To ask what accent your kids have?

[BackDownSouth]

Just curious to hear from other families where the children are exposed to a range of different accents from birth. I’m from Manchester (have a very strong Manchester accent, like a female Liam Gallagher), my partner is from Eastern Europe, and we’ll be raising our baby in Liverpool.

Is the baby likely to pick up a mixture of me and my partner’s accent, or will they pick up the Scouse accent from nursery/school and their friends? I’d rather they picked up the local accent just for the sake of fitting in. Me and my partner both find the “Oooh, you’re not from ‘round ‘ere, are ya?” exhausting 😂

Maternity leave has me bored so I’m thinking about this a lot!

I think they'll have a mix. I'm from the south and have a posh accent (despite not being posh!). My DH is foreign but has no hint of a foreign accent. He also sounds quite posh. Our children were born in Yorkshire. They generally have a southern accent. They've been called posh at school. However, they definitely say words like bath, grass, fast, the Yorkshire way, with the short 'a' sound. There's also another accent that young people use. I don't know how to describe accept that it's a bit "street", maybe how rappers talk! I've heard this accent everywhere in England. I've definitely detected this when my kids speak too.

Idk someones trying to imply I'm such a fancy pants southern and that's the reason I think my accents the default because everyone in the southern area is high class or something.

Fuck it maybe I am a proud cocky southern though

I’m southern and can be very polite, but I’m also partial to a sweary rant every now and again. I probably sound like Hugh Grant being a knob in Four Weddings but it’s very cathartic.

Northerners are more likely to live in massive houses due to the differences in costs 🤷🏻‍♀️

Another very strange assumption.

Where has anyone said southern accent = posh or that you all live on mansions

Weird

I'm from Lancashire, DH from Yorkshire, but his accent isn't a strong one. DS1 has a light Yorkshire accent like his Dad, but for some reason DS2's Yorkshire accent is considerably stronger.

Originally I wrote RP, but I guess it's not really RP.

Isn't BBC English a thing? It's more Radio 4 than Capital FM.

I'm from the Home Counties, husband is Scouse, we live in Liverpool.

I have three boys and they all have quite a 'soft' Scouse accent. My youngest until fairly recently was convinced he sounded just like me!

I think it's more likely your kids will sound Scouse assuming they'll be at school here.

I am from NE Scotland and XH was southern England. Both kids were born in the South and my daughter had a very pronounced English accent until we moved back up here - she lost it within 6 weeks of starting nursery. She now speaks with my accent. Although my son never learned to speak in England (he was one when we moved) he has a less strong Scottish accent than her.

Not necessarily this thread but on other threads posters definitely always say all southerns have posh accents seen it so many times.

Someone said my opinion is area dependent and social class dependant or something like that can't be assed to scroll back and quote it. Took that to mean I'm a cocky southern which I'll admit tbh

DH, GPs and I all have broad Yorkshire accents. Up until the age of 8 DD sounded like Janet Street Porter, no idea how that happened but she's almost 12 now and finally has more of a northern twang

When did Southerners become so chippy? That’s our (northerner) thing.
😉

My dd1 sounds like me, my dd2 sounds like her dad and the accent for where she mostly lived in childhood but as an adult her accent is migrating towards mine as she's moved south

I have a soft "northern" accent - spent childhood moving around various northern counties before we moved south in my teens.

DH has a southern, slight London twang. He grew up just outside south London.

DS1 initially had a slight northernness to his voice (how he pronounced his vowels etc), mainly due to being brought up by me and my parents after I separated from his Dad. Since he started school, he has quite a "posh" accent, as he attended secondary/college in a fairly fancy place and most of his friends/girlfriend come from there.

DS2 is a totally different kettle of fish. He didn't attend the same school/college (younger, wasn't at school together so chose different), he's got quite a distinctive outer London accent and is very proud of it

I love accents! They fascinate me! I'm interested in people who say their relatives have 'Yorkshire' accents though! A Yorkshire accent could be any one of a trillion! A Barnsley accent like mine is only one of many differing Barnsley accents that you'd hear from one side of the Borough to the other and is very different to a Sheffield accent! Go three miles between Mexborough and Conisbrough (both classed as Doncaster) and the difference is amazing with Mexborough being closer to a Barnsley one! Then there are Leeds, York, Middlesbrough, areas of North Yorkshire etc all of whom have very contrasting accents/dialects!

I think you’re referring to me @Bankin.

You’re the only one who’s mentioned being southern. I never mentioned it at all.

I do think people who have an RP accent - which is actually supraregional I believe - sometimes believe themselves to have a neutral, or non-existent, accent. I think they’re a lot more likely to think that than someone who has a Scottish accent or a Liverpool accent or whatever. I don’t know what accent you have, but because of what you said about not having any accent, I did guess RP or something similar. That is all. Nothing about big houses, or jealousy…that is purely in your imagination.

You mentioned Americans who believe they are unaccented. Imagine having a conversation with one of them that goes like this.

American: I don’t have an accent.
You: You said you’ve no accent, but I can clearly hear one. Maybe you’re from a part of America where they do often believe their accent to be completely standard and neutral, but everyone has an accent really. I can easily tell you’re American.
American: It’s so obvious you’re just jealous of where I live.
And why do you think we’re all rich and fancy here anyway?

????
Truly bizarre!!!

Your child will be 100% scouse, I guarantee it 😀👍

You said something along the lines of my opinion being wrong and area dependent and social class dependant.
Definition of social class according to Google :division of a society based on social and economic status.

Clearly you think southerns are rich and cocky or why would you bother saying that?

And btw RP is also known as the queen's English so I was also right that some of you think all southerns speak like the queen.
Its not really a big deal and no hard feelings I only came here to say there are different southern accents and not every southern speaks in a "posh" accent. I also genuinely don't think I have an accent my voice is very flat

Your argument doesn’t hold @Bankin. At the risk of sounding like Mr Spock, it’s not logical 😁

What argument? Just came here to say not all southerns speak with a posh accent. You can go to many small non wealthy towns on the south coast and hear what a southerner sounds like if you don't believe me

I love regional accents but I sometimes hear people saying they hate a Scottish accent - my accent sounds absolutely nothing like a Glasgow accent and often people can't place where I'm from as the only Scottish accents they've heard are from the central belt.

If a foreigner were to learn to speak English, they would be taught to speak using a generic Southern accent (in the same way that I was taught to speak French with a Parisian accent - although I have never been very good at French). This is what I mean by “neutral”.

When I was at university (many years ago), there were a couple of boys on my course who spoke the way I did. They were actually Scottish but did not have a Scottish accent.

But I do believe you.
I’ve already told you I don’t think that at all.

I live abroad and English is my children's minority language. My son has my accent when he speaks English. Both his English teachers have very different accents, so he definitely gets it from me and Peppa Pig.

In fairness, there is a neutral American (or general American) accent. It is quite distinct from a strong Virginian accent.

If a foreigner were to learn to speak English, they would be taught to speak using a generic Southern accent (in the same way that I was taught to speak French with a Parisian accent - although I have never been very good at French). This is what I mean by “neutral”.

Loads of students come to Ireland each year to learn English @CruCru. It’s a very big business. The teachers here do not teach them to speak English using a generic Southern English accent I have to say.

I’m sure there are many students of English in America and the same applies.

I learnt French too and am ashamed to say I have no idea what accent the teacher used. I never gave it a moment’s thought I now realise.
I do know another local French teacher who was a bit put out to be informed by a French visitor that she spoke with a Belgian accent. She was quite surprised, especially as she had never been to Belgium 😅