Accents ?

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Indeed. Not only that, but you might actually be quizzed on where you're from in Scotland or Ireland - more embarrassment. Like I say, within 10 or 20 miles of me the accents change considerably.

Trying to mimic someone's accent is usually seen as offensive.



Indeed. I'll tell the OP a story now.

In the Britain of the 1970s there was a serial murderer of women on the loose throughout the North of England. He was known as the "Yorkshire Ripper". He killed 13 different women and attacked another seven. Anyway, during the hunt for this killer a man sent a tape in claiming to be the killer and taunting the police. This chap had a Wearside accent (Wearside is in the North East of England) and was known as "Wearside Jack". Anyway, the hunt for this hoaxer majorly disrupted the investigation for the real killer as precious resources were focused on the attributes of this hoaxer rather than those of the real killer. Anyway, the real killer was eventually found and locked up for a very long time.

Anyway, the investigation was still ongoing for the hoaxer and he was eventually traced, arrested and imprisoned. What helped in him eventually being caught was that his accent, and thus his voice, was that distinctive that it was traced to a particular housing estate in Newcastle. There were a lot of other things that contributed to his arrest but his accent was one of the factors in narrowing down the investigation.

Last edited by Tequila on 07 Aug 2012, 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

LOL I've been wanting to ask about this for a while as I'm wondering if this is an Aspie trait but never got round to it (plucked up the courage ) but when I saw this thread I decided to bite the bullet and sign up. Glad I did now

I think I know what you mean. You realise you're doing it so you try and go back to your "normal" voice/accent but you just end up with people looking at you LOL


I copy my wife's accent also. I'm originally from Lancashire but moved to Merseyside nearly 20 years ago. My wife is from Wirral but, as we live in Merseyside, when I copy her accent it isn't much of an issue. I notice you said you used to be fascinated with the scouse accent? Whereabouts are you from if you don't mind me asking?

Nice to meet a fellow New Zealander. Have you ever been overseas? It's crazy, just about every single person outside New Zealand has an accent.

A person who speaks in a monotone would still have an accent. An accent isn't just the tone or emphasis, but the pronunciation of the letters, especially vowels. You can't simply not pronounce them, you'll pronounce them one way or another (I'm pretty sure you do so differently than I, a New Yorker, would - even if we both speak in a monotone). Anyway, didn't you just say you speak with an accent in the OP? I'm confused.

I have a tendency to pick up other people's accents. I try to fight it because I don't want them to think I'm mocking them, but it happens automatically.

Here in Finland, Aspies often talk in the written standard (formal speech) for some reason. I have been reminded of this a few times.

I've always been able to do a good West London-ish accent. I could have picked up the skill from all the British TV and movies I watch, or all the British people I watch on the Internet. It turns out that I do a horrible Irish accent, but a good Scottish one.

I do feel much more comfortable speaking without my actual voice and in my West London accent instead. Some of my thoughts are even in that accent...

Hi Squark and welcome to WrongPlanet!

That should have been the FIRST thing I said! People here ARE nice (for the most part). OTOH, with so many members, it is nearly inevitable that some will disagree with you. Being mean isn't allowed here though, and if anyone is mean to someone else (i.e. personal attacks or hate speech) the moderators can and probably will kick them from the site. I can see from the definitions you posted that by those definitions it might be possible for someone to think it is possible to speak "without an accent", but that is impossible. EVERYBODY has an accent, monotone or not.

As some have said, you might possibly be made fun of for speaking in a "fake" accent, but if it is fun for you and as long as you are aware of that possibility, there's nothing "wrong" about it. Nice to meet you and I hope to see you around

Indeed - disagreements are just part of life. You can either ignore people or get into a debate with them. It's all part of life's rich tapestry.

I kinda don't think people are disagreeing to be mean in this thread. But I could be wrong. After all, I'm an aspie too.

Were not beating up on you.
Were all laughing because of the cute funny things you say.

Question

Do you speak a foriegn language?

Answer
You probably only speak your native english, so from your point of view you "dont speak a foreign language" ( unless you're in french class).

However if you traveled to Iran the locals would not understand you.
And they would immeadiately know that you were a foriegner.
This is because-from THEIR point of view- you would be speaking in a "foreign language".

Likewise you grew up with your own regional subdivision of English.

From your own pov the way you speak is just "talking regular".
But if you traveled to anywhere in Britain you would be immeadiately recognizable as an American because you would be speaking in an american dialect or accent.

So from the pov of a brit or a southern USA person (not sure what region you live in)or to an aussie YOU would have "an accent". Just like to you -THEY would have accents.

Get it?
So... you HAVE an accent. you're just not aware of it as such.

The fact that you speak in an aspie monotone doesnt have much to do with it. Its still a monotone version of some local american dialect.

So what you mean is that "when I PUT ON an accent other than my own I find it easier to speak to people".

Which is an interesting phenom actually. Many shy people loose their shyness when they put on an act. Some shy folks even go on to become great actors (like Henry Fonda).


FYI - I took a showbiz dialect class once. The hollywood generic versions of an Irish dialect and that of the Scottish dialect are actually quite different.

Among the differences is that the scots speak in low monotone. The Irish in contrast sound like an Irish jig- energic and up and down the musical scale- quite melodic. Or atleast thats the american showbiz stereotype-but based on some reality.


It gets complicated (but fascinating), there are remote parts of scotland were they do sound the Irish, but the point is that as a rule of thumb the Scottish accent, and the Irish accent are quite different.

But keep your interest. You might get good at using dialects to entertain.

First of all I want to say Thank you to all of the people that commented nicely even to those who disagreed with me THAT is okay I can deal with it.
I can now look at this from a different perspective id est. if I was talking to an American or an Englishmen or even a Canadian (eh) they would consider that I have an accent because how I speak is different to them so therefore it appears as though I have an accent BUT as an Australian speaking to Australians I am not recognized as having an Australian accent even by Australians.
SO next week I should tell my speech therapist who has had years of experience and not to mention a university degree that she is wrong ??? I will let you all know how that goes ! lol
I never said I did for fun or to make a mockery of the Irish and Scottish I do it because it makes it easier for me to talk to people as I suffer mutism in social situations, in my small country town the people here understand and are not rude enough to say anything.


@alecazam3567: I know what you mean I tend to mutter to myself and think in various accents it just makes day to day life more interesting !



@Tequila: Based on my Original post I believe that....delightful little story to be Reductio ad Absurdum. I am sorry but I do believe that you have entirely missed the point of what I was saying.

I love doing accents, have since I was a kid. It's somehow enjoyable, fun.... I mostly like to do various English accents and I throw in some Scottish, I'm pretty good at that. And it's all imitation, I would expect someone who likes to do accents to have them down perfect or know their specific regions, etc....although I do like hearing specific accents that are proper to certain regions, and then try to do them. In those instances, there is a respect factor. I genuinely interested in the accent.

But other times, I try to make myself laugh or spice up some monologue I'm having, or just repeating words...... I might do a caricature of an accent so it's gonna sound a little off on purpose.

But I guess if someone from another country or part of the country tried to do a "California" accent and was a jerk about it, I might be taken aback.

I love imitating Mike Meyers doing a Scottish accent.

I do a bunch of accents and silly voices for fun. I don't necessarily find it easier to speak to people in a foreign accent, though, but sometimes, the only way I can verbalize something is to use overly formal language.

No, you were not.

Speaking clearly is enough of an issue for me that I try not to monkey around with it too much. My voice tends to have a "slursh" to it, not unlike that of a drunkard. (I do not drink.)

I have a beautiful accent.