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Pregnancy

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Original poster

Which accent is my baby likely to have?

59 replies

QueenNeurosis · 16/08/2009 16:11

Hope I don't go down in MN history for starting the most inane thread on record...

DP and I are both English with non-specific accents. Baby is about to be born in Wales. When my baby starts to speak, is s/he likely to have our accent or a Welsh one? Does anyone have any experience of this?

Sorry... isn't late pregnancy dull?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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arolf · 17/08/2009 09:49

my parents are both from the South of England, all four of us kids were born and brought up in Glasgow - and 2 of us have very Southern english accents with occasional scottish twangs, the other two have more scottish accents with a lot of Southern english twangs.

my partner is czech and we're living in the South of england now, so we're starting to wonder what accent our wee boy is going to end up with!

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 17/08/2009 09:51

I would say Welsh.

EccentricaUsesTheDMForBogRoll · 17/08/2009 09:52

I was born to 2 english parent in wales, lived there for 20 years. to the welsh i sounded english. to the english i souned welsh. now after 15 more years in england i sound english and only sound welsh when speaking to welsh people or when pissed.

BunnyLebowski · 17/08/2009 09:55

God I've been thinking about this one lately.

I'm Northern Irish with a very strong accent (despite 8 years living in England)

DP is scouse.

We live in West Yorkshire.

Poor wee dd! I dread to think what accent she's going to have!!

expatinscotland · 17/08/2009 09:58

I'm American. DH and the children are Scots. And they all sound like it, too.

waitingforbedtime · 17/08/2009 09:58

Studied language acquisition at Uni and in my opinion your child will have an accent which is an approximation of yours / your husbands if that is who they spend the most time with in the early years. You'll be the most influential people at this age in most ways.

When they reach about 3/4/5 depending on the child they are likely to get a more Welsh accent as peer pressure and wanting to be 'part of the group' kicks in about then.

Only thing im not sure of is what will happen if child is in nursery with Welsh accented people - I suspect your child will still mainly have an Enlgish accent when they are very young because you will still be the over-riding influence in their life.

hth x

expatinscotland · 17/08/2009 10:00

I'm Northern Irish with a very strong accent (despite 8 years living in England)

Does it ever go away for some people? I'm American by birth, have been in Scotland for over 8 year, and still don't sound Scottish in the slightest.

I know people from France, NI, ROI and England here, who've been living here for decades in some cases and they still sound French, Irish, English, etc.

AchduLieberHimmel · 17/08/2009 10:00

My Mum is broad Nottingham, my Dad from Derbyshire. Grew up in Norfolk. My brother has a broad Norfolk accent. I speak in RP.

Explain that!

BunnyLebowski · 17/08/2009 10:05

expat - I think it does for some people. My great aunt moved to Cheshire (from N.I) when she got married 50 years ago.

Now she has this weird hybrid Irish/cheshire accent! I always thought the same would happen to me but I find myself more strongly Irish than ever. Maybe it's a fear of losing part of my identity.

DP still laughs when I'm on the phone to my family back home. He says I go up 2 octaves and go at 3 times the normal speed!

weegiemum · 17/08/2009 10:05

Our kids were born in the hebrides and had those lovely soft north-of-scotland accents.

Then we moved to Glasgow!

Within about 3 weeks, ds (who does pick up accents quickly) was asking for a "drunk uv mulk" and wanted 'chups' for tea.

Dh is Nothern Irish but his accent is quite muted now as he has lived in Scotlans for as long as he lived there. I'm Scottish and sound it.

I think kids do eventually pick up more of an accent from their surroundings than their family. By wee brother was born in London and lived there till he was 3 - he had the most awful estuary accent even though the rest of the family were scottish - now you woudl never know he hadn't been born north of the border, even though he now lives in Wales!

JackBauer · 17/08/2009 10:17

We are English living in Wales.
DD1 started with an English accent and since starting school has a few words she says in a welsh accent, and more are added every week.
DD2 can't really speak yet, but her favourite phrase is
'Ohhh Nooooooooooo' said in broadest welsh valley accent you have ever heard

I am SAHM though so this will make a difference. If they have welsh childcare, they will have some welsh words.

expatinscotland · 17/08/2009 10:57

You're right, Bunny.

My two girls were born in Edinburgh, as was DH, but now they sound like people from the Argyll region very much. Their 'o's and 'u's are gorgeous.

DH, however, still sounds like he's from Edinburgh. But I love it. Phhwwwooaarr .

I love my girls' accents! Their voices sound like bells.

I have heard a good many people, however, born and bred in the East of Scotland who sound very very English, particularly in Edinburgh.

So perhaps family does have more influence for some people.

I am the only American accent my children hear on a daily basis, so it goes to follow they speak like their surroundings.

mejon · 17/08/2009 10:58

It will also depend on which part of Wales you are in - if a farily anglicised area then the Welsh accent won't be as strong. Your DC will definitely start with an accent like yours/DHs. I was born and raised in South Wales but my mother is from very Welsh North Wales. Until I started school, my accent was very north Walian and I still switch between north and south Wales accents/dialects depending on who I'm speaking to. I speak to DD in a combination of both - so she's going to be really confused .

neversaydie · 17/08/2009 11:05

We lived in N Lincs when ds was born, and he went to a local childminder. He had a strong Scunthorpe accent as he started to speak.

Then we moved to Edinburgh when he was just 4. He promptly dropped the Scunthorpe accent and adopted my rather old-fashioned rp (even though DH is Edinburgh-born with a slight Scottish accent). Five years on, he has picked up some local dialect words, but still has his English accent. I have made no attempt to influence it except to correct glottal stops, and insisting on clear speech and no mumbling!

Beats me why he sticks to the rp, but there you go!

expatinscotland · 17/08/2009 11:10

I've heard loads of children born and bred in Edinburgh with RP accents, never.

Or from Perth.

Maybe it's because the schools have many pupils in them who are from England? Or with English parents?

I'm not sure.

There used to be a large US military base here and there are a good many people who are half-Scot, half-American.

But none of them who was brought up here sounds American.

It's very interesting to me.

ExtraFancy · 17/08/2009 11:18

I'm Southern, we live in Cheshire, me DS is developing a Northern accent. I think it's cute

ExtraFancy · 17/08/2009 11:18

my DS!

squeaver · 17/08/2009 11:19

Dh and I are both Scottish living in London.

Dd has an English accent much to my parents' horror although she does say "wee" a lot.

But she picks up a Scottish accent very quickly when we're up there.

Agree, expat, I find it fascinating. When dd started speaking, the two people who had spoken to her the most were me and dh. Yet she was saying (her first word) "Daddaaay". How did that happen?

expatinscotland · 17/08/2009 11:21

exactly, squeaver! especially as it seems to vary by person.

thunder2006 · 17/08/2009 11:24

My hubby is Scottish and we lived there until our eldest 2 were 8 and 4 years old. My daughter lost her accent straight away but my son still has a bit of it left. I notice when hearing other people speaking though that my kids have a different accent to the locals! When we're out and about in the hols we're often asked if we're on holiday.

IneedacleanerIamalazyslattern · 17/08/2009 11:25

One of my friends is from Birmingham and her late DH was from where in Scotland they lived. They had twins now 6 and one has a VERY scottish accent where the other sounds like she has lived in Birmingham her whole life but I don't think she has ever even been there.
My dd has a pretty non specific scottish accent as me her father, my dh and all her grandparents have accents from all over scotland which has given dd and I a huge mix and ends up maiking us sound a bit posh.

expatinscotland · 17/08/2009 11:28

I'll get asked if I'm on holiday for the rest of my life .

What's funny is when people hear very Scottish DH, really broad accent, and the girls' voices, which are very regional, and still ask if we're on holiday.

theDMplagiarisedLeonie · 17/08/2009 11:29

This reply has been deleted

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gagamama · 17/08/2009 11:31

I've got friends who have northern parents but grew up in southern England - they don't have northern accents as such, but pronounication of certain words (bath, etc) are northern. DP also has cousins who have grown up in Scotland with a Canadian stepdad and an English mother, and they have the most delightful, lilting, soft accent.

shonaspurtle · 17/08/2009 11:31

Expat, RP is a class-based rather than regional accent. I grew up in Edinburgh and was confused by all those English people too - but it's just cos they're posh I think

Posh RP-speaking Scottish-through-and-through Lairds in your part of the world too. I think they get it from boarding school.

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