Yidan
When you talk to someone who speaks a different version of English than you do, do you keep talking the way you do otherwise or do you find yourself slightly edging towards the way they speak? What about if you travel and you’re surrounded by people with another accent or dialect?
This topic came to my mind because I’ve noticed that my Irish roommate, an exchange student from Dublin, Ireland, who used to have a very strong and distinctive Irish accent is now accommodating to American or Canadian accent and diction. I still clearly remember eight months ago on the first day when we met, greeted and introduced to each other. I couldn’t catch all of what she said because of her strong Irish accent and some of her word use. Basically I was listening to her while guessing, and nodding, pretending I got what she said, which made me feel embarrassed and awkward. Soon after, I told her I went to Ganadara, one of the best Korean restaurants in Montreal. She asked me, “was there a queue?” I was silent for a few seconds while searching the word of queue in my mind since I haven’t heard and used this word for a long time. Then I replied, “yes, there was a very long line” which is typically used in American English. I was impressed again by her Irish English choice of words.
As time flies by, she has blended into this new environment very well and has made many friends from Canada and US. I notice that there has been a subtle shift in her choice of words and her accent. In general, her English is accommodating towards American or Canadian English. Her Irish accent has become less strong and more intelligible to me. Her choice of words tends to be more American or Canadian. Just a few weeks ago, we were talking about another Korean restaurant Sam Cha. She asked me if I lined up for it. Without any hesitation or consideration, I said Yes.
In linguistics, accommodation is the process by which participants in a conversation adjust their accent, diction, or other aspects of language according to the speech style of the other participant (Nordquist, 2018). Therefore, I think the change of her speaking English is a good example of linguistic accommodation.
In addition, based on my experience and observation, linguistic accommodation has been very common in China where there are a variety of accents and dialects. When some people from southern part of China or Northeastern part of China move to Beijing, they may try to avoid their distinctive accent and some use of words in order to adapt to standard Mandarin. But there are also many people who keep their own accent or still use some words which are typically used in their region or dialect. Part of the reason can be sometimes it’s very hard to change the accent they have long had. Or they just want to keep it so as to show their identity and preserve their hometown language heritage.
I really want to hear your stories. Are you an accommodator? What have you picked up from another person? (Or noticed but not picked up?) Have you ever noticed someone accommodating towards you?
Reference:
Nordquist, Richard. (2018, March 26). Definition and Examples of Linguistic Accommodation. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-accommodation-speech-1688964
I notice this with my family, part of my family is from the northern part of Haiti Cap Haitian, when they speak to me in Creole I can barely hear the northern accent. As soon as they with another family member are from the same place than them their register change automatically. I know for them they do that so the other person does not make fun of them.