Aspergers & Accents

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Interesting. Yeah, I'm American but Americans have always said they recognize me on the phone because of my "British" accent - before I even went to Britain! Now I live in England, and nobody can believe I am American, but they also say I don't sound English...

I guess I've invented my own accent?? I can't tell, though, because it sounds normal to me.

I have the posh Brit accent too...

I was born in a part of the UK with a very strong regional accent, shared by everyone I know...but I still learned to speak like the BBC home service.

Here in Ireland I make my accent soften up a bit (there is something socially provocative about a cut glass accent in Ireland I feel) and English people say I have a slight brogue...but if I am tired, or stressed, and not mimicking whoever I am talking to (I do THAT too, unconsciously) I am pure BBC with faint colonial overtones that have people wondering if I was ever "out in Africa"...

M

My husband does, he lived in Scotland most of his life and his mother and sister have strong Scottish accents (midlands Scottish, I believe, if anyone's familiar), but he has a very soft Scottish accent and his accent is much closer to RP (received pronunciation—classic hoity-toity "We are not amused" English English accent). He claims he taught himself to do this so he wouldn't sound like the yobs at school who were making his life miserable (presumably they had standard Scottish accents).

His accent has become a little Americanized now that he's in the US but it reverts to his "normal" accent when he's talking with his family (strangely, even when talking to his dad, who's Welsh and therefore has a Welsh, not Scottish, accent).

I heard him yell at someone the other day and his accent went straight to 100% Scottish just like his mother's and sister's, not his normal accent, so I wonder if that's significant. I think it's only the second or third time I've ever heard him actually yell, so I can't recall if it always changes when he does.

Ah no,

When I lose my temper I sound like an apoplectic Memsahib...

Just remembered a guy I used to live with who was a West Indian raised in North London since he was 7. He had the same "colonial Brit" accent as me (and if he was NT I am the flying Dutchman)

He taught himself as a kid, basically ALSO to "not sound like the yobs" at school in Tottenham...

Any time we had a row, we would have it three times...

One in "Posh", one in "Norf Landon" and one West Indian "Yardstyle"...

Of the three, I infinitely preferred the last...but I have lost it now cos I hadn't heard it in years till this summer...

M

A lot of ppl i come across say that i have a strong accent n at tyms i sound like a sports commentator which for me isn't a problem however when i come across british asians 4 some reason they take da piss outta of me cos my accent doesn't sound indian or pakistani.

I have no idea what you just wrote.

Just try to read it phonetically. Sound the words out in your head, then all you're dealing with is a couple of contractions you need to get past. So:

Any clearer? I'm assuming that howzat is of Indo-Pak descent, which is why they're surprised he has a more formal British accent.

Kids have always made fun of me and said I talked funny when I was little. Then kids thought I was from Australia because I was doing the country on it in the Culture Fair my school put on every year so I kept getting asked all day long if I am from there. I was 12 when it happened.
Lot of people think I am from the east because I always ask them where do I sound like I am from after they ask me where I'm from.

I'm from South Africa but to this day people still ask me where I'm from. I don't think its because I have an accent, but because I lack an accent.

SHOOT, I was going to explain it. But I imagine jread was just saying that howzat should speak clearer. HECK, howzat might even mean "How's that?"!

I'm like a sponge with accents; just expose me to them for a bit, and I inadvertently pick them up and start using them. I also love accents, and love having the ability to pick them up.

I once spent a week in Scotland, and then took a trip down to London; a shopkeeper in London asked me what part of Scotland I hailed from; I had to answer, "Florida."

Good fortune,

- Icarus says Tampa is just west of Edinburgh…

Bostonian accent?
As in from Boston Massachusetts?


I always thought the South African accent sounded slightly Dutch in origin with the way certain words are pronounced.
I used to mistake this accent for Northern European such as Swiss, Austrian, German, ect.
To make things worse I once mistook the accent of a Swiss woman for Canadian!

In any case, I am glad to see that I am not alone in this emphasis on verbal clarity.
Some people have said I speak in accordance with the Queens English. Obviously, those people have never heard me say “Glass” before. Ha-ha


I am a bit blind to pseudo-phonetic text myself.
It’s handy for SMS texts, but nevertheless I opted for a mobile phone with a built in QWERTY keyboard. This is because I tend to be highly self-conscious of the tone my written message may convey.
It’s probably the same issue with the development of my vocabulary and clarity of speech; i.e. Fear of misinterpretation.

I have been told numerous times that i dont sound oklahoman. I have lived here all my life and still have people ask me where i am from. My roomate in college thought i was irish the first part of the week we had met. That one i still dont get. I know i dont sound like the rest of my family, but i am not sure where i sound like i am from. I think all people sound like that in my own little world.

The SA accent could be influenced by any one of the official 11 languages, or more. Afrikaans (form of Dutch) is only one small minority of our rainbow nation. And no, mine isn't that. BBC english is probably the closest.

Yep, why?

When i was at school I was mocked for sounding posh, e.g. saying "arnt" and "gararj", instead of "ant" and "garij", for aunt and garage. But then I went to uni and met lots of real posh people and they thought I sounded common. I've never understood why someone would pronounce "cup" "cerp", instead of saying "u" as in umbrella. Although some would say ermbrella.

Recently I felt like I was becoming more mancunian in my speech (aahhhh instead of our) but the other day my Nana asked my Mum where I got my lovely accent! Apparently I don't have an accent to her, whereas my sister sounds like born and bred Salford.

Hmmm...very odd.