Different accent

My accent changes depending on who I'm with and how nervous I am. If I'm socially uncomfortable i always start sounding either really cockney or really posh

I can also pick up accents very easily, like if I watch a lot of a TV programme with a particular regional accent I start talking in that accent without realising it

I'm always told that I sound different from where I come from too. I never thought of it being related to autism but maybe it is if it's a common thing among autistic people.

Sometimes I will pick up speech patterns from things I see on TV/movies but it's a short term thing, I have wondered if that one was down to autism though.

Hi NAS24411! 
I live in the US and I’ve picked up few accents myself. I lived in the south so I should sound southern…. Nope! For some reason I picked up the British accent and Greek because my mom is from Greece. Use to  make my dad mad when I used a British accent. I believe it’s a ASD thing. 

I have gathered my accent from watching movies, TV shows, youtube - just stuff like that and now sometimes I go from sounding Australian to Northern to Welsh to Sottish and Irish all because I "like it better when words have those accents. the 'own' sound is my favourite I love saying phowne - it helps the itch in my brain. i always get asked from where I am from and sometimes I just play along as my life is boring and improv is something I enjoy!

What you said is just like me. English is my second language and I work in a company with many British people. When I meet a person having a heavy accent, my husband always notice the different accent I have at different period of time. Then I realised I do mirroring heavy accents when I am alone in the office or when I am doing repetitive work.

I did the middle year of my degree in Rhode Island. In the second week there was a meeting for the international exchange students - the other English students thought I was one of the American 'buddies' because my accent was so American.

It took over 2 years to shed it!

Also, if I spend time with someone with a strong accent or speech pattern etc. I have to stop myself mirroring it lest it seems like I'm taking the pish!

What?! I'm allowed a pair of dykes but not a single ***?!

Trainspotter said:

*** van ***'s attempt

OMG! Nearly spat out my salad laughing at that censorship by NAS...

What would we do if we wanted to chat about that school dessert favourite Spotted ***?

Or talk about Holland and the use of dykes to prevent flooding and create agricultural land?

Ha haha hahaha...

'Accent' depends to a large extent on different vowel formations, and also on the length of time syllables are held for.

And a lot of these sound formations are due to the shape of the mouth and the position of the tongue in the mouth.  Try speaking while holding your tongue against the roof of your mouth and you will sound quite different.  Try keeping your tonguke against your teeth and you will sound different again.

Someone I saw on television said that he thought the accents of the black country and the North West of England were caused by the pollution in the factories and pits of the areas, and the way the popullation held their head to have a clear windpipe.  I don't think it was altogether serious but it is a thought.

We have so many influences on our accents these days - radio and television means we hear accents from all over the world.  And we can 'mix' accents similar to mixing paint, so a 'mixture' of two accents can result in something different.  Listening at a formative age to certain characters on television, or even people at school who have different origins can all have an affect.  And to your original question, autistic people can try mimicking others, and this might result in something different to what is being mimicked.  If I try to mimic a South African accent it often comes across more like a bad Australian accent.  And Americans are known for mistaking a Cockney accent for an Australian accent (listen to *** van ***'s attempt at a cockney accent in Mary Poppins and you will know what I mean).  Sid James was South African but many people thought he was a Londoner.

I myself find the whole thing of accents fascinating.  To us British on first hearing all South African accents are the same.  But on further listening a Cape Town accent is a lot 'softer' than a Johannesburg accent. And I would imagine that they are as different in reality as a Cockney Accent is to a Liverpudlian accent.

Its funny you say this as my son is autistic too and he seems to have a bit of a south african accent, me and his mother have no idea where it came from. i never even thought of it being linked to his autism

I worked in a large open office where there was occasional group noises - just like being in a monkey house in the zoo.   They would randomly shout lines from films or make noises at one another.   it seemed to be 'necessary' as being part of the team and to be acceptaed.   I noticed that if higher-ranking members started the noise, the subordinates would copy instantly.   

I measured that it took 6 months before new starters would mimic the behaviours.  

A nice repeatable experiment.

It's not something I took part in, but it was educational to witness..

I dunno. It might be ASD related. I've been diagnosed with Aspergers when I was 6 and I am 16 now. I've always been picking up new accents. I grew up in London and so everyone here as a strong Southern English accent however a lot of people say I sound Australian or that I have a British accent but the rhythm and the way I structure my sentences sound American. I find when I'm around Americans or Canadians, I seem to pick up their accent and I have to force myself to keep my British accent to avoid awkwardness - my brother would make fun of the American accent. There are certain words I do pronounce that sound American but I dunno, it may be ASD related as I seem to be switching accents all the time. I think it just depends on the individual and if you have ASD that contribute to it because I saw a documentary on autism a couple of years ago and a boy kept switching accents due to his autism - no 2 people are the same but it can be related to autism :)