Human beings are constantly imitating each other, copying everything from each other's facial expressions, mannerisms, even our postures. Researchers at The University of California, Riverside, found we also imitate speech patters and inflections. That is we have the capacity to imitate accents.
Though it can be embarrassing, this tendency is not inherently a bad thing. In fact, psychologists believe it signals high levels of empathy, and a 2013 study found that this kind of unconscious imitation actually tends to make conversational partners feel more positively about the speaker.
Linguists call this phenomenon “linguistic convergence,” and it's something you've likely done at some point, even if the shifts were so subtle you didn't notice.
According to a 2010 study by a research group at the University of California, Riverside, people subconsciously mimic other accents due to a phenomenon called "the chameleon effect". The chameleon effect describes our human instinct to “empathise and affiliate” with other people.
The other kind of accent is simply the way a group of people speak their native language. This is determined by where they live and what social groups they belong to. People who live in close contact grow to share a way of speaking, or accent, which will differ from the way other groups in other places speak.
Many adults with ADHD use coping strategies that help them hide their symptoms. This practice is known as ADHD masking and is especially common in women with ADHD. One type of ADHD masking — known as mirroring — involves intentionally or unintentionally mimicking the speech, movements, or behaviors of someone else.
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.
Dysprosody also known as pseudo-foreign dialect, is the rarest neurological speech disorder. It is characterized by alterations in intensity, in the timing of utterance segments, and in rhythm, cadency, and intonation of words.
It's called accommodation, and it is the practice of adapting one's speech – either consciously or unconsciously – depending on whom one is speaking with.
As social creatures, humans are good at blending in. If you spend enough time with them, it's almost inevitable. Studies have found that we subconsciously try to imitate speech patterns of strangers, especially if we spend time abroad, where everyone speaks with a strange accent and we are the odd one out.
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.
The chameleon effect is an unknowing mimic of other people's behaviors, and it's perfectly normal. If you live or interact with another person or people for long enough, you are bound to pick up some of their behaviors, mannerisms, facial expressions, and gestures.
Studies on accent mimics call it the “chameleon effect,” which explains wandering accents as a subconscious survival instinct, causing one to appear as less threatening to their given audience. In short, the more you try to relate to someone, the more you subconsciously mimic their ways.
Human beings are constantly imitating each other, copying everything from each other's facial expressions, mannerisms, even our postures. Researchers at The University of California, Riverside, found we also imitate speech patters and inflections. That is we have the capacity to imitate accents.
So a family that has moved from one part of the world to another may seem to have a family-specific accent, but that trait is a result of the family's shared environment—not their shared genetics.
People with apraxia know what words they want to say, but their brains have difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words and they may say something completely different, even nonsensical. For example, a person may try to say “kitchen”, but it may come out “bickem”.
Accents (regional, foreign, or nonnative) are not a communication disorder. Accents are a natural part of spoken language, and every person has an accent.
The primary symptom of foreign accent syndrome is speaking in an accent associated with a country where the person has never lived or a language they have never spoken. For example, a native English speaker who has never left the United States may begin speaking English with a Spanish accent.
If you are below the age of five, you can expect to develop a legitimate Australian accent fairly quickly. If, on the other hand, you're old enough to have typed this question all by yourself, you're almost certainly old enough that you will always retain some vestiges of your original accent.
Yes, even your accent can and often does change when you move location or start spending a lot of time in a new environment. This can also be true for people starting university or work for the first time, where they interact and are influenced by new circumstances and peer groups.
Accents aren't innate, so no one is born with an American accent. You learn accents originally from your family members. That accent can shift over time, for example if you learn a language formally from another speaker or if you move somewhere else.
Differences in the quality and fluency of speech are also often seen in people with ADHD. In some cases, this disorder has been detected and diagnosed as a result of these differences. As an individual with ADHD works to organize their thoughts when talking, using more filler words or repeating sounds/words is common.