• Question: My family lives in Manchester. My husband has a distinctive southern (North London) accent. I assumed our children (now 6 and 8) who have always lived here, would pick up the local accent, but they've held on to a few key words of their Dad, e.g. 'bath' pronounced 'barth', 'grass' as 'grarse'! (Now they are becoming more socially aware they interchange the words more recently!). What determines accent choice?

    Asked by eerussell to Anna on 13 Apr 2015.
    • Photo: Anna Simmonds

      Anna Simmonds answered on 13 Apr 2015:


      Children will usually pick up a local accent, but it does depend on who they are around and listening to. If they spend all day with a someone with a different accent, they are likely to pick up that accent, rather than the local accent. This is more obvious in cases where families move abroad, or use nannies from abroad. But once the child starts socialising more with those with the local accent, they will likely change. Even Disney can cause accent changes, with speaking and singing in American accents a common side-effect of multiple viewings of Frozen!

      Where we are and who we’re talking to may affect our accent, for example we may speak differently when chatting to friends compared with talking in a job interview. We can use our accent as a way of identifying with others and as you’ve noticed, sometimes our social awareness leads us to adapt our accents in order to fit in with those around us. If people have lived for decades in a different part of the country and have adapted their accent over time, they can still find that when back in their original region, or when speaking to family members on the phone, they may revert back to their original accent, even if only for a few words. One too many drinks can also have the same effect.

Comments