Accents

I grew up in a fairly rough part of Glasgow and went to school with people with very thick working class Glaswegian accents, but everyone always described me as "posh". I even remember a local shopkeeper asking my mum where I was from once. I never understood how I ended up with a different accent. But it occurred to me recently that I have three cousins who are siblings and two of them have very rough accents but one sounds an awful lot like me. You wouldn't believe she was related to her siblings.

Is this an autistic thing? Or is my accent just a freak of nature?

  • Based on my own and everyone else's experience I would say it's definitely an autism thing Blush 

    Technically I should have an Irish accent buuttt I tend to switch too others depending who I've seen on tv or in movies lol Sweat smile 

    I've been talking with an Australian accent for the last 2 months just B cause Joy if I hear a voice that's different I like to use it as well. And if I see how someone walks and acts differently I'll try to mimic that 2

  • It’s always been by my opinion that the purpose of language is the efficient and accurate exchange of information.

    I’ve always been perplexed by people who use language as a badge of identity or a political tool (a problem here in Scotland). A language, accent or dialect that can’t be used to communicate just seems pointless to me.

    Perhaps this shapes how autistic people use language.

  • I think that I have a 'generalised Northern English accent', I say path and bath with short 'A's. I can use my native accent if I want to, but it isn't my day-to-day speech. That has been RP-influenced, to some extent, as I have lost the emphatic 'U' and rhoticity of my native accent/dialect. I never use glottal stops and never use intrusive 'R' sounds - I say drawing and not drawring. My pronunciation is quite precise, possibly a bit prissy. I have been told by non-native speakers of English that I am easy to understand.

  • Whenever I was a kid, my Teachers thought I was English; accent I picked up from TV.

    Now I have a, relatively, colloquial accent. But love doing other accents. I have imaginary sketches in my head, based on experiences of other accents. My favourite is the Canadian Accent.

  • Yeah - as Debbie says, seems to be an autistic thing. I learned this from Debbie's thread! Blush

    I ought to have a Lowlands accent like everyone else in my family. Even my brother, who was non- verbal as a young child acquired one. 

    Not me, I suspect mine came from the tv.... 

    For whatever reason. 

1 2