Native accents The accent depends on where they learned it, and who they learned it from. This is how we get Australian accents, Texan accents, and Glaswegian accents and the myriad of other native accents. You may not be able to hear your own accent but others (particularly those not from your area) certainly can.
We can't hear our own accents, or even the way our voices sound to others, because we can only hear ourselves speak within the resonance chamber called our skulls. You can only hear your voice as it really is by recording it and listening to it.
Accents are deviations from proper pronunciations that's easier to detect for the listener than it is to correct for the speaker, so people who speak foreign languages with a strong accent aren't usually aware of their accents to the extent of indigenous speakers.
Linguistic researchers like us suggest the answer is complicated - no one becomes truly "accentless," but accents can and do change over time. To us, what's more interesting is why so many people believe they can lose their accent - and why there are such differing opinions about why this may be a good or bad thing.
The problem may not be just your pronunciation or fluency of the English language. The listener could be having a harder time processing your accented speech. Someone who has not heard a wide variety of accents, for example, will have a harder time understanding different accents than someone who has had that exposure.
ADHD affects executive functioning, attention, and impulse control . This may make it more difficult for people to process sensory input, including sounds. It may be difficult or impossible for a person with ADHD to interpret sounds or distinguish one sound from another, particularly in distracting environments.
Unlike perfect pitch, accents are not influenced by a person's genetics. Generally speaking, the way we pronounce words can be molded by regular interaction with people in our environment.
Research has shown that accents become permanent around the age of 12 years old. That being said, it is possible for accents to change over time or for adults to develop a subtle accent after living in a foreign country for an extended period of time.
Apparently, it is harder to fully pronounce certain words in a non-native accent, for instance, while singing. In singing, some syllables and vowels naturally get stressed to go with the cadence, rhythm, and melody of the music. As a result, some singers tend to naturally drop the accent without even realizing it.
Vowel sounds get stretched, and the precise articulation of the consonants is lost. The result is a neutral baseline accent that sounds vaguely American. Most of the British artists who keep a noticeable accent have a more spoken, less melodic delivery. Think of Ian Dury (above), or the UK grime scene.
Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is speech disorder that causes a sudden change to speech so that a native speaker is perceived to speak with a “foreign” accent. FAS is most often caused by damage to the brain caused by a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
Does your accent change when you move? The answer to this question is complicated. Yes, even your accent can and often does change when you move location or start spending a lot of time in a new environment.
Sometimes wrong pronunciations and fake accents can confuse your listener. It's not authentic: Using a fake accent means that you are not being true to yourself. You are trying to mimic someone else's speech pattern, which can come across as insincere or even deceitful.
When recorded, you might hear your voice sound shallower than you're used to. This is because the recordings are not affected by the internal resonance and bone conduction that affects how your voice sounds. However, the way your voice sounds on recordings is the way people perceive it in real life.
Listen, Listen, Listen!
Listen as much and as regularly as possible! Instead of always focusing on grammar and vocabulary, dedicate some time to the phonetic aspects of the language. Listen to short audio tracks — podcasts, for example — and focus on rhythm, breaks and intonation.
A person with foreign accent syndrome may speak with an accent of someone from a different country or region. With this condition, a person who is a native language speaker may also begin sounding like someone who speaks the language as a second or third language.
That's partially because of the way we round off certain words when we sing, and partially because the world is so used to hearing American accents in pop songs, it requires more effort and concentration to sing in a different accent. Even if that "different accent" is your default speaking voice.
Accents develop and change over time as people tend to live and communicate in specific and delineated communities. Accent is the social marker that signals either affiliation with a group or distance from a group.
My rule of thumb, based on the observation of many foreign-born people living in Australia, is that someone who comes to the country in or before the early primary school years will have a natural Australian accent; if they come after that but before the middle high-school years, they will sound Australian with some ...
Linguistic researchers like us suggest the answer is complicated — no one becomes truly “accentless,” but accents can and do change over time. To us, what's more interesting is why so many people believe they can lose their accent – and why there are such differing opinions about why this may be a good or bad thing.
While accents may fade over time, getting rid of an accent completely won't happen naturally. Changing an accent is possible, and this process can be helped and accelerated by time with a speech therapist. With daily practice and the proper guidance and support, it is possible to significantly modify your accent.
“We adapt to other people's accent or lexical choice when we want to mirror them,” she says. In other words, children will take on the accent of wherever they live and go to school, if they move from their home country or to a new regional area.
Everyone has an accent, because an accent is simply how you sound when you speak. You might not think you have an accent, because you don't sound British or Australian. However, just think about how your speech must sound to people from those countries. No one is born with an accent.
Your surroundings play a big role
People who have grown up in multicultural societies where many languages form a part of their daily lives find it easier to recreate accents and mimic the way others speak.