Child developing an "accent", sort of?
 

We're in the southern US, but not an area with a strong regional accent
(dialect, among some populations, yes, accent in standard American English,
no). Recently, my 4 yr old has started using a dipthong on vowels in some
words, which sounds, to my ears, like a Texas twang. Neither her father nor
I have this accent (I have some strange speech sounds due to my speech
impairment, but she hasn't picked up on those), and neither do her teachers
at school.

It's pretty obviously an affectation, because it comes and goes-it seems to
be something she puts in when talking to a person, but not when she's
playing by herself, putting in voices for toys, and so on. She also
sometimes forgets mid conversation and starts talking in what, a few days
ago, would have been her normal voice.

I don't think it's a problem-but it does seem rather unusual to me.

Anyone else's child do this?

Child developing an "accent", sort of?
 

Donna Metler wrote:
We're in the southern US, but not an area with a strong regional accent
(dialect, among some populations, yes, accent in standard American English,
no). Recently, my 4 yr old has started using a dipthong on vowels in some
words, which sounds, to my ears, like a Texas twang. Neither her father nor
I have this accent (I have some strange speech sounds due to my speech
impairment, but she hasn't picked up on those), and neither do her teachers
at school.

It's pretty obviously an affectation, because it comes and goes-it seems to
be something she puts in when talking to a person, but not when she's
playing by herself, putting in voices for toys, and so on. She also
sometimes forgets mid conversation and starts talking in what, a few days
ago, would have been her normal voice.

I don't think it's a problem-but it does seem rather unusual to me.

Anyone else's child do this?




My son did this in preschool - I remember wondering if he was copying
another child. Not sure if it's exactly the kind of thing you mean -
but for a while he would sometimes pronounce "head" more like "hay-id",
and "yes" like "yay-is". Neither his family nor his teacher pronounced
the words that way - and he started out with the right pronunciation.

Clisby

Child developing an "accent", sort of?
 

"Donna Metler" wrote in
:

Anyone else's child do this?

yes. my now 8 year old has done the 'Texas twang' thing since he was
around 4 or 5, only occaisionally & only on some dipthongs, like your
daughter. he also has a 'robot' like method of talking, & frequently
uses a babytalk whine/inflection, both of which drive me crazy
(particularly because both are linked with his echolalia, so it's the
same phrase over & over & over & over...).
lee

Child developing an "accent", sort of?
 

enigma wrote:
"Donna Metler" wrote in
:

Anyone else's child do this?

yes. my now 8 year old has done the 'Texas twang' thing since he was
around 4 or 5, only occaisionally & only on some dipthongs, like your
daughter. he also has a 'robot' like method of talking, & frequently
uses a babytalk whine/inflection, both of which drive me crazy
(particularly because both are linked with his echolalia, so it's the
same phrase over & over & over & over...).
lee


Two thoughts:

1) This sounds like perfectly normal development. He's just
experimenting with the sounds or something he heard somewhere. It almost
sounds like he is putting the spelling with the sounds. Whatever is
going on, it sounds perfectly normal.

2) If normal kids grow out of sounding like Texans, what does this say
about people in Texas? ;-)

Jeff

Child developing an "accent", sort of?
 

Jeff wrote:
enigma wrote:
"Donna Metler" wrote in
:
Anyone else's child do this?

yes. my now 8 year old has done the 'Texas twang' thing since he was
around 4 or 5, only occaisionally & only on some dipthongs, like your
daughter. he also has a 'robot' like method of talking, & frequently
uses a babytalk whine/inflection, both of which drive me crazy
(particularly because both are linked with his echolalia, so it's the
same phrase over & over & over & over...).
lee


Two thoughts:

1) This sounds like perfectly normal development. He's just
experimenting with the sounds or something he heard somewhere. It almost
sounds like he is putting the spelling with the sounds. Whatever is
going on, it sounds perfectly normal.

2) If normal kids grow out of sounding like Texans, what does this say
about people in Texas? ;-)

Jeff

They grow out of talking like Minnesotans.

Clisby

Child developing an "accent", sort of?
 

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...
We're in the southern US, but not an area with a strong regional accent
(dialect, among some populations, yes, accent in standard American
English, no). Recently, my 4 yr old has started using a dipthong on vowels
in some words, which sounds, to my ears, like a Texas twang. Neither her
father nor I have this accent (I have some strange speech sounds due to my
speech impairment, but she hasn't picked up on those), and neither do her
teachers at school.

It's pretty obviously an affectation, because it comes and goes-it seems
to be something she puts in when talking to a person, but not when she's
playing by herself, putting in voices for toys, and so on. She also
sometimes forgets mid conversation and starts talking in what, a few days
ago, would have been her normal voice.

I don't think it's a problem-but it does seem rather unusual to me.

Anyone else's child do this?
#2 used to put on a Scottish accent when she talked about one of her friends
whose mother was Scottish.
My cousin used to put on an accent when acting. I think she was imitating
Disney princess style accents.
Debbie

Child developing an "accent", sort of?
 

Thanks! It's reassuring to hear that my child isn't the only one who did
this-and that she's probably not going to sound like she's going to a rodeo
forever ;).

Donna