do you speak with....

[aharris2]

more than one accent?

Drawl on Demand

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., declared herself "multilingual" on Friday, saying that her on-again, off-again Southern twang will be a plus for her candidacy. Clinton's Democratic adversaries Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John Edwards have also faced allegations of linguistic pandering to potential voters. Does anyone naturally speak with more than one accent?

Yes, lots of people do. We're all guilty of changing the way we speak in subtle ways, depending on whom we're talking to. Linguists call this "code shifting"—you don't want to talk to your boss the same way you talk to your old college roommates. We often code shift subconsciously, by picking up other people's speech patterns (as anyone who has ever studied abroad probably knows). Politicians and actors, on the other hand, sometimes hire vocal coaches to help them with their speech. But it isn't too difficult to adopt a bit of a twang. It's easier to match an accent if you've heard quite a bit of it—as Clinton has from the mouth of her Arkansas-born husband. (American politicians aren't the only leaders who try to sound more down-home: Last year, England's Queen Elizabeth was accused of folksying up her speech.)

Our accents develop as we acquire language and speech skills in early childhood—before the age of 6, for most people. By the early teen years, our accents are pretty firmly entrenched, matching the cues provided by those around us.* A conscious attempt to change your natural accent can take some time. It depends on how good a mimic you are, whether you want to be able to stay "in accent" all the time or just once in a while, and other factors. Those who succeed won't have made a permanent shift. A Southerner who moves to New York and wants to drop the twang will often pick it up again when he visits home (or has a few drinks).

A very small number of people seem to change their accent as a result of brain damage. As of 2003, doctors have reported fewer than 20 cases of foreign accent syndrome, which leaves sufferers with brand-new speech patterns. For example, an Indiana woman suffered a stroke in 1999 and subsequently picked up a mixture of West Country and cockney British accents.

guilty as charged here mates...

how bout y'all?

Rolando

[jbeany]

A lot of snow birds have that problem - they have to re-learn to speak at a Northern pace when they come home for the summer.

Mine's garbled on a good day anyhow.  I spent a lot of time as a small child in Texas visiting my grandparents.  Add the Southern drawl to the Northern Michigan/Yooper that I got at home the rest of the year, and it's enough to confuse any linguist.

When I was in high school, I visited Washington, DC.  I was waiting in line to be let on the elevator that took people up in small groups to watch Congress in session from the upper viewing area.  The security guard was chatting up each small group as they waited their turn.  After a few minutes of talking with each of them, he correctly guessed where they were from according to their accents.  He correctly placed each of the 6 groups ahead of me, and then started to talk to me.  I got grilled for quite a while, and then he shrugged and told me he gave up - he couldn't place my accent.  I told him Northern Michigan, and he just shook his head and said, "You don't sound like it at all."

[Sara]

I know I do.  Northeast Florida has a very redneck culture originally plus all the immigrants and snow birds coming in the area, so there's all sorts of accents around here.  Plus moving from Florida to Maryland to Georgia and back to Florida, I've found that I pick up other accents very easily.

[Deanne]

Sure! I grew up in MN. Then I lived in Atlanta for two years and picked up the habit of "y'all" and a tiny bit of a southern twang, before moving to Oregon. People in Oregon ask if I'm from Canada because I guess I say words that have "ou" in them (about) differently from them. I don't hear it.

[kitkatz]

I can do a country southern drawl sometimes,. however a good old California fast speak is what I do most of the time!

[Meinuk]

I grew up in Maine, lived in London for years, and now I am in NYC.  My accent is all over the place.  At least I don't sound like Madonna!

[carson]

People in Oregon ask if I'm from Canada because I guess I say words that have "ou" in them (about) differently from them. I don't hear it.

Please, Deanne, don't tell me you say Aboot instead of About. I can't stand that some people think Canadians actually talk like that. I've NEVER heard anyone say that....

[KICKSTART]

No just english , but if i hang around here long enough i am sure to start adding 'american' words  y'all !!!

[Bajanne]

I speak with two Caribbean accents (No, we don't all sound the same, and we have some very marked differences).  I have a standard Barbadian accent which is considered quite different from most of the other islands.  In fact, it is said to be like the West Country english accent.
From 17 - 25, I lived in Antigua.  I finished my last year of high school there.  After about 2 years there, I already had their accent, and could speak their english-based dialect.  Although I left Antigua in 1975, when I am with Antiguans, I still become totally Antiguan.
I thought I would have gotten some kind of adjustment in my accent when I came the the British Virgin Islands in 1997, but I have not been influenced at all by their accent.  I think it is because this country is a melting-pot.  60% of the working population is from other Caribbean countries, so what you hear every day is not one standard accent.    My daughter came here at 14, and you would have thought her accent would have changed as mine did in Antigua.  What she can do is mimic them, but only in certain things does she sound anything like them, especially if she is with a group of her peers.  But then, she is very proud of her Bajan (bay-jun) accent.

[nextnoel]

Yup, I do - I have my regular accent, I have my Southern accent (the redneck version), and I have my Other Southern accent (the genteel version).  The last 2 entail not just differences in pronunciation, but also differences in grammar and vocabulary.

[Sluff]

Yuppith I doith.

[MattyBoy100]

Someone at work thought I was South African the other day (I'm Scottish).  Most people think I am English.  I learned to talk as a baby in Australia.  I tend to pick up a bit of the accent wherever I live.  People generally think I am well spoken though.

[brenda]

Canadians don't have accent's we just end everything with, eh? 

[jbeany]

Yoopers do that too, ya, eh?

[goofynina]

i ancay eakspay igpay atinlay,  does that count 

[aharris2]

i ancay eakspay igpay atinlay,  does that count 

WTF kinda accent is that?  I'm glad you're feeling better girl...

Rolando

[kitkatz]

leasepay seuay ouryay pellinsu heckercay!  Okay? Heheheheh!   

[aharris2]

leasepay seuay ouryay pellinsu heckercay!  Okay? Heheheheh!   

hey kit,

i used the spell checker and it said... are you crazy? hehehe


Rolando 

[Sluff]

leasepay seuay ouryay pellinsu heckercay!  Okay? Heheheheh!   

hey kit,

i used the spell checker and it said... are you crazy? hehehe


Rolando 

Spell check? How about a translator. At least your spell checker didn't lie... JK 

[keefer51]

i speak with a philly boy, jersey accent. Then i lived down south for a bit and picked that one up. I say "I'm fixen to go to the home depot ya need anything?" being back in Pennsylvania i sometimes slip and the drawl comes out.

[kianhu]

I am a Southern Belle.  If I travel from the South, people really notice my accent.  Hey Yall.

[Sluff]

I am a Southern Belle.  If I travel from the South, people really notice my accent.  Hey Yall.

Gotta love that sweet sexy Southern Belle, Southern drawl!   

[kianhu]

 

[LightLizard]

its not reall us canucks that say 'aboot' - its the scots who say it. and, a lot of scots were the pioneers of anglo-canada, so the belief that all canucks say 'aboot' is mistaken. eh?

'eh' is another one. the american equivilant is 'huh' -from what I've heard.

I've also noticed that some of my friends who have travelled to other countries, quite often, will return with an accent that comes from the country they were visiting. its natural, I suppose, but also slightly annoying.

gowayandboilyerheadyamugya!
(scot saying...)