Are people's accents really influenced by TV?

HmmmIFeelNice

I view this trait as a character flaw. You'd have to wonder, is it there natural accent, or do they just try to sound that way. And even if not, they'd literally want to watch a huge amount of TV. I thought that naturally, people's accent's would be more inclined to be influenced by their peers, or the people they actually talk to, rather than just what they hear.

However, for people who have foreign parents; you get the ones who's accents take mainly after their parents, and the ones who get more of a the native accent. I think the latter of these.

Also, I think it's like as if there's two kinds of people - those who's accent will still change after their adultolescent years, and those who's accents won't change. You should know in your heart, that if you went off to America for 10 years, would your accent change one bit or not?

Omackeral

I actually hear my Dublin accent a lot clearer when I'm out foreign in places like Drogheda.

MarkAnthony

What's the difference between a Northside girl and Southside girl having an orgasm?

The Northsider drops her chips, the southsider drops her accent.


I'll get my coat...

TheNobleKipper

Yes, I've met several people who seem to mimic American accents they hear on TV. Pathetic.

They were all in their early to mid 20s btw

For Forks Sake

Yeah, like, whatever.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

It can happen - I used to teach English to 10-12 yearold kids in Denmark, and they devloped US accents from watching subtitled TV and music as oppose to dubbed.

That said, you need to be listenig to a hell of a lot of it to pick up the accent unintentionally.

One eyed Jack

If people's accents are influenced their peers and their environment, then why would it surprise anyone that a person's accent can be influenced by the media they consume - television, music, youtube, social media, etc, all these factors can have an influence on a person, including their accent.

A person doesn't even have to travel to America for their accent to be influenced, I've known children that have that Texan drawl from watching stuff like Barney and Bear in the Big Blue House! It was honestly freaky at first, but now I'm used to it.

Notavirus.exe

I have a question not really related to this exact topic but does Fox News (or something else) have a female Canadian reporter? She pronounces "out" and "about" really weirdly, it sounds like "oot" and "aboot". Is this Canadian or what?

HmmmIFeelNice

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

I have a question not really related to this exact topic but does Fox News (or something else) have a female Canadian reporter? She pronounces "out" and "about" really weirdly, it sounds like "oot" and "aboot". Is this Canadian or what?

I don't watch enough of fox news to know. She must be new

HmmmIFeelNice

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

I have a question not really related to this exact topic but does Fox News (or something else) have a female Canadian reporter? She pronounces "out" and "about" really weirdly, it sounds like "oot" and "aboot". Is this Canadian or what?

I don't watch enough of fox news to know. She must be new

I hate the way Canadians say those words. It sounds so non-fitting with the otherwise Amican accent.

Pink Lemons

My little cousin pronounces a lot of words in a posh English accent, he's 3 and never been there. Peppa Pig has a lot to answer for.

Notavirus.exe

HmmmIFeelNice wrote: »

I don't watch enough of fox news to know. She must be new

I don't watch it either but there was some news channel I was watching about a year ago and she was there.

I just looked it up and I have confirmed my suspicions that this is a Canadian accent. I've never known what a Canadian accent was like until now.

Omackeral

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

I have a question not really related to this exact topic but does Fox News (or something else) have a female Canadian reporter? She pronounces "out" and "about" really weirdly, it sounds like "oot" and "aboot". Is this Canadian or what?

Eh?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

HmmmIFeelNice wrote: »

I don't watch enough of fox news to know. She must be new

Is she ranting and raving about liberals a lot? If so, then no - she isn't.

kylith

Yeah, I often get people asking if I'm American and I can only think that I picked up the accent from the telly when I was a kid.

Some people might think it's pathetic but I think a bit of an accent is preferable to the killing myself or developing depression because of isolation that I would have done otherwise.

My 'natural' accent comes out a lot more when I visit my parents, and I find that most people moderate their accent unless they're talking to their family.

Paramite Pie

My accent changes rapidly within days, I've had a Belfast accent, a Belgian (speaking English) accent, a Yorkshire accent, A Chicago accent and a Fingal accent. I've also passed as a fluent French speaker in Paris, and was commended on my Korean pronunciation.

I'm from Galway and it's a struggle to keep my accent to be honest but it changes less now that I'm older (28) compared to my early 20s. I've often travelled alone and made friends on the ground so I was more likely to pick the accent I guess.

Living with US cousins for a summer obliterated my Irish accent but I doubt I ever sounded local to them -- people commented on my accent all the time (was I canadian, european etc). When I went to Boston with Irish friends I never lost my accent at all (i was still 21 and lost my accent when i went back had two Belfast roomates back in (Southern!) Ireland. Until I went on the phone to me mam -- then Id have a thicker accent for a few hours.

I subconsciously mimick other peoples accents and intonation when I speak to them -- something I only gained control of when I was teaching English and learned about accents more.

Notavirus.exe

kylith wrote: »

Yeah, I often get people asking if I'm American and I can only think that I picked up the accent from the telly when I was a kid.

Some people might think it's pathetic but I think a bit of an accent is preferable to the killing myself or developing depression because of isolation that I would have done otherwise.

My 'natural' accent comes out a lot more when I visit my parents, and I find that most people moderate their accent unless they're talking to their family.

Are you or your parents English? That's a personal question but I find that English accents can sound a lot like an American one.

kylith

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

Are you or your parents English? That's a personal question but I find that English accents can sound a lot like an American one.

Nope. The last ancestor who couldn't be called Irish, afaik, came over with the Norman conquest.

Hundred's of hours of ST:TNG is all I can think of.

donegaLroad

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

I have a question not really related to this exact topic but does Fox News (or something else) have a female Canadian reporter? She pronounces "out" and "about" really weirdly, it sounds like "oot" and "aboot". Is this Canadian or what?

yes, it is typical of central and eastern Canada. I think it has to do with who was in charge of teaching English 120 years ago. Very large Scottish influence in Canada. Another common quirk they have in Canada is to end a sentence with 'eh'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8haHgfq2x4

Notavirus.exe

donegaLroad wrote: »

Another common quirk they have in Canada is to end a sentence with 'eh'

I think that's a stereotype, or at least an over exaggerated one.

For Forks Sake

Pink Lemons wrote: »

My little cousin pronounces a lot of words in a posh English accent, he's 3 and never been there. Peppa Pig has a lot to answer for.

My sister teaches in a primary school in a very rural area in the west of ireland and has told me about kids starting infants with either Peppa Pigs cut-glass accent or west coast american accent from watching too much tv.

Medusa22

I think a person's accent can be influenced by TV or the media, but I find that it tends to be more obvious in people in their early twenties or younger, who live in cities in Ireland.

I have been asked in the past if I'm American or if I've spent time in America, but then again I'd tell someone that and they'd reply to me ''but you have a bogger accent!!'' so I have no idea. I'm from Cork but I spent a few years in Dublin and I live with my German OH and I think my accent is easily influenced by other accents and I never had a strong Cork accent to begin with so I think I sound a little bit odd now.

The worst thing is that sometimes my OH phrases things a little bit strangely, like ''in summer'' or ''I am having a cold'' instead of ''during the summer'' and ''I have a cold'', just not how an Irish person would, and I start saying it and people are probably wondering what's wrong with me

Dirty Dingus McGee

kylith wrote: »

Yeah, I often get people asking if I'm American and I can only think that I picked up the accent from the telly when I was a kid.

Some people might think it's pathetic but I think a bit of an accent is preferable to the killing myself or developing depression because of isolation that I would have done otherwise.

My 'natural' accent comes out a lot more when I visit my parents, and I find that most people moderate their accent unless they're talking to their family.

How the hell would you'r accent cause you to be depressed and isolated?

Notavirus.exe

I don't think TV influences your accent but I think that it could influence how you pronounce certain words if you watch it a lot.

jimgoose

I tell you this - I'm 43 years old, and I still say "Ay" and "Zee" instead of "Ah" and "Zed" because of Sesame Street!

Paramite Pie

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

That said, you need to be listenig to a hell of a lot of it to pick up the accent unintentionally.

I think what happens is people pick up American slang first, usually in that accent if the terms aren't used here. They streamline their pronunciation, speaking more slowly. It's a real hybrid.

What bothers me more are the many Radio Djs adopting pseudo American accents -- our young people are listening to this as well as US tv/movies.

kylith

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

How the hell would you'r accent cause you to be depressed and isolated?

It's the other way round. I didn't have a lot of friends as a kid so I watched a lot of TV and thus picked up the accent.

wakka12

Its very influenced by media. Kids around my area watch so much american and british television when theyre really young, and they look up to these characters because they make them laugh. So a lot of children and teenagers around south dublin have a lot of american and british twang.
Also for children with foreign parents I think they usually have a mixed accent. My eastern european friends have weird accents, they obviously hear their parents strong eastern accents and are influenced by it so they sound like them. but they also take after their irish peers at school . So they sound eastern to us but when these irish kids with eastern parents are abroad people just think they sound irish.

emigrate2012

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

I have a question not really related to this exact topic but does Fox News (or something else) have a female Canadian reporter? She pronounces "out" and "about" really weirdly, it sounds like "oot" and "aboot". Is this Canadian or what?

Butter, water, thirty three. Dublin, Cork, kerry. Doesn't matter, the Irish have a particular way with words.
You only drop your accent if you are ashamed of it. Or a tool. Complete tool.

Spanish Eyes

That American twang that SCD teens and twenties have is the absolute pits.

I was visiting the sis in law recently and hadn't seen her son in ages, he was at college in GMIT. Jayzus I thought I was in New York.

What I found hilarious was that he didn't think it was mad. I said it to him... what the F are you talking like a Yank for after spending 8 months in Castlebar?

I reckon it started before he left home and kept it up. I cannot stop laughing when I hear him talking. WTF

Herb Powell

Pink Lemons wrote: »

My little cousin pronounces a lot of words in a posh English accent, he's 3 and never been there. Peppa Pig has a lot to answer for.

Peppa Pig is truly a danger to society (SFW) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5ac_1413238697

Tasden

I often get asked by irish people if my accent is an english one. People from other countries would say i have a dublin accent though. Recently a Polish man asked where i was from because he said i look russian but speak like I'm from england so he couldn't tell.

My daughter goes to a different school to her friends who live beside us and i can definitely notice the difference in accents even though they all play together on the same road. She doesn't have much of an accent at all whereas a couple of the kids have thick dublin accents.

Frigating

I have a strong English accent despite living in Ireland my entire life. I tell people my parents are English (they are, I'm a filthy Black&Tan) and they accept it, but while my parents have Cockney and Essex accents, mine can sound quite posh, what my dad calls a 1920s BBC radio presenter accent, only occasionally slipping into Cockney. I don't even know where this came from, since the majority of my childhood television was American. I think I subconsciously avoided the American accent, and accidentally slipped too far into the other extreme.

I also want to say that I couldn't mimic an Irish accent if my life depended on it.

emigrate2012

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

I think that's a stereotype, or at least an over exaggerated one.

Go to Canada, it's really not tbh. Trust me(not a doctor)

Ruu

Unfortunately, my nieces and nephews are Dinsey Channel watchers so a touch of the American accent creeping in. Yes to Peppa Pig as someone else mentioned.

Spanish Eyes

Frigating wrote: »

I have a strong English accent despite living in Ireland my entire life. I tell people my parents are English (they are, I'm a filthy Black&Tan) and they accept it, but while my parents have Cockney and Essex accents, mine can sound quite posh, what my dad calls a 1920s BBC radio presenter accent, only occasionally slipping into Cockney. I don't even know where this came from, since the majority of my childhood television was American. I think I subconsciously avoided the American accent, and accidentally slipped too far into the other extreme.

I also want to say that I couldn't mimic an Irish accent if my life depended on it.

Yes you could, just talk like a yank and you're a winner!

Reiver

I didnt have multichannel growing up but my mate did. i remember in school and scouts everyone was asking him why did he sound American. He used to go mental.

My parents are from Limerick and Tipp and I was raised in Kerry. My accent is a bit all over the place now, I'm not sure what its meant to be like. Working in Poland doesnt help (I nearly died last christmas when the lads were asking me why I was saying stuf funny). I thought I spoke very clear till I went to college and people told me to slow down and speak normal. Even now bac in kerry I'd sound fair posh.

Now I'm back after a summer in Kerry and my colleagues are struggling to understand me and students tell me I talk too fast.

I think its a subconscious thing that humans do, they sorta mimic someones accent a little when theyre talking to them, some crap about empathy I guess.

Going to have to live down in Kilgarvan or Ballinaskelligs for a while to get it back.

Notavirus.exe

This video may prove to be very eductional:
(Then again it may not)
Note: Try not to stare at that "bulge" in his pants.

kylith

Reiver wrote: »

I think its a subconscious thing that humans do, they sorta mimic someones accent a little when theyre talking to them, some crap about empathy I guess.

I've read that it's about fitting in; if you live amongst a group of people you will subconsciously mimic them in order to seem less of an outsider so that they accept you into their group.

Vomit

And I was like... and she was like, and then I was like..ohmygod!

Joe prim

Vomit wrote: »

And I was like... and she was like, and then I was like..ohmygod!

Don't go there!

StonyIron

Quite a few people in Ireland (and not just Dublin) seem to have swallowed an entire box set of the OC.