Should you change your accent?

Many people have the belief that if you have an accent then you should never change it as it is a true symbolism of who you are. But I disagree completely and believe that changing your accent isn't a bad thing at all. In fact, I think that the changing and merging of different accents in one person reflects their true personality more so than if they only had one accent all of the time. The changing of voice quality, pitch, tone and other things that make up an accent tend to tell stories of where a person has lived, what type of people they spend the most time with and who they have become. In short, accents that have been changed and merged together can tell you an awful lot about someone.

Another thing that an accent can do is change the way people perceive you, and by changing your accent even very slightly you can make one stranger have a completely different perception of you compared to how your friends see you. Being able to change your accent can be a great help in many ways as it allows you to fit into any situation. For example, at job interviews many people adopt a higher prestige, meaning that they change their accent so it sounds 'posher' than usual. This shows that changing your accent can be beneficial because by dong so many people have managed to gain jobs that they may not have been able to get if they had used their usual, regional accents. Another way that people have been aided by their abilities to change their accents is when people are with their friends and close family members. When in this situation, many people use a lower prestige by adjusting their accents to meet the accents of the peers, which allows them to fit into that situation. An example of people changing their accents (either in a higher prestige or a lower prestige) can be seen in Labov's 'New York Department Store' study done in 1966. In the study Labov went to department stores around New York and observed people's accents whilst they were in the stores. He concluded from his investigation that people tended to change their accents to a higher prestige when they were in more prestigious stores. This supports the opinion that people should be able to change their accents because it shows that our ability to do so helps people become more confident and go to places where usually their regional accents would be frowned upon.

Lastly, another reason that I disagree with the statement that 'You should never change your accent', is because it can show admiration. For example, in Labov's 'Martha's Vineyard' study done in 1961, Labov discovered that young people were changing their language and accents so that they were similar to the fishermen on the island, because they admired the fishermen and wanted to dissociate themselves with the tourists (who they didn't like). This study suggests that some accent changes can show love and admiration towards a certain person or group of people. Other cases that this can be seen in is young children or teenagers looking up to parents, teachers and celebrities etc, and changing their accents and idiolects to match the people they admire.

My Idiolect

My idiolect is made up of many different communities of practice, such as my Family, College, Job, Dance School and the Media. All of these communities of practice change the way I speak and the types of words I use depending on the situation I am in and the type of people I am interacting with.

The first community of practice that I am part of is my family. Within my family I have discovered that my accent changes depending on which family members I’m around. For example when I’m around my family members from Norfolk my accent becomes predominantly more Norfolk as I feel completely relaxed around them to not have to adjust my accent to sound more formal etc. But I have also noticed that when I’m with my family that come from Scotland, I tend to pick up on certain words/phrases that they say such as they say ‘uhhuh’ instead of ‘yes’. I also noticed that I pick up on their accents slightly as well. I think this is because I don’t see them very often and because their accents are so strong and different to mine that it means I pick up on it more easily. There are also certain words which I only use within my family and tend to change when I’m talking to anyone else because if not they wouldn’t understand what I was saying. For example in my family we call a ‘dummy’ a ‘gubby’, but around my friends I would use the word ‘dummy’ as they probably wouldn’t understand what a ‘gubby’ was. There are also names that I call my family members which I only call them when I’m with them because other people wouldn’t understand the reference. For example, I call my stepdad ‘Uncle Budge’ when I’m around him because that’s what I’ve always called him before he became my stepdad, but I have to call him ‘stepdad’ when talking to other people because if not people may think he is my Uncle. Another example of this is that fact that a nickname for my youngest sister is ‘Moo’ because ever since a young age we’ve called her ‘Maisie Moo’. But around other people I have to call her ‘Maisie’ so they know who I’m talking about.

Another community of practice that I am part of is my college. At college I have noticed that when I am speaking to my teachers I speak more formally and with a higher prestige. I tend to drop my Norfolk accent slightly and think abit more about what I am going to say before I say it. I think that I do this because all throughout my life I have been taught to talk more politely and formally to teachers and other people with more authority than me, and so it has become second nature to speak this way to teachers. I have also noticed at college that around my close friends I automatically use a lower prestige and use a lot of slang such as using the word ‘like’ unnecessarily and using words such as ‘cos’ etc. I think I do this with my friends because I feel relaxed and comfortable around them so I feel no need to not talk how my true self would naturally.

The next community of practice that I am part of is my dance school. My language tends to change at my dance school purely because many words used in dancing terminology mean a different thing to what they mean in the ‘real’ world. For example the words ‘turnout’ and ‘pointe’, although they may be spelt differently in dance terms, probably the saying of the word means something completely different outside of dancing. There are also many terms used on stage that I learnt whilst being in a Pantomime which also mean something different to what they do outside of performing arts. For example the word ‘flat’ in the ‘real’ world refers to the surface of something or a place to live, but in the performing arts world it is a part of the set/scenery. Whilst doing the Pantomime I also noticed that because all of the cast and crew spend so much time in close proximity with each other, they tend to pick up vocabulary off of each other.  For example I have noticed that I have picked up the phrases ‘not a chance’ and ‘absolutely’ from people I did the Pantomime with.

Another thing that influences my idiolect is the media. For example when I was younger I used to watch a lot of American television on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, which I realised led to me saying American phrases or pronouncing certain words in an American way. For example I used to pronounce the word ‘mall’ as ‘mɔ:ll’ (the American pronunciation), rather than ‘məll’ (the British pronunciation). I have also noticed that because I now watch a lot of youtubers online, I have started to pick up some of the things that they say as well. I think that this happens because we are watching people that we tend to look up to or admire, and so we subconsciously pick up on things that they say and start to say them ourselves.

The last community of practice is a workplace. I have not personally experienced working in a workplace where I would meet new people and customers etc, but my mum told me about her job. When my mum worked in a bank she noticed that she talked to customers in different way depending on where she was working. For example when she was working in a branch in Gorleston she would find herself talking with a lower prestige because the types of customers she would have to talk to would be older and less qualified. Whereas when she was working in a Norwich branch she would get more business customers and so she would find herself talking with a higher prestige to them. I think that she did this because, like I mentioned earlier, we are taught all our life to talk more

formally to people who seem to have a lot of authority, and so when customers are wearing suits etc, they seem to have authority and so we use a higher prestige when talking to them.