Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 September 13

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September 13

Getting accent from one's spouse?

I watched a few videos of the famous English physicist Freeman Dyson (born and educated in England, and living in the US since the 1950s) and it seems to me (example) that he has a distinct German accent. I'm wondering where it could have come from. Reading his biography, his first wife was Swiss and his second (who he has been with for 60 years) is German. Could that explain it? He also studied in the US under Hans Bethe for a while. I couldn't find any audio on youtbe of him when he was younger, but maybe some is out there somewhere. Thanks. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 20:00, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

One can get, acquire, or change one's idiolect through any number of processes, both deliberate and subconscious, throughout one's life. One's speech is not necessarily fixed, and it is likely that one can change their accent throughout their lives. American-raised, Danish-born, British-citizen Sandi Toksvig has a great story about the history of her own accent, which has changed drastically throughout her life, and she discusses a lot of it here: [1]. While most studies seem to indicate that many accents become fixed in childhood, humans are variable enough that there is no singular, universal process that applies to every last person. The answer to any kind of question like this regarding "is it possible for a person to do this..." is unequivocally yes; as long as you are speaking of one person, then you're evidence that it is possible is that the person in question is actually doing it. You've answered your own question. People can change their accents, and do change their accents, sometimes unintentionally and sometimes intentionally. Here are some scientific studies that cover the topic: [2], [3], [4]. --Jayron32 18:28, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

This doesn't treat people who move from one country to another which has the same mother-tongue. Britons moving to Australia acquire an Australian accent if they stay there long enough. How long does this take? 2A00:23C0:7905:B600:BC63:D41E:72CD:7F2E (talk) 19:44, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

In my opinion, it never fully happens unless the person is very young when they move. It may seem to Brits back in England that their emigrant compatriot has acquired the accent of the adopted country, but Australians and New Zealanders can always detect a trace of the Brit accent in the immigrant, even after 30 or more years (my workplace experience). It's simply that the accent shifts, but the people back home in Britain aren't able to discern the difference, unlike us locals. Akld guy (talk) 00:34, 19 September 2018 (UTC)