Scottish child picking up English accent

[Scotupnorth]

A bit nervous about posting this as I hope it's not taken the wrong way by anyone...

I live in a town in the Scottish Highlands, we moved here not long ago from another town in Highland. We needed to move to a bigger house but since Covid prices have gone wild with so many people moving here and so we couldn't get anything suitable in our price range in our home town and needed to move to another one about an hour away. I love it here although similar to many of the other towns in the Highlands, there has been a huge influx of people moving here from England, particularly post-covid. I have no issue with this however my daughter has started at the local nursery where the majority of staff and very many of the children are now English and she is now starting to say many things with an English accent. She is only there 3 days a week and we are very hands on with her so she hears us speaking to her all the time but as time goes on she's speaking this way more and more and it's starting to make me a bit nervous. Obviously there is nothing wrong with English accents but she has been born and brought up in Scotland and has never set foot in England so it would be weird for her to grow up speaking with an English accent. I was hoping initially that she would lose it as she gets older but I've recently started working in a position with local children and so many of them have English accents, including many children who have been born here, that I'm worried that she won't. When she has been saying things in an English accent we have been repeating it with our accent and she will often repeat it again with a Scottish accent, but as she is speaking this way more and more, I don't want to be correcting her all the time and giving her some kind of complex about it.

Anyone else in a Highland town having issue?

I hope this post is not taken the wrong way, there is no anti-English sentiment to my post or feelings but I just feel it would be weird for her to speak with an English accent when she is Scottish and has been born and raised here to Scottish parents.

I'm Irish with an Irish accent, but live in England. When my kids were preschool age, they both had an Irish twang. Now they're at primary school, they have the local, English accent and not a bit of an Irish one.

So I think based on this anecdota, kids might pick up on caregivers' accents when they're very small, but they then get the local one.

My Irish friend who still lives in Ireland always laughs when her dc hangs out with mine and then goes home to ireland with an English accent too 😂

Hopefully this is the case and it's what I thought would happen initially until I started working with local children and realised how few actually have a local accent (these are older primary-age kids).

Hmm that is trickier and a bit unexpected! I used to live in Aberdeen (about 14/15 years ago now) and although you got a lot of different accents there, the 'local' accent was definitely Scottish, complete with Doric. It would be so sad if that accent started to disappear and I definitely get why you wouldn't want that for your kids.

PS: I've just noticed this is in scotsnet, so my irish opinion may not be all that useful!

My eldest has an English accent. I’m Scottish his Dad is Irish but went to boarding school in England. In those days an Irish accent was treated like a speech impediment and he had speech therapy along with the Scottish kid and the Indian kid. Its fine and whilst most kids sound a good bit more Scottish than him it’s not an issue in school.

I’m English and not offended at all. I think it would be really sad if the Scottish accents were lost.

My kids are proper sarf London. I hate it and threaten them with elocution daily. They pick up the accent of where they live IME unless you really force it.

Kids pick up their peers’ accents almost without exception. If you want her to have a Scottish accent you need to move her to another place.

I think this goes into deeper issues like local feeling of frustration about more English people moving in locally, and house prices going up. Perhaps more homes need to be built locally?

I really wouldn't worry about it. Kids' accents change over time, because they reflect the sum of who they are and where they have grown up. Trying to make them talk one way when their actual experience is different basically comes down to you projecting your wishes onto them, and as you noted in the first post, you don't want to be giving them a complex about it. 🙏

I had a colleague, Tom, whose Dad moved from Essex to Edinburgh when Tom was 5. He lived there from age 5 to 18 and acquired a standard Scottish accent, but he always identified as English. We would be watching the football or rugby and he would be yelling at the TV for England with some choice Scottish swear words too. That taught me not to try and read too much into any accent.

My dc only have the mildest of Scottish accents despite attending nursery and school in Edinburgh. Dd2 definitely has more English sounding words than Scot's. When dd1 speaks with a Scottish accent it's more in jest and sounds put on!

I wouldn't move solely for that reason, it was hard enough to get somewhere in the Highlands where I would be able to find work and that was in our price range. I love the area here and the kids have settled in quickly so I wouldn't move them again just because of an accent, it was just something unexpected about living here though.

That's interesting, why do you think that is?

I think you're right, I just worry about people making comments or remarks about it as she gets older as it's obviously understandable why your colleague would have a Scottish accent when he spent most of his childhood in Scotland but it would be harder for my daughter to explain why she has an English one.

Your opinion is more than welcome!

There are lots of new homes being built locally, both here and in our previous town, however they are now selling at prices on a par with local homes and are also selling up very very quickly and so houses tend to go for crazy amounts over the asking price. Even when enrolling the children in school the headteacher commented on how difficult it was to get a house here and told us congratulations for being able to.

I think when your child gets older their accent will change several times. TV will probably bring some American and Australian influences. School will result in a local accent (and the local accent may change if there are more English-raised people moving into the area). Accents are always a mix of lots of influences and children are particularly good at learning new ones.

It sounds as though you think your child will be penalised in some way for the way they speak! Honestly, what does it matter? My OH is Scottish but does not speak with a Scottish accent because his boarding school didn’t encourage it. One of his siblings also spoke with an English accent. His other two siblings speak with a Scottish accent. It’s bizarre. Never even been a subject of comment.
I think there are deeper issues here about incomers and housing prices and it almost sounds like you don’t want your child identifying with them. People are people. It doesn’t matter what their accent is.

We moved from England back to Scotland for a while, and I remember someone at one of the children’s schools complaining that all the parents who spoke up at PTA meetings had English accents! It’s just racism and isn’t pretty. Don’t be one of those people.

but it would be harder for my daughter to explain why she has an English one.

Well, just think of the poor Americans having their kids' accents ruined by Peppa Pig! 🤣www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jul/19/peppa-pig-american-kids-british-accents

I also just remembered a story (from a British newspaper) a few years back, written by an American mother who was living in the UK because her husband was in the US Air Force. She was half-genuinely, half-ironically worried because her son was picking up Britishisms, some to do with vocabulary and other to do with accent, on his play dates with local kids off the base.

I think that there are some words or sounds that are just easier to use than the "originals". I wish I had been exposed to more Scottish vocabulary growing up (in England) because I would love to use excellent words like "outwith" without consciously have to think of them. 🙏

Which "english" accent are they picking up?

This happened to my niece when she was wee. They also live in the Highlands and she picked up an English accent mainly from her nursery key worker. It faded when she went to primary school and interacted with other kids/teachers with Scottish accents. She's 8 now and definitely sounds Scottish!

My daughter has an American accent but has never set foot outside Scotland.

She calls me "mom". and talks about going
" to the mall". Says trash instead of rubbish etc.

She's 27 and reason is all her online buddies are American and she does video calls with them.

There isn't one "English" accent. My Scouse husband sounds very different to my son's Geordie friends. The poshest " English" accent I've ever heard belongs to a Scottish friend who went to boarding school. I genuinely don't understand OPs concern here.

I am London born and bred album thanks to us kids tv and you tube dd had an American twang for years.

She now has a very colloquial accent if where we live so they do grow out of it!

Try not to worry

The Highlands has undergone huge waves of migration from South of the border for years, probably at least since the late 80s early 90s if not earlier. The whole “white settlers” label is offensive and outdated but it appears the phenomenon is still alive and well. I’m Scottish born and bred living in England and despite being aware of this, I was profoundly struck by how many English accents I encountered on a visit to Cromarty and Fort William a couple of years ago. Far more than I expected, and it was pretty ubiquitous as we travelled across the highlands.

I think the Highlands probably benefits from these incomers more than many would care to admit, in terms of dynamism, business, employment and tourist opportunities ect. There will always be the same small-minded bigots making a song and dance about accents (not you obviously OP) which does Scotland no favours.

If people love the land and are respectful to the locals with an aim to contribute to the community, there shouldn’t be a problem. Your child’s accent will even out with time don’t worry.

It'll change as she gets older and mixes with more Scots at school. My DS has an English twang as DH is English. Weirdly DD doesn't. But a week at the local football camp over the holidays and he's as Scottish as they come. I wouldn't worry about it. This is a point in time based on current environment.