asperger's and accents

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I can probably tell what part of Texas someone is from based on the way they talk. The stereotypical Southern nobility accent (like the ones in the old Civil War movies) is more synonymous with the eastern part of the state, in cities like Longview, Tyler, Nacogdoches, Lufkin, etc. It's called "Plantation Southern". Then there is the famous Texas twangy accent, synonymous with north Texas and the Hill Country (Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Waco, Wichita Falls, Abilene, etc.) The dividing line is along a line from Victoria, to Bryan-College Station, to Palestine, to Texarkana.

Some people in the area between Houston and Beaumont/Port Arthur have the Cajun accent.

West Texans (El Paso, Midland/Odessa, Lubbock, etc.) tend to not have accents.

Even among the Hispanic population, I can tell by their accents of they're from Mexico, Puerto Rico, South America, etc.

I've got a pretty strong Yorkshire accent which is normal for where I live, but something I noticed is that people who I think have got aspergers in real life don't really seem to have an accent and i've never worked out if it was Aspergers or just a coincidence.

I don't talk any differently to anyone else. I sound like a typical Essex girl - which I am.

For the people that feel they change their accents depending on with whom they talk:
Communication Accommodation Theory...click here
we learned about that in linguistics class.... you do it so that the person you talk to feels more comfortable. My mom will talk very southern when she talks to older people from the south. Hahah She is Northern.


Anyhow. My family moved to the south when I was 9. My siblings have adapted the accent around here and I remain with my odd accent. People here say that I enunciate and talk quickly versus shortening up the word. For example "What are you doing?" and "Whuh are ya doin'?"

It may have to do with an aspie's rigid view on grammar and pronunciation in speech...if that's your sort of thing....which it is mine.

For instance improper use of the subjunctive mood. (Really common in southern English)
People will say, "I wish I was there!! I really miss you today."
When in all actuality you should say, "I wish I were there! I really miss you today."
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

East Texans have their own accent. It's likea Texas accent meets Scarlett O'Hara. I lived in the Galveston/Houston area for over 20 years, and had East Texans explain to me the distinction of an East Texan accent. If they come from an area where Cajuns settled it will be influenced by the Cajun accent, but an actual French Cajun accent is quite distinct. Cajuns are a dwindling minority in East Texas, so a true cajun accent isn't common. An East Texan accent can vary when the speaker is black or Hispanic, reflecting Southern Afro-American and Chicano influence respectively.

I currently live in El Paso. People here have accents (technically, no one can not have ana accent). White West Texan have more of the stereotypical Texas "Wild West" accent. Sometimes it can be so strong you think the person is joking. Hispanic West Texans will have a varying mix of Chicano (Latino American) and Mexican accents, but there are other Latino accents that you'll hear here too. There's even differnt regional accents within Mexico. Because I am in El Paso, I hear a lot of Chichuahua accents, so when I hear an accent from another part of mexico, it really stands out.

I'm originally from Southern California. That's my accent, with some Aspie-ism thrown in, like words that start with vowels which I tend to pronounce a little oddly. My biggest problem is where to put the stress in a multisylabic words. I have only picked up a few Texanism, like the drawn "r" but it's not consistant. I do it mostly when I'm being sacristic and what to sound more like a Texan. But considering I've lived in Texas for so long, I barely have picked up anything. When I was in Canada recently, people would ask me "How come you don't talk like a Texan?"

It's actually difficult from me to learn to speaking differently and it's been a challenge for me when learning other langauges. I can read French and German pretty well, but my pronunciation is pretty poor unless I listen to a native speaker right before I speak. I can usually mimick a native speaker on the spot, thanks to my eidetic memory, but I have trouble incorporating new sounds and speech patterns long-term. When I learn a new langauge, I have to practice a lot at pronunciation to learn it, and even then I can forget it easily.

THIS is hilarious... I am American and people always wonder what part of Austrailia I am from.

Yes. This has been a mystery my whole life why people ask me about my accent. Hmmmm....

When I could hear better I was great at dialects and I tended to pick up the dialect (accent) of people with whom I was in close contact.

Now I just sound like the boy from the Bronx that I was born as.

ruveyn

I think that my accent is pretty much standard American with some subtle regional features. A few people have told me I have a slight New York accent. I've been told that by someone from Minnesota, someone from California, someone from England, and someone from New Zealand. No one who's actually from near New York has told me that I have a New York accent. Some people have even said that I *don't* have a New York accent. I was born and raised in New York.
My dad was born in Massachusetts, spent a portion of his childhood in Connecticut, and attended college at Boston University. I attended college in Vermont for four years. Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if a little bit of New England slips into my speech every now and then. I suspect that my accent and manner of speaking varies depending on to whom I'm speaking, and this makes it difficult to pinpoint my exact accent.

Thats how the Dutch Africaneers talk.

The English decent South Africans speak in a vaguely british/new zealand/aussie sounding dialect not unlike your own.

both of your are interesting cases!

Ive heard of something called "foriegn dialect disorder"(something like that). Native born americans who get head injuries and suddenly start to speak in a "dailect" that happens to sound like say a Russian dialect or the speech of some other national group that the person has no ethnic connection wih.

I dunno. Maybe aspergers can be like one of these brain/head injuries.

yes, me too. i often get asked where im from too...

the shrink who dx'd me had never heard of this, but ive read of it several times before.
i pick up accents- and sometimes verbal nuances, even stutters(! !!)- sometimes wholly, sometimes partially. its immensly embaressing- i used to think it was because i was so desperate to be accepted by others- some type of mirroring behaviour- but i think its more to do with messed up cognative and auditory processing.
id also add that im interested in speech patterns, linguistics, accents etc generally-so perhaps have an added predisposition for this.

I thinks its not uncommon for people (NT or aspie or whatever) to spontaneously start speaking in the accent of someone theyre talking to. A teacher I had in highschool took a poll of the class to see howmany did that - and a number(including the teacher herself) raised their hands.
I did that as a kid but kinda out grew it in my mid teens.

When I was 14 our family was staying at a motel on a cross country trip. An attractive young lady my age who's family happened to be lodging at the same place went out of her way to talk to me at the swiming pool. She spoke in deep twangy texas dialect. When I replied the same dialect just spontaneouly popped out of my own mouth - I was shocked at myself, and I had to suppress it to speak my normal mid atlantic dialect. I suppressed it because I was afraid the girl would think I was mocking her. Nothing like that has ever happened since.

I grew up in the midwestern US and as a kid was always told that I had a 'Boston accent'. I worked hard to try to make my speech patterns more like everyone else around here and I think I've succeeded because I never hear this anymore. Some very different pronunciations like drawing out words that start with 'wh' more like they were spelled 'hw' which seemed to confuse and/or amuse people. I finally started pronouncing 'white' as though it was spelled 'wite'. Also some chopping of words and sort of running them together.

Ya, it changes and mixes itself up. It depends on what tone I'm speaking, how quickly, and how comfortable I am talking with whoever I'm talking.

Sounds like normal speech to me. Im from the washington dc area.

I've been thought of as being American, British and Australian.... although i'm not from an English-speaking country (Denmark)...

From since I was small I was brought up speaking a regional dialect of Danish called something to the tune of Southern Jutlandish (Sønderjysk) which is grammatically similar to English, but also spoken quite fluently and fast compared to other Danish dialects...

As I grew up and started learning English, it was mostly from TV, thus I got more or less of an American accent, but enough to be considered an American when I moved to Australia in '99 even though I have never been to the US . As time went on and I was exposed to Australian accents every day at school, my accent started to change into the standard Australian accent you hear everywhere down there

As for the British accent... well I dunno how I picked up that one, I guess from TV and teachers (had a British English teacher in 10th grade)... I usually speak with a British accent when joking...

Mostly though, I speak with a mix of American and Australian accents...