Summary myth 20

Everyone Has an Accent Except Me

“I don’t have an accent!” says someone, but everybody who is listening can here he has an accent. The listeners believe that his accent differs from their own. Accent is the map which listeners perceive  through their ears where the speaker was born and raised, what gender they are, where they might have moved to in their life, where they went to school and even how tall you are, how much you weigh and whether you feel ill or not. The fact is that everyone has an accent and the accent tell a lot about ourselves. We can realize that we have when we leave that we come from and that other people say you are not from here, because you accent sounds different for them. There are three “strands” of accents: the very short consonant and vowel sounds; the rhythm and intonation; voice clarity. The police even uses accents to locate and identify suspect on the basis of their accent.