If a boy at the age of 12 or 13 was taken to England and he stayed there until he was in his late twenties early thirties, is it likely he would've developed an english accent? Or would he have to have been younger? I know vocabulary would've changed, but would his ACTUAL VOICE??? I'm not sure about this, I've never talked to anyone who moved from America to another country.
changes in a person's accent.
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I know from having gone to college in the more southern part of the US that in four years I definitely picked up a more relaxed way of speaking (in addition to some expressions I can't lose - you-all). And, I also know that people who move as adults from one section of the US to another do have changes in accent. But there are some things that seem to always stick. Puma
I moved to Scotland when I was ten. By the time I left, 11 years later, I had a broad Scottish accent. The Scots could still tell that it wasn't completely Scottish - I still had a little of my original accent left. I've lived in many places since then, and I have the oddest accent, so I continued to pick up bits of accent from wherever I lived. My relatives in Britain think my accent is American, but Americans still ask where I'm from.
Also, it's not just accent, but lingo (as Puma pointed out). I still say y'all - picked up from my time in the south.
Also, it's not just accent, but lingo (as Puma pointed out). I still say y'all - picked up from my time in the south.
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Richard Chamberlain, American born moved to England as an adult, picked up a slight British Accent.
Mel Gibson, American Born - moved to Australia as a child, definite Oz accent in his early films, dropped in his later films as he moved back to America.
Good friend of mine, young lady born in Scotland, moved to America as a young teen, LOST COMPLTELY the Scotts accent, moved back to England, now has an Oxford tilt to her lilt.
So yeah, It's possible, perhaps even 'likely' that a young person would acquire an accent after moving to a different area.
As an adult, I had to learn to drop my Texas accent when I worked in Major Market radio.
Mel Gibson, American Born - moved to Australia as a child, definite Oz accent in his early films, dropped in his later films as he moved back to America.
Good friend of mine, young lady born in Scotland, moved to America as a young teen, LOST COMPLTELY the Scotts accent, moved back to England, now has an Oxford tilt to her lilt.
So yeah, It's possible, perhaps even 'likely' that a young person would acquire an accent after moving to a different area.
As an adult, I had to learn to drop my Texas accent when I worked in Major Market radio.
It depends. Really. My friend moved from England to San Diego in second grade. By the time we were in high school, her mom still had a really thick British accent, my friend had a slight British accent, and her (older) sister and dad had almost no accent at all.
I had a friend that moved from Michigan to Texas for college...by the time he came back 4 years later, I could barely understand him. He picked up a very thick southern accent. I'm sure where ever you go, whether it's another part of the country, or another country, you'll tend to pick up the local accent.
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I've moved a lot. No matter where I live I get, "YOu're not from here are you?" Another observation...When I speak to realtives in NM I pick up their accent, then I call my friend in NC and pick up a southern lilt then I call my pal in Indiana and talk like her. I don't notice or do it on purpose but people around me comment.
If you're asking whether the boy/man's accent would sound absolutely English to the natives, probably not. There would probably be some sounds that gave away his roots. However, it is possible.
If you're asking whether his accent would sound English to people in the U.S., definitely.
And if you're asking whether the accent would 'stick' once he returned to the States, as some people have already said, it would probably tone down over time, but certain phrases and words would remain English-sounding.
If you're asking whether his accent would sound English to people in the U.S., definitely.
And if you're asking whether the accent would 'stick' once he returned to the States, as some people have already said, it would probably tone down over time, but certain phrases and words would remain English-sounding.
Yes entirely possible, but it depends on who he mixed with. He would tend to pick up accent fro mhis peer group.
My wife's younger sister moved to London from the West of Ireland age 17 and entirely lost her accent in about 3 years. She sounds English to my ear.
From personal observation, I've concluded the magic age is 11. What accent you have at this age will determine the accent you have for life.
I've found, also, that the kind of accent you have will also determine its ability to be "lost". Aussie accents, for example, get swallowed up pretty quickly. New Zealand accents, I've found, not so much.
All personal observation, I repeat. I have no qualifications in this area.
I've found, also, that the kind of accent you have will also determine its ability to be "lost". Aussie accents, for example, get swallowed up pretty quickly. New Zealand accents, I've found, not so much.
All personal observation, I repeat. I have no qualifications in this area.
A lot depends on whether the person wants to pick up the accent. But assuming he wants to pick up the accent, to an English person, he'll always sound American, and to an American he'll sound English.
And you really don't have to pick up an accent if you don't want to. My mother, for instance, was born in London (UK obviously) and was sent to the West Country (which, to clarify for Americans, is Wiltshire rather than Wyoming) when the war broke out when she was 9. She was bound and determined NOT to pick up the ooh aarrr Wiltshire accent, and so never did. Speaks rather like the Queen.
My sister, on the other hand, was 9 when we moved to Canada. She lost her accent quite quickly, probably because one teacher made her stand on her chair and repeat a word over and over again until she said it like a Canadian instead of English. Happily, that type of bullying would no longer be tolerated. At least I hope not.
And you really don't have to pick up an accent if you don't want to. My mother, for instance, was born in London (UK obviously) and was sent to the West Country (which, to clarify for Americans, is Wiltshire rather than Wyoming) when the war broke out when she was 9. She was bound and determined NOT to pick up the ooh aarrr Wiltshire accent, and so never did. Speaks rather like the Queen.
My sister, on the other hand, was 9 when we moved to Canada. She lost her accent quite quickly, probably because one teacher made her stand on her chair and repeat a word over and over again until she said it like a Canadian instead of English. Happily, that type of bullying would no longer be tolerated. At least I hope not.
It depends on the person. I had a friend from NJ who lived in SC, Oregon, Czecoslovicia and elswhere and never lost that thick NJ accent. My parents were from NYC and I have an east coast lilt to my accent even though I was born and raised in Iowa.
Henry Kissinger came to the USA as a teen and never lost his accent. My husband's father came from Poland to the USA as a teen and spoke like a local.
Henry Kissinger came to the USA as a teen and never lost his accent. My husband's father came from Poland to the USA as a teen and spoke like a local.
A large part of it depends on the individual. Some people soak up accents like sponges while others never shake the accent of their youth.
I have an aunt who lived in Hungary until she was 7 and then moved to Argentina. She moved to the US in her teens and even now in her sixties, she still has a Hungarian accent. Not Spanish, which was the true language of her youth, but Hungarian! Alternatively, I knew a guy who lived in Iran until he was 12, in the UK until he was 21, and then moved to the US via Mexico. At 28 he had only a faint echo of Brit and Farsi in his voice and sounded more American than my Hungarian aunt!
One thing I've noticed though, is that people who are good at shedding their accents are usually also good with languages in general and/or at acting. This is something a writer might want to find some way of incorporating into a story.
I have an aunt who lived in Hungary until she was 7 and then moved to Argentina. She moved to the US in her teens and even now in her sixties, she still has a Hungarian accent. Not Spanish, which was the true language of her youth, but Hungarian! Alternatively, I knew a guy who lived in Iran until he was 12, in the UK until he was 21, and then moved to the US via Mexico. At 28 he had only a faint echo of Brit and Farsi in his voice and sounded more American than my Hungarian aunt!
One thing I've noticed though, is that people who are good at shedding their accents are usually also good with languages in general and/or at acting. This is something a writer might want to find some way of incorporating into a story.
I'd agree with that. I spent years living in London, being gently mocked for my Lancashire "u" sound ("Go on - say 'Uxbridge' again." In the end I had to say it as 'Axbridge' to sound like the others).
Now I've lived away from Manchester for so long that my accent is very faint, but it does come out when I'm listening to other Mancunians for any length of time.
On the other hand my sister went on a one week course from work once, and came back speaking like a Liverpudlian because all the other girls on the course were from Liverpool.
Now I've lived away from Manchester for so long that my accent is very faint, but it does come out when I'm listening to other Mancunians for any length of time.
On the other hand my sister went on a one week course from work once, and came back speaking like a Liverpudlian because all the other girls on the course were from Liverpool.
He will pick up some to all of the accent, particularly for words he learns there.
Some people pick up accents more than others, but spending 15 years in a country without picking up any of its accent would be hard to do.
ADDING:
I worked with a Mexican man who grew up in Brooklyn ... and he never lost his accent.
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Here's an additional fun fact: it's a well known sociolinguistic phenomenon that people who've acquired different accents later in life tend to revert to their original/childhood accents in circumstances of stress. And you can often elicit the phenomenon by asking a person to tell a story like "tell me about a time you thought you were going to die" where they will get involved in the emotion of the telling.
Similarly, sometimes it's enough to just talk to someone with the original accent. Only an expert can tell that I grew up in New York City, but if I'm on the phone with my sister, bits and pieces of the accent crop up that you don't usually hear.
Similarly, sometimes it's enough to just talk to someone with the original accent. Only an expert can tell that I grew up in New York City, but if I'm on the phone with my sister, bits and pieces of the accent crop up that you don't usually hear.
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Yes, and his brother totally lost the accent, even though he was very close in age to Henry. I heard him on the radio once, and I was astonished.
I think individuals vary widely.
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The magic age does tend to be around 11-12 years, accounting for individual variations. It has been demonstrated that the only advantage of early instruction in a second language is a better accent.
People with a good musical ear tend to change accents more quickly than those who do not.
Making a conscious effort to maintain an accent does make a difference. How homogeneous the environment is also makes a difference. I am normally something of an accent sponge, but when I go to Pennsylvania, where I spend most of my time at a college with students from all over the States, I never lose my Canadian accent, because I'm getting different input from each person I talk to.
I once had a Canadian professor who was just back from 4 years at the London School of Economics. He talked like a Brit, but told us we would have the amusement of listening to him gradually lose his accent and revert to Canadian over the year. That's precisely what happened, too.
People with a good musical ear tend to change accents more quickly than those who do not.
Making a conscious effort to maintain an accent does make a difference. How homogeneous the environment is also makes a difference. I am normally something of an accent sponge, but when I go to Pennsylvania, where I spend most of my time at a college with students from all over the States, I never lose my Canadian accent, because I'm getting different input from each person I talk to.
I once had a Canadian professor who was just back from 4 years at the London School of Economics. He talked like a Brit, but told us we would have the amusement of listening to him gradually lose his accent and revert to Canadian over the year. That's precisely what happened, too.
OK, I might be an outlier here, because I moved around a lot.
But.
I moved to Scotland when I was 16, lived there 2 years. Then I moved to California. By the time I moved, I'm fairly sure you'd have to have been Aberdonian to tell I wasn't.
So anyway, I moved to California at 18. I have been here 12.5 years. Most people have not been able to tell, in the last... 6-8 years? that I'm not from around here. Except very rarely when I say something they don't expect. Or giggle when they say pants. And that is with me trying not to pick up the California accent; I kept the Scottish for a good three years after moving.
But then, I'd spoken English with a mostly BBC-English accent, before moving to Aberdeen, except around my family where I spoke Indian standard English mostly. So I was already bi-dialectal.
At any rate, it's entirely possible for accents to change that much. But the place where you'll really get tripped up even if you change accents is word choice/sentence structure. Also sometimes intonation.
And, totally agree with Judg about intent and about the range of accents one hears. If I'm talking to someone with an English or Scottish accent I start picking it back up again slightly. Which is... bad because it sort of sounds like I'm trying to take the mickey.
But.
I moved to Scotland when I was 16, lived there 2 years. Then I moved to California. By the time I moved, I'm fairly sure you'd have to have been Aberdonian to tell I wasn't.
So anyway, I moved to California at 18. I have been here 12.5 years. Most people have not been able to tell, in the last... 6-8 years? that I'm not from around here. Except very rarely when I say something they don't expect. Or giggle when they say pants. And that is with me trying not to pick up the California accent; I kept the Scottish for a good three years after moving.
But then, I'd spoken English with a mostly BBC-English accent, before moving to Aberdeen, except around my family where I spoke Indian standard English mostly. So I was already bi-dialectal.
At any rate, it's entirely possible for accents to change that much. But the place where you'll really get tripped up even if you change accents is word choice/sentence structure. Also sometimes intonation.
And, totally agree with Judg about intent and about the range of accents one hears. If I'm talking to someone with an English or Scottish accent I start picking it back up again slightly. Which is... bad because it sort of sounds like I'm trying to take the mickey.
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Wombat is dead on regarding the 'accent stress'. Despite being trained in "Broadcast English" while working in radio, get me pissed and I'll sound like a south texas redneck when I'm hollerin'.
Jes' sayin.
Jes' sayin.
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I sound like a super-nerd when I get ticked off. I think that's because I read so much as a child that my default setting is bookish.
The disadvantage of that is having your children giggle when you yell at them. "But Mommy, you're so funny when you're angry!"
*sigh*
The disadvantage of that is having your children giggle when you yell at them. "But Mommy, you're so funny when you're angry!"
*sigh*
We tend to mimic what we hear. I was in Scotland for a week and by the 3rd day I was saying 'aye' instead of yes and I wasn't doing it consciously. Though my mother has been living in Yankee land 2-3 words still have a southern feel to them and any other person from the south picks up on them asap.
And I have found this to be seldom if ever true.
I think it might be true for monolinguals and less so for people who'd been dealing with multiple languages since childhood.
I note that for children it will also depend on how much they are mocked for it. Part of the chameleon accent I have comes from people laughing at me (and worse) if I didn't speak like they did. I learned to. And I would guess that in some parts of the world that's stopping by ages 10-12. In others, not so much.
That's really interesting!
I think also different accents have different... qualities... that are more or less sticky. Here's one from Indian-standard English. You put stress on the first syllable of 2-syllable or 3-syllable words. So most Indians, even those who are otherwise American-sounding, will talk about their friend Denise and Nathaniel, or talk about doing their MS in Computerscience, with a specialty in AI.
Not stereotyping professions here so much as repeating things I've actually heard, so don't jump on me
And this suggests that I'm definitely an outlier. Because I don't even really know what counts as "my childhood accent", and this doesn't happen to me.
Och, you're a clever wee lass. Actually I dunno if you're a lass.
My parents are pretty funny in this regard. They have lived in Scotland for some years now, and they still sound very Indian, except that they're saying things like "Nae bother, let us wait a wee while." (try imagining that with a very Indian accent).
When I was 12, my sister (age 11) and I were sent to (Northern) Germany for four months to visit family. (We also spent 3 weeks in Southern Germany to visit family there.) I also spent five months there when I was about 20 and she has spent maybe 2 months total there during her adult life.
We're now both in our 40's and still retain some German accent. I don't hear it myself but whenever I meet someone, they usually ask me where I'm from. Americans think I'm German but Germans know I'm American.
Oddly enough, my sister and I picked up different accents. Mine's Northern and hers is Southern. (Again, I don't hear it myself but Germans have told us that.)
We're now both in our 40's and still retain some German accent. I don't hear it myself but whenever I meet someone, they usually ask me where I'm from. Americans think I'm German but Germans know I'm American.
Oddly enough, my sister and I picked up different accents. Mine's Northern and hers is Southern. (Again, I don't hear it myself but Germans have told us that.)