Accents

Google Echolalia! It will explain the phenomena and it is an autistic classic. And she may never grow out of it - I never have - although she may turn out to be an excellent mimic of other accents and may turn out to be good at drama.

You know, one of the reasons I was bullied at school was that I sounded "posh". I sounded nothing like either my Geordie parents or Warwickshire peers with a strong dialect.

At university I studied linguistics, realised my mother's descriptions of my language acquisition did not fit the normal model, nor had I ever converged to my peers' accent as theory dictates I should have. My university pals could never exactly place where in the UK I was from and as linguists too they'd be more skilled in that than your average person.

I sounded more BBC, your kid is mirroring American Telly. She may turn out to be a good mimic of other accents. I am. I'm a good actress and a language graduate, but I have no actual natural UK accent.

It happens basically because the driver of our learning is copy the authoritative source (the telly) to do it and therefore communicate need efficiently, rather than the social driver that most NTs have; I copy you (your/my peers accent) to interact and relate to you....Bell's Accomodation Theory...won't bore you with my explanation of undergrad linguistics, lol. Basically our language learning is all about function and efficiency, not social or relational goals as most people's is.

After many years living abroad and in London, I now live where I was born. No one believes I am local. I sound nothing like and I am 57.

Brilliant answer Dawn, I am able to mimic as well. I often don’t realise that I’m doing it. I wonder if it’s our attempt of trying to fit in with the people around us. I find that if I stay in a different area for a few days I can then pass off as a local. It’s like a built in thing of watching which words are over emphasised or which letters become silent. My father could do the same and my son has favourite films that he knows verbatim and he can mimic all the characters voices as if you are watching the film with the sound turned off. My son is now 25 and I’m only just starting to understand him, when my children were young, I was not in a good place and missed a lot of them growing up. He lives now with his partner about 200 miles away. He stayed with us last week and told me of some of his school life. He said that by year 4, he had read the school library and was disappointed that there were no more books. He said that he then found the town library. We were shopping for food last weekend and I made a comment on a food item that my wife picked up. I said that I couldn’t tolerate it. He then quipped that he agreed and said  “ what makes you think that your the only neurodivergent in the house.” I had never realised. I remember talking him to school discos and he would go in and then ask to go home. Sorry don’t know why I’m blurting this all out. My mother will often ask my son why he talks so posh.!

My wife has been a nurse for about 15 years, she has noticed that most of the Eastern European nurses have an American accent. She has asked some of them why? The answer is always that before moving here they watch ‘ Friends’ on loop and learn English from it.

Brilliant answer Dawn, I am able to mimic as well. I often don’t realise that I’m doing it. I wonder if it’s our attempt of trying to fit in with the people around us. I find that if I stay in a different area for a few days I can then pass off as a local. It’s like a built in thing of watching which words are over emphasised or which letters become silent. My father could do the same and my son has favourite films that he knows verbatim and he can mimic all the characters voices as if you are watching the film with the sound turned off. My son is now 25 and I’m only just starting to understand him, when my children were young, I was not in a good place and missed a lot of them growing up. He lives now with his partner about 200 miles away. He stayed with us last week and told me of some of his school life. He said that by year 4, he had read the school library and was disappointed that there were no more books. He said that he then found the town library. We were shopping for food last weekend and I made a comment on a food item that my wife picked up. I said that I couldn’t tolerate it. He then quipped that he agreed and said  “ what makes you think that your the only neurodivergent in the house.” I had never realised. I remember talking him to school discos and he would go in and then ask to go home. Sorry don’t know why I’m blurting this all out. My mother will often ask my son why he talks so posh.!

My wife has been a nurse for about 15 years, she has noticed that most of the Eastern European nurses have an American accent. She has asked some of them why? The answer is always that before moving here they watch ‘ Friends’ on loop and learn English from it.

Most Europeans learn English from US TV. I had a Spanish Teacher in Tech, from the Basque Region, who said, "Whatever!" a lot.