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What does your accent say about who you are?

Ok, so i'm Nigerian (lived there for 15yrs) and i live in Scotland(3 yrs) but i have a very strange accent which is completely not Nigerian, i've been told i sound like a posh English or at times, American and i've been asked if i take elocution lesson. I have never lived in England or America, i've developed my accent from tv and other people whose accents i like. Iknow now that the only reason why i tried to speak like other people was to fit in and not have people go "eh?" "pardon?" "sorry?" every time i spoke, but i didn't even notice i was changing my accent.

When i meet my aunts some of them tell me that i dropped my Nigerian accent really quickly which makes me feel like a traitor/fake. My accent doesn't match where i'm from/live it just feels like i've lost my identity? does your accent really even matter in defining who you are?

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Reply 1

Antifazian

I don't think your accent necessarily defines you at all, but if you're worried about the loss of your Nigerian accent you could always make an effort to re-adopt it?

I was born in Scotland but have a Southern accent, despite never really having lived in the South, because I moved around a lot as a child. Doesn't matter at all, your accent is still representative of who you are in some way because it's been developed as a result of who you've heard/interacted with.

Reply 2

Manitude

My accent has something of an identity crisis. People can tell I'm northern, but nobody can tell where abouts because it's so general. I sound nothing like the people I grew up with, and I have my parents to blame for that. My father deliberately obscures his accent so people can't tell where he's from, which I have unfortunately "inherited".

Reply 3

destined1

Mine's been described as a posh cockney accent. Wasn't even sure that was possible.

Reply 4

stac4321

You're accent is inherently a part of who you are, but it doesn't make you any less Nigerian to speak with a non-Nigerian accent, and speaking with an American accent, despite having no connection with it doesn't really make you American. If you like, an accent is more of a symptom than an cause. You can tell a lot from it, but in no way does it actually define who you are.

I'm from the South, and I'm always getting told of from my friends up North (where I live now) for speaking live a chav just because of little things like saying 'thirst' like 'first' and 'thirteen' like 'firtean'. None of that really matters, but there are certain associations with particular accents and dialects, thankfully pretty much everyone on the plant knows these assumptions are bull**** and don't think twice about accents.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

Megzx13

Im apparently 'country'

Reply 6

fuzznbass

Mine's either Scottish or Geordie or a mix of them apparently, but i'm not from either places :biggrin:

Reply 7

llacerta

I hate my accent. Due to having a profoundly deaf mother, I grew up knowing that she could only understand me if I enunciated, and so I come across as having a 'posh' accent even though my family certainly aren't upper class or anything. It also means that whenever I say something really colloquial, anything like slang terms, I can't pull it off whatsoever.

But, to be fair, it does say a bit about who I am- just not in the way that most people would expect.

Like a poster above said, just because it doesn't necessarily sound like where you're from, doesn't mean that it isn't a part of who you are.

Reply 8

farrow000

I am suppose to have a posh Cambridge accent but instead I have a voice like Danny Dyer without the slang :frown:

Reply 9

Cll_ws

i can't imagine anybody would be able to pin-point my accent if i were to ask, as i wouldn't say it's got a very strong hint of any common or well-known accent. although when i'm trying to describe to a person where exactly the place i'm from is in England, as Birmingham is the closest major city the best i can usually do is "it's about an hour west of Birmingham" - at which point i often get comments along the lines of "oh yeah, i can hear that in your accent" - something i've never quite understood. like most, i know a brummie accent when i hear one, and i certainly don't have one :lol:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 10

username919394

I don't think I have an accent at all, although sometimes people say I sound a bit 'Suffolk' :tongue:

Reply 11

Sakura-Chan

Apparently I have a very "muddled" accent.

I used to have a strong Yorkshire accent due to where I was brought up, but after living in Newcastle just over two years now, I have (apparently) picked up the Geordie accent a lot too. I can't really hear it myself in normal situations though, it's only when I'm somewhere where everyone else's accents are completely different that I realise how I sound.

People often have a hard time guessing where I'm from. I don't mind though :nah:

Picking up a new accent and/or losing your own shouldn't make you feel like a traitor at all! You can't help it.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12

Pixiefairy

I don't think it does at all :smile:

I live in North Yorkshire, so mine is very northern, :smile:

That im from Devon

Well i'm from Chicago so i mean it mostly different than what you guys are used to, but i find it very interesting learning about accents, most people in the world doesn't know about the different english accents the UK has, everyone in America thinks it's just an "English accent" if you're from the UK but there is a lot of differences in it.

Reply 15

Jack93o

that I'm a londoner :biggrin:

Reply 16

MKZebra

I was quite happy because all my friends used to tell me that I hardly have a Yorkshire accent at all, but now I've moved down south, people mock me for it all the time.

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