Where do we get our accents?

DylanII

How do people pick up accents?

I have a very different accent to everyone I know. its different than my parents, friends, old friends and the people where I live (and was raised).

Is there any reason I would have a different accent, I have no idea where it came from. Its much posher sounding than most accents. It still sounds like a Dublin accent but different from all the other Dublin accents. Its like a typical south side accent, with a bit of bland American and British.

I now have some friends who have a kind of similar accent, but I think its kind of put on, as when they get angry it turns quite common.

tac foley

Being brought up in a household where four languages were spoken, and with a dad whose Cork accent would have soled boots, I nevertheless have no regional accent at all.

Like many polyglots, I can imitate accents to perfection, and do. My Jamaican Rastafarian telephone answerphone message is still in use in one institute in which I was formerly employed.

As for your accent - it did not appear out of the ether, but may have gradually crept up on you over the years as a way of improving your self-esteem. Not a bad thing, IMO. My everyday accent is redolent of the places in the world where I grew up and formed my knowledge of the language I speak most of all - English - here in UK and over in Canada, where we also HAVE to learn French. But already today I have had reason to use French and Welsh. My chaotic childhood is NOT reflected in my speech - in one sentence I can go from British public school to Ontario redneck, and often do. Nobody cares anyhow.

tac