Is there a biological base for accents, or are they learned?

Question

There is such a thing as a "Mexican accent" (I like it by the way)--if you are talking to someone on the phone you can often tell what their background is just by their voice. Why? Its so close to being universal in groups it seems like it might have a biological base---could all those people from various backgrounds possibly have learned to talk with the same accent?

This is not meant to be offensive or racist, its a serious question. If anybody's offended, I apologize--thats not my intent at all, so please forgive if it offends you. In advance, just in case, I'm sorry.

Answer 1

The way you speak is always learned. Unless you have a physical reason for a speech impediment, it's all what you hear.

Answer 2

There was a very interesting study that took place in 1976. I was part of it. Children cannot hear their parents' accents. My mother, so I'm told, has a very pronounced German accent. I cannot hear it. My friend Steve's father has an Australian accent, Steve cannot hear it; but, he can hear my mother's accent. I can hear Steve's father's accent. There were about 30 of us in the study, not one of us could hear our own parents' accents. As far as biological differences-don't think so. My father spoke Castillian with a lisp-simply because that's how it is spoken. It is spoken in that manner because the ruler had a lisp and you didn't upset the ruler by speaking without the lisp-do not make fun!! Couldn't hear dad's accent either.

Answer 3

Good question.

The answer is to the extent people's mouths are shaped relatively the same among people genetically related, there's a tendency toward sameness of vocal sound production.

It's easier for some peoples to pronounce some letters than others--which is why, given an historical opportunity to go one of two ways, some groups used softer sounds and ther harder.

But the answer to your question needs one more fact: languages are based on placement in the mouth as well as natural tendencies as to voice and sound preferences.

What we mean by national accents--which exist in all languages as regional variations but which all sound different to us when added onto say some dialect or regional variety of English--is a usual way of adding linguistic ways of doing things to English that don't need to be there.
I teach accents for stage as four levels--
1.heavy--heavily inflected, basically the foreign language used to pronounce our words, original placement, rhythms, stops and all.
2.rhythmless--still inflected, but with the rhythms and stops
smoothed out.
3.university--placement still foreign but everything else English.
4.diplomatic/trace--all evidence of a foreign language reduced to a trace, such as inability to soften or even say r's, a lengthened ending to words, trouble with diphthongs or d's or z's, etc. but nothing else.

So, your answer is--there's a genetic component in tthe pronouncing of any original language; and choices were made in the past as to what was easiest to enunciate by position or sounded better to the hearers.

But the rest of accents are all completely learned, and these come in four levels (beyond one's regional accent variations) when they are applied to a foreign language--to any and every foreign language.

Answer 4

No there is not a biological base for accents. Speech is learnt at home, school in the local community etc...this accounts for the diverse amount of dialects that there are within a language.

Answer 5

No biological basis exists. Heres a fun experiment.... record the first paragraph of any book (read by you)... then travel to any european country (or anywhere with a distinctivley different accent) for 4 months....re-record that same paragraph & poof! youve gotten yourself an accent!

Answer 6

Can I just say that when we are introduced into this world, we spend at least 7 years listening to a certain accent, so this is why, because of our young age it stays with us. Unless we choose to change it.

Answer 7

supposedly not but Every rish person i know including me ( im irish american i speak english) had troubles with rs and us and mistakenly pronounces words in an irish accent. weird my friend mckala spraghe pointed that one out to me