What accent will my child have?

[ThisGreenFinch]

Hi everyone. We're originally from Essex and moved up to Scotland last year. DS is now 5 and has autism. He is just starting to speak, yay! We were talking last night about what accent he will have? Essex, like DH and I, or Scottish, like the other children and his teachers? He has just started P1 (reception) in a mainstream school. Not bothered either way obviously as so happy to hear him talk, but fun to know the experience of others!

Scottish

Or maybe hybrid at first, then Scottish.

Eventually Scottish but probably similar to those he is with the most to begin with.

And yay to words. My DC3 has global development delay (didn't have any real speech until 5) and 18 months later she is a right little chatter box.

It can vary a lot. My friend and her partner both have London/Estuary accents, but live in the north-east where both their kids were born. Both kids went to the same school. One of their kids has a noticeably more north-east accent than the other, and neither of the kids sound anything like their parents! Their daughter's accent is very RP, quite posh, not really regional at all.

Probably a bit of a mix with more of a leaning to Scottish. I am from Yorkshire but DCs born and raised in North East. They have North East accents but pronounce a few words the Yorkshire way.

I know a family that moved from Scotland to the SE of England when the children were small and they both have a Scottish accent (like their parents).

Hell probably pick up whichever accent he hears most of.

I'm a bit of a mongrel. Born in Wiltshire, lived in Yorkshire from 10 - 20. I've lived in Herts for the last 40+ years. I have a weird (but mostly Yorkshire) accent. Flat 'A's abound. I pronounce' castle' as in 'hassle'.

Oddly, when I return to Yorkshire, I come back to Herts having picked up a broader Yorkie accent again for a bit.

He'll pick up plenty of dialect words.

You won't be able to control it much.

Definitely Scottish. My boys moved up there aged 6, 4 and 3. All have Scottish accents.

Kids tend to pick up the accents of their school friends, which is probably a subconscious fitting in technique. I have family who have travelled, and honesty the dc's accents changed with every country they live in, depending on the accents of their peers at the time. You might find that that your dc sounds less Scottish at home than at school.

My son was born in Scotland. I am English. His accent has stayed English. He used lots of Scottish words, but spoke in English, not Scottish.

Hybrid, they'll pick up the accent from home. I know a few kids with English parents and a hybrid accent. The parents think their kids sound Scottish, but they really don't

definitely from the precise area where the school is.

there's no such thing as a "Scottish" accent, ofc.

but...they will be able to do funny impersonations of you to take the Mickey when they're older. 😆

our situation here with my southern softy children and up north parents

I had a colleague once who had moved to Edinburgh (from Essex, coincidentally) when he was about 4 or 5, because his Dad worked at the university. Despite his parents both being very English and middle-class he developed a broad Scottish accent.

The funny thing was, he otherwise didn't identify as Scottish in any way. He'd sit watching rugby or football and cheer loudly for England when they scored, especially if it was against Scotland. I would expect most kids who grew up in a place for more than a couple of years probably identify with that place a bit more than this guy did.

We're in Clydebank

I moved 250 miles from home in my 20s and stayed put, and my accent is very different to DH’s. My son had emerging language at 5yo (also ASD) and his accent is exactly the same as the person who he spent the three days with when I was working each week. Nothing like mine (I was with him every evening and the other four days) or DH’s.

I think children whose language emerges tend to have the accent of the area they grow up in.

My children have different accents despite the same upbringing! We moved regularly until they were 8&10, and they had the hybrid "Army" accent until then. Now DD2 has a Yorkshire accent, but not strong, whereas DD1 still has the Army accent.

It may change. DH and I are English, we've lived in Scotland for 16 years, our girls were born and go to school here. They sound like us (English but no strong regional accent) but when they come home from school they sound a bit Scottish for half an hour and then sound English again.

Depends on the child. We moved when my youngest was four and he’s not particularly Scottish sounding.

Probably a combination depending on what words are easiest to say in whichever accent.

That's great that he's starting to speak :-)

Off topic but so lovely to hear about your son, does he have fluent language now? My little guy is using lots of echolalia and can now tell us what he wants and needs, where he wants to go, what hurts etc. It's so amazing to hear him x

My daughter spent 6 weeks at nursery when we moved to Scotland and totally lost her English accent.

However I have English friends whose children were born here and speak with their parents' English accent despite never having lived there.

Everybody's different

He might end up with two - at home accent and with friends accent. Or an amalgam.

I have a mild London accent. I grew up in London with one DP from northern England and one from Scotland.

i was born in the uk- moved to the states before I was a year old so was largely preverbal. Both parents from South England - I have a similar accent (with the odd bit of Australian from living there when I was older)

my brother was born two years later in the states - same parents, same house . Full blown American accent.