikelektronik Posts: 739 Member
    I sit by a co-worker who turns her accent on and off at will, depending on who is on the receiving end. She is originally from New Zealand but has been living in the states for more than 20 years. Sometimes she sounds like she's from the UK, other times she sounds perfectly American (think Midwest, no particular accent), and other times she pours the aussie accent on. While I can't identify any particular pattern to her accent-switching, I've noticed that when she talks to other Brits at work, the accent becomes distinctly more British. I find this behavior very annoying because it seems fake. Just talk how you talk.

    Thoughts? Discuss...

    Why do you care?
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    In my experience, people who live in a particular area for an extended period of time will assimilate elements of that particular culture unwittingly. It is most obvious with accents and dialects. I don't think that your co-worker is doing this on purpose. When she hears a British accent, then it cues a particular set of phonetics in her brain. This is a completely natural thing and is truly what has caused entire languages to form. Don't hold it against her.
  • Mercenary1914
    Mercenary1914 Posts: 1,087 Member
    I tend to do it as well. I grew up in the ghetto and I can throw down my ghetto when I'm home. But at work, I have no accent.

    I most def have an work accent! I try not to scare the white folks...
  • embersfallen
    embersfallen Posts: 534 Member
    I dunno about american midwest having no accent in particular, though! LOL

    The midwest accent is commonly known as the "standard" or "neutral" accent. In other words, the accent that is actually the absence of an accent!

    OH I beg to differ. LOLOLOL. The accents around here drive me BONKERS! ;)
  • MileyClimb
    MileyClimb Posts: 414 Member
    I am orginially from California but grew up most of my life in Indiana and have lived in Arkansas since 1996 not counting the short time living in Ny and Pa. I am told I sound like a hoosier.
  • _Christine_
    _Christine_ Posts: 1,385 Member
    I find I mimic people without thinking about it.

    Get me around a southerner and I'm all yes ma'am and no sir.

    Redneck... hell yeah!

    BUT get me around my friend from Rhode Island and my Texas drawl is so bad it's funny.
  • pudadough
    pudadough Posts: 1,271 Member
    I have had at least three of my internet friends from other parts of the country/world comment that I "don't sound Texan" when I talk to them on the phone or in person. I guess I'm supposed to sound like a Beverly Hillbilly?

    I do notice that I get more "country-fied" when I'm around my more...country...relatives. But it's not a conscious thing.
  • Elle_Jamaicangirl81
    Elle_Jamaicangirl81 Posts: 418 Member
    Sometimes we get forced to code switch..

    When i moved to New York (from Jamaica) for college... i spoke normally (which is proper English, just not American) and my roommate just wave me off "I dont understand what you're saying"

    It annoyed me she was so close minded and didnt try to understand me... but to keep the peace i spoke in an American accent when i spoke to her

    Dont be annoyed, perhaps something like that happened to your coworker...so it's better to just switch it out sometimes
  • Allie_71
    Allie_71 Posts: 1,063 Member
    I have a Canadian accent, through and through, but when I talk to anyone from Trinidad, and my mom in particular, I lapse into a patois and have an accent.

    And when I'm angry, the accent comes out. I have no idea from where. But it does.
  • rebeccap13
    rebeccap13 Posts: 754 Member
    From the midwest originally, when I lived in Northern California people always said I had an accent. Now when I go back home people say I have an accent from living in Montana. I randomly have a southern twang which makes no sense at all because I'm from the St. Louis area, not the boot heel or the Ozarks in Missouri.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    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:

    Do you know what I find interesting? You can't hear an accent on the internet, but you can determine that someone has one based on the words that they choose.
  • LovelyLifter
    LovelyLifter Posts: 560 Member
    I do it a lot depending on who I am talking , it changes their perception of you a great deal.

    Exactly

    I have a slight southern accent I try to disguise a bit. I'm not ashamed of it at all but people tend to stereotype you without even knowing it
  • BigDaddyBRC
    BigDaddyBRC Posts: 2,395 Member
    I've traveled and lived across the US. I pick up accents quickly and naturally. It's the subconscious kicking in to fit in.

    Deal with it.
  • Jersey_Devil
    Jersey_Devil Posts: 4,142 Member
    i turn mine on and off depending on who i am around. not intentionally. and not extreme, but enough that there is a slight difference.
  • rebewck
    rebewck Posts: 14
    I have a drawl too... (western Kentucky)... when I'm with the natives, it comes out, but I work mostly in central/northern IL and IN, and it lightens up when I'm around non-drawlers.. I can even hide it if I really try, and make it thicker (works to charm older men), which causes my coworkers to elect me to deal with difficult people because I sound so sweet with my little accent...
  • EmpressOfJudgment
    EmpressOfJudgment Posts: 1,162 Member
    I dunno about american midwest having no accent in particular, though! LOL

    The midwest accent is commonly known as the "standard" or "neutral" accent. In other words, the accent that is actually the absence of an accent!
    I just had this exact discussion with someone yesterday. Although, some Chicagoans have a slight accent, most of us don't unless they come from old south side neighborhoods where they talk like The Superfans. Parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota definitely have a detectable accent, but overall, we, in the Midwest, speak neutral. I was told they teach newscasters our "accent" because it's universal. Not sure if that's true, but it makes sense.
  • hiker282
    hiker282 Posts: 983 Member
    People like people that are like them. I worked customer service for a number of years and always tried to adopt a subtle accent that matched whoever I was talking to. Southern is by far the easiest to imitate and I could never do the north eastern, but just learned to talk fast.
  • frenchmaman
    frenchmaman Posts: 3
    I've been in France for 10 1/2 years and don't speak French with the Georgia accent I grew up with. It's not intentional. But as others have said, when I get back to GA, that southern accent comes back quickly. My German was fluent when I moved here and that has influenced how I speak as well. I don't have a French accent, but my French friends say I definitely don't sound American. Most French speakers can't figure out where I am from.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    It's not fake, it's borne of frustration. Eventually you can only hear so many "oh how cute, I love your accent"'s or "can you repeat that?"s in one day. I tinge my British with American when I'm talking to strangers or ordering at restaurants. But when I'm on the phone with the fam I can relax and slip back into my normal accent.
  • Captain_Mal
    Captain_Mal Posts: 945 Member
    I've been told my 'Georgia' accent comes out real strong when I'm mad. Most of the time it's not that noticeable.

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