Do you think?

BillieTheBot

That if you lived in a certain town/city for 3 years you would acquire their accent?

JsT

Maybe slightly. I think you would also pick up 'local words' amd maybe miss letters off words and change some pronunciation slightly.

Former Member

If the accent is really different, maybe. I've been living where I am for oh maybe 4 years now and I still get fun poked at for my accent, but its a very small, slight accent, in my opinion at least.

Though thinking about it the bigger the difference in the accent the less likely it would change. I grew up with a friend whos mother came from England (I'm in the US) and decades later her british accent is no less than it was before.

And hell, I've been here forever reading you guys and I've never say something is proper cool or innit

Former Member

im hoping not
in my case anyway

ive been living in wales for last 3 yearsand i dont THINK ive acquired any welsh accent/wording

although saying that, in the first year of uni i lived with 5 welsh boys - and i did hear myself saying a few words differently. but now i dont really associate with any welsh people (well, friends anyway) so its gone away

i guess in that case it depends on how long youve been living in that specific place and who you actually talk with who has that accent

Former Member

Twenty years as a Welshman ...still speaking like a Manc.

Former Member

morrocan roll wrote: »

Twenty years as a Welshman ...still speaking like a Manc.

That welsh accent seems hard for welsh people to speak, never mind acquiring it

Former Member

Living in Belfast for the guts of 3 years now and still talk like a culchie bastard.

Former Member

I would have thought that you're more likely to lose the edge off your previous accent than pick up the new one if that makes sense?

I've got a Scottish friend at uni, and to the rest of us she still sounds Scottish but if she's on the phone to friends from home they think she's picking up our accent, or at least loosing her own.

I've got southern parents and lived in Hull for 4 years when I was a kid and I definitely had a lovely regional accent but I suspect things are different for children.

Former Member

You can. I've been noticing a hint of Barnsleytown creeping into my accent, and I've only been here a year. I don't sound like a local, though, it's just the odd word.

Former Member

I didn't pick up any sort of accent in my 4 years or so at Nottingham Uni.

Also i definately don't have a south london accent and i've lived here in the same town all my life.

Former Member

Of course you adapt to the people around you. Anyone who claims they don't is either lying or reclusive

Former Member

Hmmmmm possibly, as I only have to spend five minutes in the company of someone with a strong accent to pick it up! I think they think I'm taking the piss!

Former Member

I picked up the welsh accent really quickly and I sound more welsh than the welsh lol! When I go back to weston, I revert back to my old accent thou, its strange!

Former Member

My accent has adapted to where I live, I use more Geordie dialectal words and the odd Geordie pronunciation. But I do still talk with a Yorkshire accent, it just seems that the part of Yorkshire has changed. People keep thinking I sound like a smoggie :grump:

Former Member

Scary Monster wrote: »

I've got a Scottish friend at uni, and to the rest of us she still sounds Scottish but if she's on the phone to friends from home they think she's picking up our accent, or at least loosing her own.

Accommodation theory - divergence and convergence. :yes:

Former Member

Depends on the person really. My brother's lived in London for over 5 years now and he still has a sussex accent.

Former Member

Knee High Stripy Socks wrote: »

Accommodation theory - divergence and convergence. :yes:

Tied in with a little bit of audience design as well I'd imagine.

Former Member

I pick up accents easily. Although people round here think I sound a bit posh, so I guess I just have a wide mix of accents from living all over.

Former Member

i pick up certain accents really easily

like ther are different strength welsh accents an if i'm speaking to people with really strong welsh accents i start sounding like them

tho was quite amusing the other day speaking to a colleague in manchester to be told i have a really strong welsh accent - to me i have no accent :eek2:

Former Member

Welsh Jemz wrote: »

to me i have no accent :eek2:

An accent is a way of pronouncing a language. If you speak, you have an accent.

Former Member

I always pick up a twang really easily

Former Member

I think it depends on how old someone is when they move. Most of my family live in Australia but are originally from Glasgow. All the adults who moved have still retained their accents, all my cousins have now got Aussie accents.

Former Member

Whowhere wrote: »

I think it depends on how old someone is when they move. Most of my family live in Australia but are originally from Glasgow. All the adults who moved have still retained their accents, all my cousins have now got Aussie accents.

Have you picked up the police twang yet?
ello ello ello ...move along now ...nothing to see here ...

Former Member

I've aquired Welsh words like cwtch and 'dull' instead of stupid. I lived in Cardiff for 3 years and my accent changed slightly but its more valleys than Cardiff, think cos my man is from Aberdare lol

Former Member

J wrote: »

I'm from Essex innit! I sometimes think I lack any accent and posses only the base accent of everyone; ie: What everyone would sound like without their reigonal accent.

What on earth makes you think that your supposedly non accent is the one we would all be speaking without our regional ones ...are you not regional?

Former Member

I think I have a slight tendency to acquire some of an accent over time.

Former Member

J wrote: »

I'm from Essex innit! I sometimes think I lack any accent and posses only the base accent of everyone; ie: What everyone would sound like without their reigonal accent.

The only thing I can think of is that you speak some sort of non-specific Southern Standard English rather than one which is easily identifiable as Essex, or maybe even some sort of Received Pronunciation (i.e. the Queen). And I can only guess that what you mean by 'everyone would sound like without their regional accent' applies to those south and east of the English border, cause I can assure you I don't sound English.

Apparently I don't have an accent

Everyone has an accent, unless you're mute...

I wonder if all these 'no accent' people actually just have non-regional as opposed to regional varieties of English (i.e. you can't tell where the speaker is from)?

littlemissy

I have been told that my Scottish accent is not as strong as it was. This makes me sad I don't want a scummy Sheffield accent

Former Member

Virus wrote: »

That if you lived in a certain town/city for 3 years you would acquire their accent?

yes, I used to sound like a farmer and have lived in birmingham for 4 years and now i sound like a proper brummie.

Former Member

My aunt moved to Canada 20 years ago, and when she visits us, she sounds very much a Canadian.

Former Member

TheKingOfGlasgow wrote: »

An accent is a way of pronouncing a language. If you speak, you have an accent.

i meant that to myself i cannot hear a welsh accent strong or otherwise....