Child's accent

[thatstheviewfromhere]

Just moved from down south to way up north where the accent is very broad. 8 year old currently speaks in a posh southern accent - will that stay the same or will their accent change over time? I know nobody can say for sure, but fun to know other people's experiences!

Will 100% change.

I moved when I was 9. Mine barely changed and I remained 'posher'. Just got a kind of twang. I think the furthest my accent went was I'd say bath and grass in the 'non-posh' way. Sibling was 6 when we moved and theirs changed way more noticeably.

Age might not have been the only factor however. I was always a take me as you find me sort of person, her accent change may have been a social thing to fit in more easily.

Friend's ds, born in Scotland and lived here til age 3, then moved to Kent for 5 or 6 years, so that's really where he learned to speak. Returned to Scotland and almost twenty years later he still doesn't sound Scottish.

Myself, I didn't think I had much of an accent (and can and do speak clear English) but a work colleague pinned down my "learned to speak" location 30 years after I left it.

not quite the same, but I went to elocution lessons from age 5 until 13. At 13 I actively taught myself to speak with the local
accent to try to avoid bullying for being posh. I now speak with a local accent that isn’t too broad but have a posh elocution telephone voice apparently!

Actually, you may find they become sort of bilingual, using posh accent with you and local accent with friends. Caught my own kids doing that when we moved from East coast to West when they were 11 and 9. They're mid 30's now.

and we were anything but posh, I have still no idea why why mum thought elocution were a good idea at the time!

It'll probably change - they mostly acquire their accent below 7 I think but kids are more likely to change their accent than adults because of exposure and the fact they're just more susceptible to language acquisition in general when they're young.

A lot of accent / dialect is to do with the innate desire to 'fit in' so presuming they'll be going to school and exposed to their peers with the accent they are more likely than adults to adapt to fit.

It's actually good for their language skills to be exposed to different accents and dialects. It won't just be the accent either as I've said it'll be syntax too with the dialect and a different vocabulary but kids are hard wired to do well learning languages.

Not necessarily, we moved up north from Essex, my boy had a very Essex accent, he was 7 at the time, he never lost his Essex accent. We moved back to Essex 3 or 4 years later and by the time we left, most of the kids in our road had adopted an Essex accent!

They may become bidialectal (having two accents/dialects that they can switch between). I’m a dual citizen and developed a northeastern American accent during summers and other holidays spent with family in the US as a child. I automatically use one or the other depending on which family members I’m with or which country I’m in, though when I’m tired I’ve noticed that I sort of use a hybrid of the two.

We moved from SE England up north and Dc now have northern accent. She was 9. When we watch videos of them we can't believe how different she sounds. My dh sounds exactly the same. And I still retained my local accent despite living in SE for 10 years.

Not quite the same but I had one child who loved those vile USA Nickelodeon programs and spent years glued to them. Funnily, they don’t have a US accent, but they are the only one of my kids who doesn’t have our country accent. It’s like they just don’t have any accent if that makes sense, and people do ask where they are from as opposed to my others where it’s readily apparent. They also, still, even as a young adult, use mainly US terms for things, such as trash, gas, closet as opposed to our garbage, petrol, wardrobe etc. It’s weird someone can be so affected by TV to the point it overrides their family, household, school, peers, community vernacular. My child is in no way enamoured with the US by the way, no plan to even visit, they just loved those damn shows as an older child/tween.

Not quite the same but I was mainly raised by my grandmother in my early years who had a northern accent. Which was the accent I had until I went to school. Despite living down south. At school I learned to speak with a southern accent and still mainly do. Except the odd word or phrase that never left me. Although I'm far more northern when angry apparently 😂

Yeah it'll change

It'll be reet

😃

They'll speak like their school friends and teachers, but will be adaptable at home and if you relocate.

Our DC were 11 and 7 when we moved to Australia..they both still sound English but the younger has a few Aussie vowels. But people always know they're from England.

We moved from England to the US when I was a child. Heres how it turned out for us and the ages we moved:
Brother (12) - I'd say 90% English accent.
Myself (10) - switch between the 2, depending on who I'm with to fit in
Sister (7) - 90% American accent

My DH lived in Glasgow until he was 7 with a full on Glaswegian accent. Moved to Yorkshire and now there's no trace of his Scottish accent. In fact he can't even mimic it.

I think you'll find they speak in their normal accent at home but will end up with a more northern accent around their peers.

My little sister moved to Scotland when she was 5 and whilst she kept her English accent for the most part we would hear her playing 'school' with her dolls and speaking in the broadest Scottish accent we had heard. When we asked the teacher it turned out she spoke like that most of the time at school! She said it was common for out of towners, almost like them being bilingual

My dd's accent changed when she spent time around her Ukrainian friend who spoke American-accented English 😊

There’s no hard and fast rule but it will likely change at least a little. You will definitely find local dialect words creep into her language. These can be fascinating. Monkey’s blood on your ice cream?

They’ll probably change accents but use both as others have said

Not always. My son moved age 7 to Surrey from North Wales until 16. Whilst his accent did change a bit it definitely (much to my surprise) didn’t change completely and he went back up north age 16 and you’d never know he ever lived anywhere else but up north. But on the whole a child’s accent will change but my friends children moved from south to north age 11 and 8 and their accent hasn’t changed massively either. The 11yr old (now 18) was known as ‘london boy’ his whole secondary education!

I moved from Hampshire to Merseyside when I was 4, was posher than my friends for a long time (baRth, paRth, laRf etc) but definitely sound northern now, bit of a scouse twang and said bath, path, laugh.

but it’s useful as I can easily up the scouse (I will never sound true scouse and scousers would describe me as a wool), or up the posh when needed.

quite useful!

I am Scottish and firstborn child (now 21) was born down South. We stayed there until she was 7. Her accent was SO English, so clearly she wasn't influenced by her parents on that at all! It's so sweet watching her childhood videos and hearing her accent ('mummmyyyyyy'). We moved back to Scotland when she was 7, so she no longer sounds English but is still very well spoken. Private school probably played a part too.

The poor child. Get her in a good school
and visit the south as often as possible.