Accents inquiries...

[Oxymoron]

Okay so this is something i get asked from time to time. where do you come from?

and I have to say, im from New Zealand.. Cause that's where We currently reside when the question arises.



But im wondering why people feel the need to ask me this?

I have moved citys when i was younger. So that could be party to do with it. So i moved from a city to the country side where i dont exactly interact with many people, allowing me to develop my speech without much outside influence other than media.

I almost feel its because of this website and interacting with, well, mostly Americans. Back when i started to record myself i would get comments about not being able to understand what i was saying. I guess it was because of my accent. Someone one day told me about enunciating my words. Im picking this is the point where i slightly lost my accent.

Ive been told I have no accent before. Not quite sure what that means. But I am picking its due to the way I enunciate or over enunciate words in order to be clearly understood. Its even got to the point where i now just play with words and speak them in my own way, enunciating and pronouncing different parts of different words to create a desired effect..

Just curious as to how one develops a way of speaking without a noticeable accent. It kind of reminds me of news casters, how their accents seem to be a very neutral version of an english accent. I think thats the thought that im thinking...

[Witty]

I don't really have a regional accent as I have lived in so many different places in Northern Ireland. People from Northern Ireland find it hard to place where I'm from, but anyone outside of here doesn't notice the difference, we all sound the same to them I guess.

[Oxymoron]

hmm, im inclined to think accents are unconscious. Thus me being conscience of accents allows me to develop a somewhat neutral accent. I mean, im always going to say things with an accent, you cant not. But since I know accents exist, im trying to speak in a way where I am clearly understood. It pains me to have to repeat myself. Reason being, the original emotion of what i said can never be recaptured.

I do know that australians can place the New zealand accent to some degree. Am actually curious about how they think my accent sounds. Cause it seems that the rest of the world just lumps new zealanders into the same category as Australians.. Although Australians can somewhat figure out our accent. So if newzealanders cant even place my accent, it makes me curious...

[Toobs]

@Moist...

bro, you definitely sound like a New Zealander/Aussie.. your accent isn't overly thick, but most definitely noticeable...

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where i live has a unique accent... Baltimore, Maryland and the surrounding area has a distinct way of saying a lot of words...and distinct slang...it's sort of like a mixture between a Boston and New York accent, mixed with some Southern twang... but theres also people with a different sort of accent also that doesnt sound like it has New York in it...just Boston + Southern twang...thats how most of the people that live IN Baltimore and the immediate outskirts talk...basically, the 410 area code...and say things like the word 'water'...it's supposed to be pronounced 'wah-ter' ... but we say 'wooder'... the citys name itself... its supposed to be pronounced 'Ball-tee-more'... most of us pronounce it like 'Ball-da-more', and the more inner city you go it sounds more like "Baw-a-moe"... if we go to say 'what are you doing', which should be 'wh-ut ar yew doo-ing'...we say it like 'wooder you dew-in'....

heres a video of some people making fun of it... they don't sound like they're form Baltimore though, they sound more like people from outside the 410 area code really...


then, you go just outside of this part of Maryland, outside of the immediate cities outside the main city of Baltimore and people sound totally different...in the more rural areas of Maryland it sounds like a proper Englishman and a redneck smooshed together... and they pronounce things weird also... for instance the phrase 'up there'.. pronounced 'up th-air'... they just completely skip the 'th' and say 'up-air'...


and THEEEN....on the edge of Maryland is Washington D.C. of course...and they have their own unique accent and phrases as well...most people in D.C. when they say 'yo'...they say 'joe'... "wassup joe?" .... MAN WHO THE FUCK IS JOE? ANYBODY HERE FROM D.C.??? ALL THESE YEARS I BEEN TRYING TO FIND OUT WHO THE FUCK IS JOE?



accents are a pretty cool thing...and are interesting to think about and break down regionally...

[Codealt]

unfortunately you can't get rid of an accent.

[Toobs]

unfortunately you can't get rid of an accent.

yes you can... i have quite a few friends/acquaintances that moved away and over time picked up a different accent than they had when living back home..

[Oxymoron]

@Moist...

bro, you definitely sound like a New Zealander/Aussie.. your accent isn't overly thick, but most definitely noticeable...

- - - Updated - - -

where i live has a unique accent... Baltimore, Maryland and the surrounding area has a distinct way of saying a lot of words...and distinct slang...it's sort of like a mixture between a Boston and New York accent, mixed with some Southern twang... but theres also people with a different sort of accent also that doesnt sound like it has New York in it...just Boston + Southern twang...thats how most of the people that live IN Baltimore and the immediate outskirts talk...basically, the 410 area code...and say things like the word 'water'...it's supposed to be pronounced 'wah-ter' ... but we say 'wooder'... the citys name itself... its supposed to be pronounced 'Ball-tee-more'... most of us pronounce it like 'Ball-da-more', and the more inner city you go it sounds more like "Baw-a-moe"... if we go to say 'what are you doing', which should be 'wh-ut ar yew doo-ing'...we say it like 'wooder you dew-in'....

heres a video of some people making fun of it... they don't sound like they're form Baltimore though, they sound more like people from outside the 410 area code really...


then, you go just outside of this part of Maryland, outside of the immediate cities outside the main city of Baltimore and people sound totally different...in the more rural areas of Maryland it sounds like a proper Englishman and a redneck smooshed together... and they pronounce things weird also... for instance the phrase 'up there'.. pronounced 'up th-air'... they just completely skip the 'th' and say 'up-air'...


and THEEEN....on the edge of Maryland is Washington D.C. of course...and they have their own unique accent and phrases as well...most people in D.C. when they say 'yo'...they say 'joe'... "wassup joe?" .... MAN WHO THE FUCK IS JOE? ANYBODY HERE FROM D.C.??? ALL THESE YEARS I BEEN TRYING TO FIND OUT WHO THE FUCK IS JOE?



accents are a pretty cool thing...and are interesting to think about and break down regionally...

Yeah, i agree, Its kind of harder to find divergence in new zealand, since our proximity to each other is rather close compared to say the usa's population. But we do have differences. Its mostly a north island, south island difference. Cant remember the exact differences. but we do say words different.

The weird thing is that I talk to forieners every so often and they are the ones claiming I dont have a pronounced accent. It seems from a conversation I had today with my south african co workr, that I dont exactly have an accent when I spew off into longer sentences and start enunciating my words differently than the average new zealander. but if i just spill off a random phrase of some form, my accent seems to return.

and yes you can get rid of an accent, well not so much get rid of i dont think. but you'll pick up dialect from the people you interact with and incorporate it into your own speech to muddy up and muddle your accent till its a bizarre concoction of multiple accents, basically creating your own accent out of other accents. So i guess with that thought active, no you dont lose your accent, but you can water it down to the point where people have trouble placing your accent.