Quote:
Originally Posted by SWTXBelle
In my personal experience, children of immigrants seem to be more influenced by their surrounding community. Rarely do you hear the children having the accent of their elders. But within non-immigrant families, I think more of the over-all accent/linguistic standards of the family seem to be apparent in the children. I grew up all over the country, and while I don't have a deep southern accent, there's no doubt where I'm from when I speak.
Anyone have any thoughts?
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I agree with this. I am the daughter of an immigrant, and while my mother has a very thick Bavarian accent (even 40 years later), none of my siblings have a one-- although we can all mimic the Bavarian pronounciation of english words (the th at the end of a word in more like an s, etc.). Interestingly, I spent three years in speech therapy as a child because the school said I didn't pronounce my th, s, and z sounds correctly-- I pronounced them they way my mother did.
I also notice slight regional differences even within the "Midwest" accent.