Why do deaf people speak with their local accent?

Question

I've wondered about this for years, but they do use the dialect/accent from where they live. Perhaps it is because they shape the mouth forms when they lip read and they can copy it?

I asked this question in a genuine desire to know why people who are deaf, when they do talk, as well as the "deaf" accent have tghe accent or dialect from where they live. A case in point is an actress on a Sky "cop" show who is obviously deaf as she speaks with the "deaf" accent, but she still has an American accent; this has puzzled me for years, and I think it is reallhy amazing and shows how dedicated the teachers are and how it points up that each and every deaf person is unique in their own right, using their own local dialect with varying tones; that actress is marvellous - she doesn't just act with her face and body, but with her voice. I think it's great what she has overcome to follow the career she wanted.

Answer 1

Maybe they weren't deaf their entire life? If they can speak, then they could hear at one point or hear a little. A 100% deaf person can not learn to speak. Because they can not hear sounds coming from others, or themselves. Unless you are trying to be funny and say they have an accent in their signing.

Answer 2

Well there is what is called the "deaf accent", but as far as local accents go, that is a function of residual hearing and the accent of the people who are teaching them to speak.

I met a Deaf man last week who was born in Peru and moved to America when he was about 20. We were signing, but he was talking at the same time, and I noticed that he had a Spanish accent. I was amazed, he rolled his "r"s and everything. Of course the most predominant "accent" he had was the "deaf accent", but it was evident that he was from a Spanish speaking country. That was because he was put in an oral learning track, as many children are, and he was taught Spanish from Spanish speaking people, and picked up the nuances of their speech.

I work in an Elementary school with deaf children, and the teacher in that classroom has a thick southern accent. One boy who has some degree of hearing (I'm not sure how much, but he had enough so that his speech was a little bit better than some of the other students), and one day a few of his words had a southern twang to them. He wasn't in a speech class, but he was around his teacher everyday and picked up her accent from the hearing that he does have...also, Elementary school teachers tend to yell a lot, so he probably heard more of her voice than anyone else.

Also, (I'm generalizing from my own observations and from talking to Deaf people of all ages) hearing aids amplify tones, not really words. I have talked to people who can't understand you at all if you don't sign to them, but will wince when a baby cries, because they hear a loud noise. Tones of voice can be part of an accent, and tones are the parts of the sound that some deaf and hard of hearing people can hear.

Answer 3

I am deaf. I saw a couple of answers here that are incorrect about deafness:

"they can't fully hear themselves speak. " I am 85% deaf, and I can hear myself speak with my digital hearing aids.

"theyre all taught the same sign language as a form of communication when they are very young" Not all deaf people are taught sign language. A percentage are taught to speak and lipread. I did not learn sign language until I went to college.

"A 100% deaf person can not learn to speak. " Where are your facts to support this? There are some that are 100% deaf and CAN speak!

"what problem their really suffer " Deafness does not cause me suffering, nor do I know of other deaf people who are suffering because of it.

It is better to refrain from answering such questions if you do not know the correct facts. This will prevent ignorance from running rampant in this world!

As for your question about "local accents", I am not too clear what you are really asking here. Are you really asking why deaf people speak with an accent? If that was really what you are asking, so the answer would be because our hearing is not perfect, so it ends up sounding like it.

When I worked in my previous jobs dealing with customers, I've always had people ask me "What country are you from?" I knew they asked me that because of my "deaf accent", so I instead answered "oh I'm deaf."

Answer 4

Everyone has gone CRAZY with this post!
Okay, first, to answer the original question, some deaf people, who choose to speak, or even mouth, with their local accent. Hard of hearing people obviously have a stronger "local" accent than deaf as they hear more. But no matter hearing or deaf, or to what degree you can speak, you speak the most like those who teach you to speak, or those who are speaking around you.
To the original asker, I would like to inform you that only 10% of deaf people develop intelligible speech that people outside of their immediate family can understand. 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, most of those parents want their children to learn to speak and send them to HOURS AND HOURS of lipreading classes and speech therapy, usually not producing the results they want. Deaf chidren are often ridiculed for their speech and, at the very least, aren't understood by most people when they try to speak. SO, few deaf people do choose to speak, and when they do, they often do have the "deaf accent" most people are talking about.
Added tidbit: 70% of those hearing parents of deaf children never learn to sign, 20% learn the basics, and only 10% learn to fluently communicate with their child.

Answer 5

are u trying to insult a deaf person ? I would believe that this is an insult when a deaf person sees your post. From what i know, the are many different levels that most deaf can speak or cannot speak. they only speak in sign language or have some vocals to speak clearly or slow. Accent? what are u expecting to know from the Yahoo Answers .. ASK a DEAF person or Hard of Hearing person to answer your question.

Answer 6

theyre all taught the same sign language as a form of communication when they are very young
perhaps and accent of sorts could develop like for example instead of referring to chicken as taught to they sign it another way and through experience i have learnt that it is with preference how they sign certain words

Answer 7

They lip read a lot and copy the mouths formation of words.

Answer 8

it's simple, because we speak our accent everytime per day, and like always, but other languages are only if we go to school, or chatting or when we have an interview or meeting with someone strange....... it's not weird

Answer 9

I am deaf. I use sign language

Answer 10

u need to to be around deaf people to really understand what problem their really suffer , but im sure there can do without such people like u