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I have a friend from Hong Kong, and she has an English accent, having being educated in British schools. For fun, I asked her to talk in an American accent, an
by kjackson2012 14y ago
I have a friend from Hong Kong, and she has an English accent, having being educated in British schools.
For fun, I asked her to talk in an American accent, and what fascinated me, is that she talked with an almost exactly Southern accent. So maybe the Southern accent is a vestigial accent leftover from the transition from British to American accent.
- Yhippa 14y agoI don't have the source but I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that a Southern accent is mostly a slowed-down version of a British accent.
- olalonde 14y agoThe Southern accent is probably the strongest and most "famous" regional American accent. That might be why your friend tried to imitate it.
- pbhjpbhj 14y agoDid you enquire further about it. I can probably, with effort, muster 3 distinct USA accents that I'd label Southern, New York and West-Coast - but they'd be based on mass media. I'd say people can often do several USA accents because they're used to hearing a lot en_US speakers from Hollywood movies. What always freaks me out a little is when you visit some out of the way place, Gambia say, and they talk in USA accents because they've learnt English either from films or Voice of America.
- notahacker 14y agoNon-native English speakers attempting a general American accent they've picked up from media or US teachers is the rule rather than the exception. You know Britain has left behind a strong colonial legacy when they don't. What freaked me out was a Burmese English teacher speaking with the sort of Cockney accent that's only ever heard in low budget British gangster films.