Developing Accents

I think that my New York accent has gotten stronger in the UK because I have no incentive to put on a midwestern "American Broadcaster" accent over here as one American accent isn't seen as better than any other (whereas in the US  people identify a strong New York accent with a lack of education) - and the only Americans I speak to are my family in New York.

I also think that a New York accent is one of the easier American accents for English people to understand because it doesn't have the super-hard Rs of more standard American accents.

I've also been told a couple of times that I have a tiny bit of English accent creeping in but I don't hear it at all.

That's very interesting.  When I worked in South Carolina, dh came to visit me and I worked with a girl who had a very, very strong Southern accent.  At one point, I was listening to them talking to each other and to me her accent sounded like a slowed down version of his and with maybe a slightly different twang, but not much different.

I remember reading once that British actors find southern accents the easiest to learn because there is something in the speech pattern that is similar in how words are formed and where the tongue sits in the mouth..if this is the case, this would possibly explain why mine has come out a bit more being over here (rather than when I was still living in Boston).

sweetpeach: I definitely felt the need to lessen my southern accent when I moved to Boston...on my first job interview, an assistant dean at one of the universities asked where I was from and when I told her, the response was literally "But I can't hear your accent...you sound so educated!"   

I remember reading once that British actors find southern accents the easiest to learn because there is something in the speech pattern that is similar in how words are formed and where the tongue sits in the mouth

Perhaps this is why when a British person attempts to fake an American accent it often sounds like an over-exaggerated Southern accent.

I'm not a kid but here in Yorkshire their o's to me sound like the o's of Minnesotans like if you think of Fargo.  Since my dad and all his family lived in various parts of Minnesota, they do speak with a bit of a Minnesotan twang which I would use when I was up there as a kid.  We can all put on the heavy version for entertainment.  Anyway, point is since they sounded so alike to me, I appear to have picked up that bit of Yorkshire and at Easter some friends from Manchester came over and just laughed and laughed at how I talked.  It was slightly humiliating.  My parents and a friend in the States say I sound British, but I don't think I do.  I think I just sound different because of the different phrases. 

I have thought this and tried to explain the o's are like MinneSOta or canada but I started doing the o thing haha glad its not just me seeing this ;-)

I have thought this and tried to explain the o's are like MinneSOta or canada but I started doing the o thing haha glad its not just me seeing this ;-)

YAY!  I'm glad you can hear it too. 

I think the accent just creeps in over time.  For me, it's more the speed with which I speak, and the cadence and emphasis on certain words that has changed....as well as using Scottish/British vocabulary.  Some people think I have a Scottish accent, but I don't think so....most people can't really place it and think it's Irish or something.  I already had the long "O" in my speech from growing up near the Canadian border, so can't blame the UK for that one.

I'm outside of Glasgow, and everyone speaks really quickly, and I think I now speak much more quickly than I ever did back home.  When on the phone to friends and family in the US, my speech seems to slow down and I regain some of my old accent for a while. 

I've noticed a bit of a theme throughout the posts that some of us who have "lost" our accents have studied other languages or lived in other countries where other languages have been spoken.  I lived in Germany for a while, and did what some others did on here as well, slightly picked up on their version of an American accent or found my English grammer/word order and vocabulary also did regress as I tried to remedy the two languages together.  Perhaps those of us who are "in tune" with picking up other languages are more susceptible to losing our accents?

Also I have noticed that most Americans I meet over here who still have a strong accent are Southerners.  Is this because it's such a strong and engrained accent compared to other American ones?

Very interesting at least.  I would be mortified if anyone ever thought I was "faking it" ala the Madonna controversy...
 

I think losing accents has more to do with age.

I spent a little under a year year at the University of Chicago when I was 17-18, and when I came back to New York, I had picked up a midwestern accent (which I later lost).

I moved to England when I was 39 and 5 years later I still haven't developed an English accent.

I'd have to disagree with tootsieroll that it has anything to do with language aptitude.  I am good with languages and have lived in several countries, and am good at identifying accents in English, but haven't lost any of my own accent.  I agree with sweetpeach that it's more to do with age than anything else.

Perhaps this is why when a British person attempts to fake an American accent it often sounds like an over-exaggerated Southern accent.

So.  True.

We moved to the UK when my American-born children were 5 years old and 8 years old.  They have one English parent and one American parent.  Now they're 10 and 13 and they have hybrid accents.  English people tend to think they sound American and Americans tend to think they sound British.  They can switch back and forth between the two accents very quickly and easily too, depending on the listener.  They also love to mimic various regional accents and to "try on" accents.

This is interesting. I don't know if it's possible to adapt entirely to a new dialect or if one can change subtleties to his dialect/accent to blend in with a peer group.  It's funny, though, how much we really don't know how the mind works, very interesting!

I have a few examples of what confounds me about language/dialects, etc:

During our moving sale, an older woman came to our house and my husband started to talk to her like they were old friends.  This woman, to my ear, had as much of a tex-okie drawl as I do.  Apparently she left Scotland at 20 something and has lived here for 50 years.  My DH said it stuck out like a sore thumb.  I said I didn't hear a THING! 

A good friend of mine left Greece at 17 and came to the US not being able to speak a word of English.  Seventeen seems pretty mature, not like a 5 year-old, in my opinion.  Accept for a few words that sounded "broken" I could barely tell she was from Greece. 

DH and I are fairly close to a Croatian family.  They left Croatia in the 90s when their son was about 8.  The son is now 26.  His accent is nearly as thick as his mothers  !

We have a huge Vietnamese community here in Oklahoma City.  I used to work in an area they used to call little Vietnam so many of the employees of the company were, of course, Vietnamese.  Many of the ladies I worked with still sounded Vietnamese that were evacuated out of Saigon in 1974 at varying ages, while others sounded very American.  Baffles me!

My DH came here to the states at age 37.  He has lost a lot of his brogue, enough that when we visited 2 years ago, people wanted to know where he was from!    It's thick enough he still is told to "speak English" here in the US, but that's just ignorance.

Wondering if my oldest's son's accent will change (age 9) or if it will remain the same?  We'll see!   

I actually studied this as part of my degree (which is way back in the mists of time now), but what I do remember is that generally (and I mean generally based on statistical analysis and trends - of course there are exceptions), accents tend to be more fluid up to around the age of 12, and after that become more set. This is to do with children being naturally programmed to pick up language in their early years in order to be able to communicate - and is also part of the reason that learning a foreign language is said to be easier when you are younger.

That said, there is also a social element as to whether you pick up an accent or not. Some people will start to pick up an accent very quickly when around people with a different accent - theories suggest that this is usually prompted by a conscious or sub conscious desire to fit in and be accepted. I do this myself and it can be very embarrassing because the attempt to sound similar can be interpreted as a mickey take of the other person. Other people (and as some posters above have said has happened in their presence) can emphasise their natural accent. This, it is theorised, is based on a desire to distinguish the speaker from those around them, and may be prompted by feelings of national pride (where relevant) or as a defence. It can also be not wanting to be associated with those around them and wanting to stand out from them as different.

I should add, these are simply some of the theories put out there which I thought were interesting. They are certainly not the only reasons for picking up or not picking up accents, and no offense is intended to anyone!

I'm not a kid but here in Yorkshire their o's to me sound like the o's of Minnesotans like if you think of Fargo.  Since my dad and all his family lived in various parts of Minnesota, they do speak with a bit of a Minnesotan twang which I would use when I was up there as a kid. 

I find that being from Minnesota I tend to confuse people, especially on the phone. People's first reaction is that I'm Australian or Canadian (not that they sound anything alike!).  I still have a few people at work convinced I'm from Canada.

I love it when people I talk to regularly can't identify me on a phone because I sound 'almost English' that day. After 4 years my accent is definately changing, it's not being English, just odd.

I find that being from Minnesota I tend to confuse people, especially on the phone. People's first reaction is that I'm Australian or Canadian (not that they sound anything alike!).  I still have a few people at work convinced I'm from Canada.

I love it when people I talk to regularly can't identify me on a phone because I sound 'almost English' that day. After 4 years my accent is definately changing, it's not being English, just odd.

Even though my Minnesota accent had softened by the time I moved here ( I'd lived on Colorado for 5 years prior to moving to the UK) for the first 4 years I was here, everyone thought I was Canadian.  That all changed in 2008, when Sarah Palin hit the stage and people started asking if I was from Alaska!  Grrrr, I know I don't have the neatest accent, but I don't think I sound like that!

I've heard him do that!  He was on tv on some who do you think you are show or something and there was a bit of him and his parents.  It sounds completely bizarre yet not faked somehow.  Like his voice was dubbed, kinda, but you still knew it was him.

I saw Gillian Anderson on Graham Norton and she sounded really weird with her London accent. It sounded fake! I'm surprised that she can still do it after only having lived there to age 11!