Published on 12, July, 2020
Wondering if anyone else has this I'm English, lives in England, parents sound English but I sound South African or Austrailian depending on who you ask. Weird right? Is this something to do with the autism?
'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.
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...
What?! I'm allowed a pair of dykes but not a single ***?!