Mimicking Other People's Tone Of Voice

Post Reply New Topic

Sometimes when someone says something, I'll mimic their tone of voice. It's embarrassing and I don't purposely do it. It's not like mimicking accents; just their tone of voice, like if they raise the end of a word to a higher pitch I'll do that also.

Does anyone else unintentionally mimic other people's vocal intonation?

yeah, it's easy to fall into. i don't know if its limited to aspies. i think in any coversational exchange there is always a dominant party who tends to get copied over the course of a conversation. also, it may be an instinctive compensatory mechanism to facilitate communication by trying to sound like the other.

Some people might do it a bit more pronouncedly than others..I had more issues with it when I was younger..I used to say that I had **"Zelig" syndrome, because I would inadvertently mimic the tone of voice and (I am told) even the body posture of whoever I happened to be talking to.

I have particularly noticed myself really having a "problem" with it when speaking to people with foreign accents.

Years ago, there was this nice Scottish lady at my work who would sometimes eat lunch with me, and I had to force myself not to involuntarily speak like her. Forcing myself meant having to speak in the most robotic monotone possible and even cover my mouth when I spoke...as if I were physically forcing my mouth not to make the inflections...

When we have had Canadian bands play at our place, I have had more than one eyebrow raised as I blurted out Canadian inflections....

Also, when I speak to people who don't have the best command of the English language, my ability to speak English goes down the tubes for some reason.






**"Zelig" the Woody Allen mockumentary about the man who was a human Chameleon...

Yes, I do this. I also imitate mannerisms.

my dad is a salesman, and uses this tendency to his benefit, as he sorta "becomes" whoever he is speaking to.

My natural way of speaking is so "odd" that whenever people I don't know do it to me, I wonder if they are somehow making fun of me...most particularly when it seems that they only talk like me when they are talking to me..and then have a more natural mannerism around everyone else.

Though...my good ASish friend and I tend to "synch" up and have our own accent and dialect that we use with each other....sometimes....

Yes, I've mimicked other people's voices for years now something, that I've used to help me when dealing with different types of social settings and all..I'll admit that it probably looks to some people though, I try not to let it be seen as something strange to me that is..

I do this, and then I feel really horrified when I realize I'm stuck in a conversation and I can't stop mimicking someone, but I do it pretty badly, I think. I've outgrown some of it. But when I try to just be myself in any situation, it tends to just be too quiet or too talkative. I'm so rarely comfortable.

i can mimic many peoples voices easily.
i always report what someone said to report in the same voice that they used when they instructed me what to report.

eg: if "judy" (the general manager) says "mark i want you to tell them "don't worry about the christmas card run, just get the nielsen reports finished and out" ", then i will relay the message in my best imitation of her voice (which i can imitate well.)

i like to be accurate in my message transmission, but it makes some people laugh, and it makes "judy" feel as if she has been "lampooned" (in her words) .

i just reported exactly what i heard.

it is similar with everyone, and i just used "judy" (my boss) as an example.
erggh...... i am so tired and my power pack needs recharging... so good evening.

Oh god, I do this so much without thinking it's hilarious!

I have a serious problem when I talk to people with medium to strong accents. I always end up imitating them.

I also take on accents from films. I'll be talking with a slight British accent for days after seeing a British film. ^^

I wonder if that is why I can seem to speak
other languages as well as I am told I pronounce them?

I am influenceable, I remember when I was little
I would come home from grandmas and grandpas
speaking like they do, with a more British accent
and using their words "sweeper" or "hoover" for
the vacuum cleaner, "register" for a vent,
it would drive dad batzoid.

I used to do that alot back before my voice broke because i hated my high pitched voice now I just don't care much.
However I mimic peoples style without even noticing....

I do this a lot

I do this too. Never knew I was different from others untill I was the only foreign exchange student in the region that mastered the Kentucky accent. The English teachers assistant I had after about three months of being there never found out I wasn't a local till she read an essay about my trip

When I talk English here its mostly with other Dutch paople or people from other countries and I find it very annoying that my English gets as good or bad as the person I am speaking to (even though it obviously doesn;t matter to them ). I do the same in German, my accent pretty much depends on whoever I'm conversing with.

In my own language. I don't have this problem. The only thing I have to worry about is not talking too fast or too loud. Now those are two problems I don't seem to have while talking in a foreign language.