Hey, you've got an accent!
So do you - everyone does!
Oh you’ve got an accent!
How do you respond to that? It’s not a question, it’s a statement. A person’s observation of you. But they’re stating the obvious, aren’t they? Because everyone has an accent. Yes, even you.
“There is no such thing as an ugly accent, like there’s no such thing as an ugly flower.” - David Crystal
Definition
The definition of an accent is: a way of pronouncing the words of a language that shows which country, area or social class a person comes from; how well somebody pronounces a particular language1. So, how much choice does one have to which town, country, socioeconomic level and family we’re born into? 0%. The choice is not ours, even the choice to be born, so we get dealt with whatever accent is around us.
Accents each have their own distinct way of pronunciation, cadence and slang that are special to that region of the world. If you have someone from New York City, talking someone from Glasgow they might have ‘fun’ communicating.
An accent also acts as an indicator if someone speaks multiple languages2. My mother for instance still retains her Filippino accent but her communication in English is perfect. This isn’t always the case either. You might have people who grew up speaking language at home then at school, another.
Hearing or Listening?
When people ask me this I do wonder if they are hearing or listening to what I am saying. There is a difference3. You can hear a melody in the distance from a party. You might not know the lyrics, but you feel the beat and get a sense of what’s going on.
Listening on the other hand is active, purposeful and focused4. You first hear the song then you listen to it. Once you’ve listened to the words within the song, you might start to dance or cry because you’ve listened to the message or story. Hearing is going with the beat, listening is dancing to the words.
I feel that when a comment or question comes up on accents, it seems that other person is merely hearing the cadence, beat or different stress’ to words. I wonder if they are they listening to me?
“I used to say that whenever people heard my Southern accent, they always wanted to deduct 100 IQ points.” - Jeff Foxworthy
Perception
The accent of a person can also change the way they are perceived. If you see debates between people from the USA and the UK, a common intro or starter is the US debater highlighting the ‘smart sounding’ UK accent from their opponent56. I feel this takes away from whatever is being discussed, unless it’s accents, language and communication. You’re also putting down a particular accent by comparing how each speaker naturally speaks.
I’ve also seen a very bad perception of native English speakers talking down or increasing their volume to someone who’s first language is not English. Their perception of the non-English speaker is unintelligent but really, they’re talking too fast for the other person to comprehend.
I don’t think an accent should dictate how someone is perceived. Historical speakers like Ghandi, Nelson Mandella and Winston Churchill didn’t have the ‘standard American’ accent. Ghandi’s first language was Gujarati and Mandella’s was Xhosa. Churchill had a massive posh English accent but we weren’t hearing that, we were listening to their words.
Can accents change?
Oh yes accents can change. From my own experience, I’ve seen kids that I grew up with move to another place or country and their accent has flipped to be more like that area. The accents adapt or change to fit in with the new place they’re in7. Have gone to a new school and you’re one of the only American kids there - good lord the locals make fun of you! So, what do you do to stop this harassment? Change the way you talk, change your accent to fit in with the new setting.
I’ve had to change the words I used when I moved to the USA to better communicate here. They do not quite get it when I say things like Whipper Snipper (Weed Wacker), Wheelie bin (Trash Can) or Maccas (McDonalds).
This is done within other languages too. South America mostly speaks Spanish but they have their own regions and accents. Some Chilean friends and I were talking about music. All of them said that they can’t understand a word that the Puerto Rican’ singer Bad Bunny is saying in his music. Same language, different accents.
“People are very ready to criticize other people’s accents. There’s no correlation between accents and intelligence or accents and criminality, but people do make judgments.” - David Crystal
Oh you’ve got an accent whether you like it or not. It’s not really your choice what kind you have but good news you can change it. Or go into acting where you can practice different ones.
There are those out there who disagree with me. Some find it a good icebreaker8 to get to know people in a new place. Or if you hear a familiar accent, it can connect you to people from where you grew up or your country9. For connectivity hearing an accent is great. But, after 10 years of serving jobs, having that accent question asked on a near daily basis becomes stale. Hence this article
I would like to remind the dear reader that when you go out into the world, I expect you to encounter lots of different fun folks out there with many many accents. I just ask you to take note that while you are curious about other people’s accents, you have one too.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/accent_1
https://books.google.com/books?id=tB3zbSCY-zUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=bilingualism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjypOqKy5DbAhWlxVkKHXNfBG4Q6AEINTAC#v=onepage&q=bilingualism&f=false
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-a-state-of-mind/202107/the-difference-between-hearing-and-listening?msockid=188c6501ba0b6e8206d1706ebb676fae
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/zelixcst110v2/chapter/listening-vs-hearing/
https://www.sciencealert.com/how-and-why-some-people-lose-their-accents-or-pick-up-new-ones
https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/english-accent-in-america-pzrthjm0t?msockid=188c6501ba0b6e8206d1706ebb676fae
https://medium.com/@trixiadonne/the-filipino-diaspora-experience-holding-onto-our-roots-while-adapting-abroad-e5ba4556acd7