Friend and her accent

[ByKindLilacFinch]

Not an AIBU, just interested if anyone else has experienced this.

my friend has never had any kind of accent (well spoken, sounds like a news reader). Over the last few months has started pronouncing words differently. She sounds a bit like she’s from Russia but has been in the UK a very long time and the accent is subtle but it’s there.

I’ve asked her why she is speaking with an accent and she just looks at me blankly. I know I’m not imagining it as we both met someone new last week and they asked where she was from as she didn’t sound British.

I’m curious as to whether anyone can shed any light, just really curious.

I’ve developed a few Welsh lilts since moving here!

I used to work with someone who some days would have a British accent (she was British) and other days, absolutely American. She wasn't American at all, nor had she spent any time there.

She was troubled however and the American accent would appear on her 'moody' days. We're not even sure she knew.

Do you know if she speaks an Eastern European language? If she does, she may be from there originally, and recent contact with natives, watching tv, talking more on the phone etc. might be bringing her accent back. I am a long term resident of a different country, and my accent fluctuates depending on exposure to my native language, and also simple things like how tired or stressed I am.

But it might also be a medical problem, especially if there is no obvious reason why she would have that kind of accent. I think you should try to talk to her about this again.

This can happen if a person isn't autistic too, I'm an accent sponge and have picked up Australian and Scottish accents as well as (once) someone else's actual lisp, which was luckily only brief. It's subconscious and I often don't notice it until I hear myself recorded. Your friend could be picking it up somewhere, even a podcast or tv show, although I find the idea of her being a Russian sleeper agent much more alluring.

I wonder if she's in a relationship online with someone from Russia? A friend of mine married a man from up north and she's completely taken on his accent, it's really bizarre and sounds put on. To begin with she would drop it and go back to her normal accent around family/ friends but she must talk like it full time now because she doesn't bother.

Play back a voice mail she's left you so she can hear she's sounding different.

Could she be watching a tv programme or listening to a radio show with that accent? I pick up accents VERY easily as does my dad. I remember as a teen listening to my dad on the phone to a potential client and looking at my brother and both of just saying 'whoever he's speaking to, they're German'. This was within about 5 mins of dad talking to the guy. I'm similar. I wish it wasn't the case but I can't help it 😬

She doesn’t leave voice mails ever.

Maybe she's having a laugh at your expense and the other person's in on it? Maybe it's your ears? You describe her as highly successful but working in isolation and with few friends. Maybe she's an out of contract spy? Does she have family? Do you know where she's actually from? I'm being lighthearted. But I do know people who pick up the accents of people around them in a heartbeat. Other people who, under no circumstances, deviate from standard RP. Possibly, you just don't know her very well.

She would not let me record her no. I know without even asking her, she’s very private and funny about things like that. Won’t even have her photo taken on a night out even though I tell her I’d never post it on sm

Could be Russian interference that's given her an accent.

The mother of a girl I used to teach changed accents due to a stroke. When I first met her (at a parents' evening) she had a very RP English accent, then at another parents' evening a couple of years later I was baffled when she spoke with a very obvious Russian accent (I only found out later that she'd had a stroke). Apparently she was Russian but had moved to England when she was young and had developed an English accent.

My eldest son's girlfriend does this. She spent her whole childhood travelling the world for her dad's job. There's a video of her - aged 9 - fresh back from Canada. She has a pronounced Canadian accent. Her mum says she had a broad regional accent local to where they settled withing three months!

Spy

She's definitely a russian spy.

She would not let me record her no. I know without even asking her, she’s very private and funny about things like that. Won’t even have her photo taken on a night out even though I tell her I’d never post it on sm

Definitely something secretive about her past (or present) then !

Yes you’re quite possibly right. She does have a husband who I’ve met a few times, he’s even more secretive. She works freelance and for herself but she does meet with people on a daily basis- but different people - never forms any relationships with anyone as far as I can tell. Even though we have a great friendship and good times together, I’m starting to realise I don’t actually know anything about her background. We tend to talk about current stuff. It’s quite possible I guess she has picked up this accent from others around her, that seems like a reasonable explanation

I have asked her about this but she just says she values her privacy- but I guess that’s what someone would say if they have something to hide

It’s the most likely explanation. I have a neutral, slightly posh accent with an occasional West Country sound. Thirty years ago I had a boyfriend with a strong Yorkshire accent. I still now have a few very Yorkshire pronunciations in my otherwise very southern speech, which I picked up when we were together.

It may be a case of being both a Russian spy and some type of brain/neurological dysfunction.

Given that she is so smart and so very elusive, then her ability to mirror a British accent seamlessly shouldn't be that difficult. But to suddenly sound very Russian indeed (and assuming she is in fact Russian) then something is causing her to slip. So it could be anything from substance abuse (when her masking may not be as effective) but I'd go with some type of brain event considering I'm absolutely convinced she is indeed a spy.

If you are genuinely concerned I wouldn't mention Russian and just tell her that her speech has changed and you're a little worried.

I bet she follows someone online that speaks this way.

Any new mannerisms or facial expressions to go with it?

Call 111 and log it. I would love to see what they say "Hellooo is that the police. Yes, my friend has started speaking with a funny accent. What do you mean and? Well, someone on mumsnet suggested she might be a spy. No. Not really. Just a funny accent. Hello? Hello? Funny the lines dead."

Is her name Villanelle?
Is your name Eve?

She a deep uncover Russian spy?!

Could it be Foreign Accent Syndrome?