Do you have a regional accent?

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I have a midwest accent (from Indiana) but I find that if I watch enough BBC or Sherlock, that I will take on a different accent. I am kind of a chameleon and blend into my surroundings (which is what happens when I have been trying to fit into the wrong planet my whole life .... so I guess that makes me non-aspieish in this regard?

I should mention that when I speak English, I usually have a SoCal influenced American accent, but I actually prefer Received Pronunciation when it comes to aesthetic considerations... I just can't pull off a convincing British accent. When I try it, it invariably sounds fake or American-influenced. So I tend to just stick with my SoCal accent.

I think every american I have ever heard try to do an english accent has the same problem (whether they realise it or not).

Very interesting that this could be an AS characteristic!



My mother and her siblings were taught by their father that they should not speak with the regional accent, so as not to be thought of as lower-class.

So all my grandfather's children grew up with the neutral, generic non-accent, the same as (I think?) national newscasters and such people do, in the US. (Not saying there was such a thing as national newscasters back then....)

Although my mother never made a big deal out of how we pronounced anything, my siblings and I grew up without regional accents either. Although, some of us can & do slip in and out of it based on circumstances. Like for example, when my brother hangs out with his group of friends who all have a strong regional accent. But he can switch back and forth on an instant's notice.

So my natural accent is neutral but there's something else that happens to me. Although I try not to do this: it's very easy for me to pick up accents from other regions especially British, or Southeast United States accents - either because I'm staying in that area, or spending a lot of time with someone who has a strong accent from there.

When I catch myself doing it, I do the best I can to stop. Even though I don't do it on purpose (it just happens when it's going to happen, until I notice, and begin to actively resist it)... Nothing makes me feel like a poser as much as when I'm actually copying people, ugh. Always hoping to be the first to catch myself in dreaded "chameleon" action ~ before anyone else notices!!

lol, i dont know, i grew up on a Reserve and didnt develop a Mi'kmaq accent like my Aunts and some cousins, and i dont necessarily have a heavy canadian Accent sooo i dont know

I've been told I don't have a southern accent, but my dad was in the military so we moved a lot.

No but my siblings and I sound kinda awkward because we have slight Chinese accents, but heavily American sounding.

I developed my Southern accent to fit in. I got made fun of when I was child for speaking too formally. Now I live in the Midwest and people have a hard time understanding me. It is hard to not talk country now because I have been doing it so long. Maybe when you get older, your tendency to pick up accents decreases. I remember when I was a kid I would go on vacations for a week and come bhome speaking the accent of the people I visited. I can't do that anymore.

Tennessee, very very limited accent.

As in, no accent unless I'm the right breed of angry.

Just from Oz (Brisbane), mate.

I'm not sure if there's different accents Australian wide, other than people from overseas and the typical mixtures.

You sound Canadian in portions of it (at the end of some words). Other bits generic NA.

Say "about".

Australian accents can be differentiated based on geography as follows
East coast - have the broadest Australian accents (strine), the roughest is Qld and Sydney siders...
South Australia - have long extended vowels like an echo of somebody falling up and down on a bungy rope
West Australia - generally have less of a twang than east coasters but still have that annoying upper nasal ending at the end
New Zealanders - probably the closest to proper English (but when spoken fast is a pain to understand)
Cultivated - Spoken by the educated and those cultivated in the rarified atmosphere of private schools and inner city leafy suburbs...varies from decent English sounding to annoyingly pretentious

I've a soft Irish accent, not strongly associated with any one area. Cillian Murphy is the only person I can think of as a well known example, its different to Colin Farrells Dublin accent.

I've asked people on other websites what my accent sounds like and none of them thought I was Canadian. I didn't list my location on those websites.

I think you're talking about a General American accent, although some Canadians speak with it as well. It's an American accent with the least amount of obvious regional characteristics, which is why it's ideal for media professions, especially news broadcasting.

However, I just found a blog post which explores the notion that General American may actually be a spectrum of accents instead of an accent by itself:

http://dialectblog.com/2011/08/01/gener ... n-english/

That's pretty cool then.

I haven't noticed any difference between rural Brisbane compared to the suburbs closer to the coast, other than some talking a little slower in the former (I think that tends to be common in most rural areas).

Then again, everyone pretty much says, "what" to me when I go out. Which is something my mother also has pointed out. I think it's the lack of eye contact and stuff, in addition to mumbling.