Should DH 'correct' our children's accents?

[OohMavis]

Or, rather, encourage them to speak 'properly'

Because I'm not convinced he should. He obviously thinks otherwise.

DH was raised in London, me in Kent. I have a typical Kentish accent, a tiny bit on the posher side, I pronounce my Ts in most cases for example, etc. His is similar.

We live in a small town in Kent where the accent is parodied locally for being 'rough'. It's just a bit cockney really, there's nothing wrong with it imo. Since moving here though 6yo DS has started mimicking it a bit, particularly since starting school. Small things like saying 'wha'ever' instead of 'whatever'. Lots of glottal stops and elongating of words. Hard to explain without saying it out loud.

Anyway, every time he does this, DH corrects him. Not in a shouty or cross way, but he'll repeat the word back to him and DS will usually restart his sentence using 'proper' pronunciation of his own volition. He doesn't seem to mind being corrected at the moment but I can see it really annoying him before long. It would irritate me to be constantly corrected on the way I speak.

DH thinks that speaking 'properly', as he calls it, will give him an advantage when he grows up with looking for jobs, and genuinely believes that people with our accent sound more intelligent than those with a cockney one. It's strange because he's not a snob at all, he grew up poor in South London and has no idea of himself as somehow better than anyone else. His grandmother (who raised him) just made him speak properly he says, and he is glad she did.

I think it's completely natural and fine to adopt the accent of the place you live. I don't see anything wrong with DS sounding like his friends. I also think it makes DH seem like a nitpicking bore and DS will not appreciate it at all - it's not like the local accent will change, he'll have to adapt his speech all the time he spends time around his friends.

Who is BU?

My neighbour's grand children moved from London a few years ago. I had never heard them speak without a London accent until I picked one up from a friends, and she said good buy to friend and friends mum in fluent Yam Yam.

I err on the side of your husband, I had Yorkshire at playtime but correct English at school/home although with an accent.

Your children will probably end up with two totally

`different accents and able to switch.

I correct my DD. I also correct my pet hates like Wha? instead of Beg your pardon and Done instead of Did.

I correct my kids English accent and it certainly does them no harm to sound (posh) English when they talk English. Outside (ans inside) of the U.K. sounding posh works works in their favour.

IMO lot of posh people in the UK have dreadful, incomprehensible accents. Perhaps this works in their favour in the UK anyway, although it seems to me that posh people in politics just speak RP, which is not quite upper crust in my view.

I live in NZ where the general accent is very clear (although Kiwis themselves find it embarrassing), and Maori accents especially clear - no mumbling or mangling of consonants. A properly posh UK accent would probably cause a lot of sniggering. By contrast, RP accents play well - probably because there is a lot of the 1950s RP in the way people here talk although they don't know it.

Kiwis have very flat vowels. The other day DD asked for a "pin" and I told her to look in the sewing box!

Portia

I remember about a decade ago a Glaswegian sued for wrongful dismissal. Apparently he worked as a police dog handler in London, and the fact that no one could understand him (I expect not even the dogs) caused some real safety risks. I don't know how the case ended.

I quite agree with Tashface. So long it's in good humor, it'll be beneficial for the DC in the long run - even if they still speak with an accent around their mates.

I would normally agree that accents are wonderful things to be preserved, but Estuary English is bloody awful so definitely the exception.

Innit tho!

Re Joyvn

I'm with DH on this one, sorry.
There's something irritating about children with strong accents, it almost sounds like they're mimicing,
In my opinion obviously. Sure some people like it and some are indifferent, so it's for you and your husband to decide for your children :)

I think there's a difference in having an accent and just not pronouncing words correctly? Dropping 't' in whatever is incorrect pronunciation in my opinion. I'm no linguist but I would always correct my DC if they sound sloppy...!

Yes, we definitely need to distinguish between accent and enunciation.
Different accents are not a problem. Sloppy and incorrect enunciation definitely can be.