Code switching
Discussion
While most of us find MP Lara Bird switching between English and Scottish accents according to the audience quite amusing. There does seem to be an argument that such 'code switching' is quite normal.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2385340331990269
Is this really a thing? I'd find someone adopting a different accent or trying to mimic mine when talking to me extremely condescending, if not a deliberate attempt to take the mick.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2385340331990269
Is this really a thing? I'd find someone adopting a different accent or trying to mimic mine when talking to me extremely condescending, if not a deliberate attempt to take the mick.
Austin Prefect said:
While most of us find MP Lara Bird switching between English and Scottish accents according to the audience quite amusing. There does seem to be an argument that such 'code switching' is quite normal.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2385340331990269
Is this really a thing? I'd find someone adopting a different accent or trying to mimic mine when talking to me extremely condescending, if not a deliberate attempt to take the mick.
My Father in Law who was born in Oxford to Scottish parents and has lived his entire life in England drops into a broad Scottish dialect whenever he talks to other Scots. Most noticeable when he phones elderly Scottish relatives on the phone.https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2385340331990269
Is this really a thing? I'd find someone adopting a different accent or trying to mimic mine when talking to me extremely condescending, if not a deliberate attempt to take the mick.
I have a fairly non-specific English accent having lived in the South West for 35 years, but do become noticeably more Northern when I travel back North...
Old friend of mine had full in Scottish parents who moved to south of England before he was born.
He had a British accent but if we ever went back to his house he all of a sudden started speaking with a Scottish accent dotted with English here and there to his parents.
It was quite odd to experience to be fair.
On a slight tangent, a friend of mine married a French girl and lived here and had a son.
The most fascinating part about that was she would speak to her little boy in French and he would answer in English.
He had a British accent but if we ever went back to his house he all of a sudden started speaking with a Scottish accent dotted with English here and there to his parents.
It was quite odd to experience to be fair.
On a slight tangent, a friend of mine married a French girl and lived here and had a son.
The most fascinating part about that was she would speak to her little boy in French and he would answer in English.
Austin Prefect said:
While most of us find MP Lara Bird switching between English and Scottish accents according to the audience quite amusing. There does seem to be an argument that such 'code switching' is quite normal.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2385340331990269
Is this really a thing? I'd find someone adopting a different accent or trying to mimic mine when talking to me extremely condescending, if not a deliberate attempt to take the mick.
Its can be quite normal if you've been exposed to both. Gillian Anderson switches from American to British because she spent a lot of her childhood in the UK.https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2385340331990269
Is this really a thing? I'd find someone adopting a different accent or trying to mimic mine when talking to me extremely condescending, if not a deliberate attempt to take the mick.
My Aunt is from the east end of London but has spent most of her life in a posh area of kent. She switches between both accents without thinking about it (depending on who shes speaking to).
If you have no connection to the accent you switch to then yes its very odd.
Edited by 98elise on Thursday 25th June 09:18
119 said:
Old friend of mine had full in Scottish parents who moved to south of England before he was born.
He had a British accent but if we ever went back to his house he all of a sudden started speaking with a Scottish accent dotted with English here and there to his parents.
It was quite odd to experience to be fair.
On a slight tangent, a friend of mine married a French girl and lived here and had a son.
The most fascinating part about that was she would speak to her little boy in French and he would answer in English.
I have a Swiss uncle (married my English Aunt) they often hold conversation in part English part German. Or drop in the odd word of the other language. Both are fluent in both languages, as is my cousin.He had a British accent but if we ever went back to his house he all of a sudden started speaking with a Scottish accent dotted with English here and there to his parents.
It was quite odd to experience to be fair.
On a slight tangent, a friend of mine married a French girl and lived here and had a son.
The most fascinating part about that was she would speak to her little boy in French and he would answer in English.
Austin Prefect said:
Is this really a thing? I'd find someone adopting a different accent or trying to mimic mine when talking to me extremely condescending, if not a deliberate attempt to take the mick.
Very much a thing and most do it for the convenience of others. A close friend is from south London and has a very distinct accent but when she's at work in Canary Wharf she uses a more mid-Atlantic accent so that her American colleagues understand her.I'd wager the majority of people code switch to some extent.
Friends of ours moved to France with their young son over 20 years ago. While there they had a daughter who has never lived in the UK or amongst Brits living in France. Both children are of course completely bilingual, but their daughter speaks English with a very strong Essex accent. Meeting her you would not believe that she is not from the UK.
I worked with someone who could turn their thick Glaswegian accent on and off on demand, normally you wouldn't even get a hint of anything Scottish except their name.
I've been told a few times that I don't have an accent at all but I suspect it's just code switching, I know I do it with other languages as I definitely drop into Bayerische vs regular German. Picking up Friulian over Italian was maybe a bit niche though.
I've been told a few times that I don't have an accent at all but I suspect it's just code switching, I know I do it with other languages as I definitely drop into Bayerische vs regular German. Picking up Friulian over Italian was maybe a bit niche though.
I do to some degree. I'm originally from Hull, which if you know the accent, sounds like you have learning difficulties due to the highly elongated vowel sounds and loss any aitch in a word.
Had the piss taken so much in my first year at Uni I quickly dropped the Hull accent in favour of a more standard English with a hint of Yorkshire.
Can still guuuuurrrr for a smuuuuuuurrrk in the pub kaaaaar paaaaark when I visit my mum though
.
Had the piss taken so much in my first year at Uni I quickly dropped the Hull accent in favour of a more standard English with a hint of Yorkshire.
Can still guuuuurrrr for a smuuuuuuurrrk in the pub kaaaaar paaaaark when I visit my mum though
. I do it all the time, it's part of my ADHD bulls
t, I mirror other peoples speech patterns, even facial expressions and body language all unconsciously. I do it less and less now I've been diagnosed and I'm slowly unpicking 40 years of unconsciously hiding it.
There are some good aspects of it, I find it really easy to morph the speech patterns and mannerisms of my normal speaking voice to make it easier for others to understand for whatever reason, like wide accent differences or even disabilities.
I know lots of people who've moved from different parts of the UK or other English Speaking Countries who, over years have picked up local accents, but will switch back when they're speaking to people from 'back home'. I think most people speak differently in work and when they're at home. I've got mates in the Trades who only speak in vulgarities in work, but speak sweetly around their families and lots of others who might polish up their working class accents in work. it's not dishonest, it's just good communication skills
t, I mirror other peoples speech patterns, even facial expressions and body language all unconsciously. I do it less and less now I've been diagnosed and I'm slowly unpicking 40 years of unconsciously hiding it. There are some good aspects of it, I find it really easy to morph the speech patterns and mannerisms of my normal speaking voice to make it easier for others to understand for whatever reason, like wide accent differences or even disabilities.
I know lots of people who've moved from different parts of the UK or other English Speaking Countries who, over years have picked up local accents, but will switch back when they're speaking to people from 'back home'. I think most people speak differently in work and when they're at home. I've got mates in the Trades who only speak in vulgarities in work, but speak sweetly around their families and lots of others who might polish up their working class accents in work. it's not dishonest, it's just good communication skills
119 said:
On a slight tangent, a friend of mine married a French girl and lived here and had a son.
The most fascinating part about that was she would speak to her little boy in French and he would answer in English.
I don't find that odd at all, as that was my experience growing up. My mother who was Francophone but more than fluent in English, spoke to me as a child in French. But as she was the only one speaking French and everyone else spoke English, I always answered in English. Then from the age of 7 I was sent off to boarding school where there was only English, so I never did become a natural French speaker, but I can understand it quite well.The most fascinating part about that was she would speak to her little boy in French and he would answer in English.
Annoyingly, I now work for a French company and spend a lot of time in France so it's a shame that I'm not fluent.
My accent is south east/London but my parents and some siblings had broad N Irish accents. I don’t use the Irish accent but will use the phrases and way of speaking when I’m in Irish company and at times at home and the longer I’m back in Ireland the worse/better it gets but still no accent.
Yep I do it. Foreign wife with foreign name and some of our friend group are foreign. When I'm speaking with English people I say her name the English way, when I'm with the foreigners even speaking English I say her name the correct way.
My language skills are A2 at best, so I do that thing where they speak in foreign and I reply in English 3 times out of 4.
My language skills are A2 at best, so I do that thing where they speak in foreign and I reply in English 3 times out of 4.
Linksmas said:
Yep I do it. Foreign wife with foreign name and some of our friend group are foreign. When I'm speaking with English people I say her name the English way, when I'm with the foreigners even speaking English I say her name the correct way.
Same here.On a related note my kids say my work "accent" is completely different to my "home" accent
I believe that its largely unintentional to most and depends on the company and audience at the time.
I grew up and still live in south Wales and as a result have a thick 'valleys' accent with all of the attached slang that comes with it. Innit butt and so on..
I work remotely with colleagues from all four corners of the UK and, according to my wife because I don't hear it, I drop into an almost accentless state when talking on teams call or the phone. Its still obvious that I'm welsh but more of a Micheal Sheen or Anthony Hopkins rather than Dilwyn Evans, the Clarksons Farm vet.
I only really expose my walking around accent at work when I become agitated or annoyed which has been quite humerous to others.
My wife finds it quite ammusing that I have a 'posh' phone voice despite my claims that I neither hear it or do it intentionally.
I used to work with a fellow from Kirkcaldy who could switch from a Gordon Ramsey style scottish tinged british accent to the thickest and most unintelligible scottish accent like the flick of switch.
I grew up and still live in south Wales and as a result have a thick 'valleys' accent with all of the attached slang that comes with it. Innit butt and so on..
I work remotely with colleagues from all four corners of the UK and, according to my wife because I don't hear it, I drop into an almost accentless state when talking on teams call or the phone. Its still obvious that I'm welsh but more of a Micheal Sheen or Anthony Hopkins rather than Dilwyn Evans, the Clarksons Farm vet.
I only really expose my walking around accent at work when I become agitated or annoyed which has been quite humerous to others.
My wife finds it quite ammusing that I have a 'posh' phone voice despite my claims that I neither hear it or do it intentionally.
I used to work with a fellow from Kirkcaldy who could switch from a Gordon Ramsey style scottish tinged british accent to the thickest and most unintelligible scottish accent like the flick of switch.
I think what is being discussed here is very close to what the psycho-analyst Carl Jung called The Persona. It is a kind of mask people put on mentally to ease their contacts with society. People can have a number of different Personas to suit different circumstances.
We all do it, but it is dangerous if it gets out of control, as it stops us achieving true psychological maturity.
We all do it, but it is dangerous if it gets out of control, as it stops us achieving true psychological maturity.
tangerine_sedge said:
I have a fairly non-specific English accent having lived in the South West for 35 years, but do become noticeably more Northern when I travel back North...
Same. My OH is amused by it, she says she can tell when I'm on the phone to family up North because my accent changes.untakenname said:
Happens a lot in London with kids inside the house speaking correctly but once they go outside with their peers without parental supervision they speak like a 'badman'/'rudeboy' or whatever the now current in word is.
We noticed that. The girl is quite open with us that she has an at-school voice and an at-home voice. We also noticed when the boy was early teens and talking to his mates online gaming that as well as the accent change he adopted a deeper voice 
I can mock, but then I do remember at primary school in Manchester being mocked for sounding "posh", and as a result also ending up with an at-school voice and an at-home voice.
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