What would likely happen accent-wise if you set up a colony of a hundred odd people from distinctly different areas?
- Thread starter T & P
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SpookyFrank
Float like a caterpillar, sting like a tree
This sort of thing has happened in real life of course. It produces abominations like the Australian accent.
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
The British military is a mini experiment in mashing accents up.
Country wide Regional accents all put together at age 16-20 something. Peer and culture pressure/input/ wierd argot etc
No doubt some PhD’er somewhere has studied it
Country wide Regional accents all put together at age 16-20 something. Peer and culture pressure/input/ wierd argot etc
No doubt some PhD’er somewhere has studied it
Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
My oldest son is an interesting case, born in Whitechapel, mam with a Bedfordshire accent, dad with a Salford drawl, went to a nursery in Brick Lane. So, he started off a bit cockney sounding. Then he moved to Hastings where he played out on the Estate with all the Hastings kids and started school there. He had a sort of generic southern accent around this time. A few years later he moved to Milton Keynes, started junior school and played in the street there. MK is possibly an example of the idea in the OP, especially as it's a "new town" that was originally made up of people from all over. Anyway, to me, his accent started to become more undefinable, possibly a bit posh sounding (even though he always lived in social housing). He later on moved for several years to Manchester and Salford, and for some time lived with his gran there. Later he spent some time in Arizona and for the last few years has been living in Alberta. He's now picked up a bit of a North American twang. He still sounds fairly posh to me and when I get introduced to his friends, they often do a double-take at the accent difference. He's very good at mimicking accents, which is a proper skill.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
A few years ago I had to go to the States for work for a fortnight. To my horror I found myself asking for tom-ay-toes rather than tom-ar-toes for breakfast one morning in the hotel. And that was only after a fortnight!
I also met up with a couple of work colleagues who had been out there for a couple of years. One still sounded resolutely British, the other full-on American.
Conclusion:- anything is possible.
I also met up with a couple of work colleagues who had been out there for a couple of years. One still sounded resolutely British, the other full-on American.
Conclusion:- anything is possible.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
I've noticed the american military has its own particularly clipped version of US english
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
After living in Iberia for many years I've been told I speak English like a Spaniards. It was explained to me that, although I'm native English speaker, I use grammar in the way C2 level English speakers do. A very high level of proficiency but minor errors that do not impede or interfere with understanding or meaning. I think this would happen in the OP scenario. People would steadily develop into a comprehensible communicative language.
I imagine that over several generations a new language might appear. But I think the level of inbreeding might be a much greater problem than those posed by language development.
I imagine that over several generations a new language might appear. But I think the level of inbreeding might be a much greater problem than those posed by language development.
Poot
My wife thinks I work too hard
You have to take into account that some people feel loyal to their hometown and some are keener to fit in. Some are good mimics and some are suspicious of others. Some are more loyal to their class or generation and there may always be divides. I'm not convinced we'd ever end up sounding the same.
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
Glaswegian accents ime tend to be strong and don't go away, my uncle has lived in Germany since the early 70s, you can still tell he is a weegie, my accent apparently gets quite weegie if I've had a drink, I left Glasgow before I was 2.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
Which makes no sense whatsoever to my uninformed mind. Either one of the early Western settlers had such an accent and it somehow got to dominate the entire accent pool of subsequent generations, or it developed organically. Neither option seems particularly likely or logical, yet there we are
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
I guess partly due to my being hard of hearing when it comes to human dialogue, I retain a strong Spanish accent even after thirty years here. And at the same time, I am told I have developed a weird accent when I go back home and speak Spanish. My Rs are particularly changed, and I have even had Spanish people I didn’t know assume I was a foreigner who was living in Spain and complimented me on my excellent Spanish
SpookyFrank
Float like a caterpillar, sting like a tree
Which makes no sense whatsoever to my uninformed mind. Either one of the early Western settlers had such an accent and it somehow got to dominate the entire accent pool of subsequent generations, or it developed organically. Neither option seems particularly likely or logical, yet there we are
The missing piece of that puzzle is everyone being shtiface drunk.
Australian accent 'caused by drunken slur of early settlers'
Dean Frenkel is calling for compulsory rhetoric lessons in Australia's education curriculum
www.independent.co.uk
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
I have been complimented about my English. I once was told, in perfect English, "I'm sorry, I don't speak French," in reply to my asking a question using my then poor spanish.I guess partly due to my being hard of hearing when it comes to human dialogue, I retain a strong Spanish accent even after thirty years here. And at the same time, I am told I have developed a weird accent when I go back home and speak Spanish. My Rs are particularly changed, and I have even had Spanish people I didn’t know assume I was a foreigner who was living in Spain and complimented me on my excellent Spanish
PTK
Paul Kegan
The narrator states that he understands why there are different languages, but not different accents. I guess that all languages developed from an accent. I assume that all humans once spoke one language.
Just like all the worst playground bullies:
You can count on krtek a houby to be stood slightly behind Pickman's model (who himself encourages it) kicking people in the shins and flinging shit, cos he’s an antagonistic little no-mark bully.
You can count on krtek a houby to be stood slightly behind Pickman's model (who himself encourages it) kicking people in the shins and flinging shit, cos he’s an antagonistic little no-mark bully.
krtek a houby
Sail hatin'
You’ve been expecting me then, you toe-nail
krtek a houby
Sail hatin'
Oh, first guess was right.
Whatever, guessing you have some further baggage and beef to unload.
I see it less as beef on here and more a McDonald’s burger.
(You won’t need help with that one will you?)
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Toenail, no hyphen. There are sacks of putrid shit with a better grasp of the English language than you've got: not to mention more attractive personalities
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
While having my haircut the barber, Albanian, told me that Albanian as a language predates human thought, and that it is a language that doesn't originate on this earth. He then explained that the figure 8 represents an unborn fetus in the head down position. 0 is the figure of god, but with a line through it represents the division of Adam to create Eve. There was something about DNA, but I lost track. And 0 with a line through it represents the devil because of it splitting god, or something. I started to lose my will to continue with my haircut at this point. I have to find a new barber now.
krtek a houby
Sail hatin'
A hair raising tale.
InArduisFouette
Active Member
or you get the so-called 'RAF accent' a mixing of accents with it;s own localised and somewhat Jargonistic slang - it's less noticeable in the Army as the regiments of the line whether Infantry or Cavalry have teneded ot have a traditional 'local' recruiting area even if they have spent much of the ltter 20th and into the 21st Century with their 'Depot' elsewhere in the UK or in Germany
I grew up in a heavily RAF area but by parents were Civilians and not employed by the RAF or the MoD , i am sometimes accused of having an RAF accent but people from where my family come from and those who worked in the Yorkshire pits will often spot my familial orgins by subtle clues from word use ( big tell tale is that i call small bread rolls 'cobs' ) , but i;ve subsequently found i do tend to absorb accents somewhat - i still say Newcastle properly ( as in how a Geordie would say it) despite having only spent a year and a bit on Tyneside 25 or so years ago
I grew up in a heavily RAF area but by parents were Civilians and not employed by the RAF or the MoD , i am sometimes accused of having an RAF accent but people from where my family come from and those who worked in the Yorkshire pits will often spot my familial orgins by subtle clues from word use ( big tell tale is that i call small bread rolls 'cobs' ) , but i;ve subsequently found i do tend to absorb accents somewhat - i still say Newcastle properly ( as in how a Geordie would say it) despite having only spent a year and a bit on Tyneside 25 or so years ago
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PR1Berske
Alligator in chains by the park gates.
I used to have some of these facts at my fingertips. Albanian was difficult to classify because of its geographic location, surrounded by Slavic languages without being Slavic itself.
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