I recently came across an article about Megan Markle’s “new found” British accent, and the uproar it’s caused, which inspired me to write about my own experience with losing my accent.
After 10 years of living abroad, there’s hardly a trace of an English accent left in the way I speak. So much so, that foreigners who meet me often compliment me on how good my English is, believing that I’m actually from somewhere in Eastern Europe!
And when I do correct them, I’m almost always met with utter shock, disbelief and demands to know what happened to my accent.
In the beginning, I thought it was amusing, nonchalantly shrugging the whole thing off with a quick “I guess I’ve just lost it,” before turning the conversation back onto them.
To me, it seemed completely normal, that anyone spending a significant amount of time outside of their home country would eventually develop a slight “twang” or dilution of their original accent.
In fact, it was only after visiting England for the first time in 3 years last winter, that I suddenly started feeling real shame and embarrassment due to my family’s comments. My brother in particular was extremely incredulous in response to my “fucking weird accent”; a factor that seemed to subconsciously affect the way he interacted with me.
Therefore, for the first couple of days that I was there, I became obsessed with my pronunciation, making huge amounts of effort to close my vowels and force my “t”s.
WaTer, not WaEr.
Of course, this only served to make me stand out more, receiving even more ridicule from my family for sounding like a pompous idiot.
“You know you’re not posh Vic… Right?”
Ugh.
My effort was so forced and unnatural, that honestly, it just made me feel like a fraud, leading to stronger feelings of isolation and rejection.
So, I gave up trying.
Interestingly enough, by the end of my trip, my accent had naturally become a strange blend of Foreign and Estuary English, which of course then totally disappeared as soon as I returned to Paris.
What causes a person’s accent to change?
This experience really got me thinking a lot about accents in general and why some people seemingly absorb so easily the accent of those around them yet others don’t. I also felt compelled by guilt to explain to my family what was going on with me. I mean, contrary to their belief, I most certainly didn’t change my accent on purpose, nor do I feel ashamed to be English!
In fact, I was convinced that there must be deeper, more subconscious elements at work and after some intense digging around on the internet, I managed to find some interesting information.
An impulse to adapt to your surroundings.
According to Dr. Damien Hall, a lot of the reasoning for accent change has to do with our natural human desire to mimic those around us. You may have noticed, to a small extent within your own social circles, that over time, you unwittingly adopt similar expressions and tones of voice as each other. I know I have, especially in romantic relationships - so much so, that my Mum has often joked about the fact I would become a mini version of any guy I dated!
Yet, interestingly, according to research, this has nothing to with feeling insecure or not being true to ourselves. Rather, there is a deep subconscious desire within all of us to adapt to our surroundings.
Indeed, during my time as an English Teacher in Portugal, I seemingly out of nowhere developed a slight American pronunciation to my words. If the research is to be believed, I could perhaps attribute this to the influence of my student’s (and my Portuguese friend’s) Americanised accents (which were the products of them having watched American TV shows all their lives) and my strong desire to be understood and fit-in.
When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense, given our in-built need for acceptance and drive to form close bonds with those around us.
However, it still doesn’t explain why not everyone loses their accent.
Social Class
With further research, I discovered that social class can also have a large influence on accent. Some studies have in fact shown that ever since the industrial revolution and subsequent increased social mobility, anyone considered Middle Class in England is more likely to experience accent change. This is because they typically move around a lot for work, travel and study, thereby interacting with and being influenced by a variety of different people.
This is in stark contrast to those considered Working Class who generally have the strongest and unchanging regional accents because they usually choose to stay and work in the areas they were born in. This means, that because they are constantly surrounded by people who sound like them, there is no outside impulse to change the way they speak.
And with regards to the Upper Class, their accent also typically remains unchanged because it is socially constructed rather than regional, leaving them unaffected wherever they choose to go.
The idea of social class and its influence on accent is indeed interesting, however I don’t think it has enough of an impact on its own, certainly in my case anyway.
Social Identity
Perhaps then, the most influential factor on accent change is that of social identity. Apparently, those who strongly identify with their nationality and cultural belief systems etc, are less likely to lose their accent.
In fact, a study was conducted in 2008 in Scotland that found that those who self-identified the strongest with Scotland and wanting to be independent from the UK were most likely to have a strong, unwavering Scottish accent. In comparison, those who didn’t really care had what is considered to be a more “neutral” accent.
For me personally, I believe this has been the biggest factor in my loss of accent. Sadly, I just don’t feel that strong of a connection to England. That’s not to say I don’t like my country, but I'm definitely not a mad patriot. In fact, I could care less about Royal Weddings or World Cup Football - a concept which to many of my foreign friends is utterly baffling!
I remember only last month, after the marriage of Prince Harry and Megan, that a non-English acquaintance of mine actually hugged and congratulated me! Now, perhaps that’s a cultural thing that is quite normal where she is from, but for someone as unpatriotic as me, I thought it was completely ridiculous, especially given the fact that it had literally nothing to do with me!
3rd Culture Kid
There’s probably a plethora of reasons why I’m not a strong patriot, however, I hazard a guess that it’s got a lot to do with being a "Third Culture Kid” (TCK). Indeed, research shows that children who grow up in a foreign country are less likely to form deep bonds with their native country.
Add into the mix exposure to a different accent over an extended period of time before puberty (as was the case with me), then you are even more likely to experience fluidity in your native accent, often resulting in what's known colloquially as an "international accent".
So what’s the conclusion?
Unfortunately, I don't think there's a simple and easy answer to why someone ends up losing their accent. It certainly seems, just from my basic research, that there are many contributing factors at play, and what may influence one person may not have the same effect on someone else.
Take my brother for example, who despite sharing the exact same upbringing as me is the most "English" man (and proud of it) you could ever meet!
Indeed, I could speculate all day, everyday and never come to a definitive conclusion.
My research has at least however, helped eased my soul in the fact that I'm not the only one (despite never actually meeting anyone in real life in the same situation) who's accent fluctuates like the wind.
Does the fact that I’ve lost my English accent somehow makes me less of an English person?
Having said that, the fact that I no longer sound "English" nor have a strong connection to England does at times still make me feel deeply sad, especially when I encounter people who reinforce that feeling. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's why I've recently experienced relapses in my levels of anxiety and depression.
Yet, in defence of others, at the end of the day, I believe we're all just trying to understand the world around us, and a part of that involves labelling the people we encounter, even within our own close knit social networks. We are, after all, biologically driven from a young age to seek "belonging", which in part is greatly influenced by our social or group identity.
And without a doubt, media plays a huge role in identity formation, especially in recent times with the furore surrounding cultural appropriation. Whether we realise it or not, we are lead to believe (and feel guilty) that identifying with a different culture, beliefs or nation other than our own is an abomination.
I mean, Megan Markle, an American celebrity, speaking with a posh British accent?! Who does she think she is??
Sigh.
My perspective now
My trip home really affected me on many levels, but most poignantly, for the first time in my life, I came away with the feeling that because of my accent, I was in some way less “English”.
Yet, whereas initially that left me feeling depressed, I’m now doing my best to think about from a more positive perspective.
I mean, if it weren’t for the influence of others, I doubt I’d even have cared that much about the way the words sound when they come out of my mouth! Nor would I feel guilty about not giving a damn whether England qualifies for the final of the World Cup.
If anything, it’s just serves as another reminder to myself to stop worrying so much about what people think of me. I have literally wasted so much of my life letting other’s opinions or definitions of me influence the way I think about myself and the way I act.
In fact, when left to my own devices, I actually think it’s kinda cool that my accent is so fluid and has, in a way, become an amalgamation of all the places, cultures and people I’ve spent extended periods with.
It’s like always having a little piece of them with me wherever I go.
It’s also put me in a unique position to be able to sound more native when I speak not only the language the country I’m living in but also the language of my foreign friends and fiancé.
At the end of the day, it’s not really that big of deal whether or not I ever regain my “English" accent.
In my opinion, an accent doesn’t define you.
Like I said before, it’s mainly others who have more of a problem with it and I just think there’s far more important things to worry about and focus on in life.
What’s your opinion on the matter? Have you lost your native accent, and if so, how do you feel about it?
If you liked this post, you might also be interested in my other articles:
Accepting Failure And Moving On
This Image Obsessed World Is Ridiculous
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