Different Question About Accents

You'd probably pick up the accent that was closest to the place where you lived, I would have thought. The people who spoke that way would outnumber the parent who didn't!

I'm your gal. Texan born and bred. Dad is a native Texan. Mother is from Maine. Ayuh. I've got lots of family up there and spent summers there. But I sound almost completely Texan. But there are certain words that I pronounce differently. Occasionally it makes other Texans go

My parents both have very strong Southern accents, but when I was a small child, we lived in Boston. When I was younger, I had a full-on Kennedyesque Boston accent; now most people say I have no accent of any kind at all. So I think it varies.

If one of the parents has a clear lead in amount of time spent with the child, that would have influence on accent. I have a nephew whose parents both work outside the home and he was cared for by a German nanny since birth. He sounded as though he'd been flown fresh from the Rhineland. He was almost a teenager before the pronounced accent faded.

I think you'd find the mother's southern accent would soften. My husband's from the deep south but living in the north for years softened his accent considerably. It's still somewhat noticeable to northern folks but compared to his family he has very little accent left. The odd thing I've noticed is that his accent will deepen dramatically when he is on the phone with his family, then fade when he hangs up --this is just something I noticed, not anything he was aware of. I could simply tell who was on the phone by the twang in his voice.

I think it's possible your MC would pick up the odd regional colloquialism like "y'all" or "honey" or "shoot-fire!" as an expletive. But I don't think the MC would pick up the accent.

I grew up in Hong Kong, so I had a weird Chinese-tinted British accent. When I came to the US, everyone said I talked funny like one of those blokes from BBC. About 10 years ago my accent was all mixed up -- no one could tell where the heck I came from. Some people on the phone with me for the first time thought I was Puerto Rican. LOL. Now my accent is a bit more American but still all over the place. Definitely not Chinese. But what? I don't know.

Call my voicemail and listen to my outgoing message and tell me what it is...

sanremoave said:

I think you'd find the mother's southern accent would soften. My husband's from the deep south but living in the north for years softened his accent considerably. It's still somewhat noticeable to northern folks but compared to his family he has very little accent left. The odd thing I've noticed is that his accent will deepen dramatically when he is on the phone with his family, then fade when he hangs up --this is just something I noticed, not anything he was aware of. I could simply tell who was on the phone by the twang in his voice.

I think it's possible your MC would pick up the odd regional colloquialism like "y'all" or "honey" or "shoot-fire!" as an expletive. But I don't think the MC would pick up the accent.

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My husband tells me the same thing. I'm from Southeast Georgia originally, but my accent isn't as thick as that of my family and friends who still live down there. I'm around people from all over the country all the time and we lived in Alaska for several years, so my accent, he says, isn't thick at all ... except when I talk to friends on the phone or if I'm reminiscing about things from back home, like Grandma's cooking, or my UGA Bulldogs and such. Then it deepens.

My stepkids have a mom from Washington/Oregon, stepdads from all over the country, and my husband is Filipino, born in Manila and raised in Chicago since he was 12. He still has a vague accent while his mom, brother and sister (who only speak tagalog at home) have almost indecipherable accents. My stepkids, however, have no accents except for the 16 year old who has a very, very faint southern accent (spent most of his life in Tennessee but has lived in Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and New York).

I don't know what all that means, but I'm sure it's profound.

In my experience, children tend to pick up the accent of their primary caregiver, most often the mother but sometimes a sitter or nanny. They may also have traces of other speech patterns, from accent to word choices.

Of course, once they're enrolled in school, some child is sure to taunt them for sounding different. Nearly all kids cave to that and in a fairly short period, adopt the accent of the locals.

Maryn, who lives in a multi-ethnic community and saw this over and over

My mother still has her Mainiac accent, but my sis and I are pure Texan (and mom was the caregiver). We sounded like our friends. Kids really want to fit in.

My parents are both from California, but we lived in Rhode Island when I was 4 - 6 and I managed to pick up an East-Coast accent when I was there from everyone at school/neighbors, etc.

So, yeah, I think it varies, and the child would probably end up with somewhat of a mix.

A friend of mine has a British mother (extremely heavy accent) and an Indian father (also a heavy accent). My friend speaks totally American-like, although she pronounces potato and tomato with long a sounds and says adverts instead of commercials. But I think she just does it to be cute.

I think unless the kid is totally isolated he's going to pick up the accent of the surrounding world--the one that is more prevelant.

I saw a study some years back that indicated that children tend very strongly to develop the accent of their local peers, rather than those of their parents, if their parents have other-than-local accents.

caw