Language Autobiography

Language Autobiography

            I was born in Philadelphia.  I was raised right in the center of the city, only a few blocks away from downtown, and right around the corner from all the museums.  I have gone to three different schools, all located in the city and within walking distances from my house.  It’s a city I feel comfortable in.  I am a true native Philadelphian.  But I do not speak like most other Philadelphians.  In my family, I was taught to speak our most proper English, with our best grammar.  I don’t speak in slang, and I try to pronounce my words.  To my family and me, I sound perfectly normal.  To my family in Scotland, I sound very American.  But to my friends in Philadelphia, sometimes I sound British.  I grew up with a Philadelphian-scotch accent, always begin too British or too American for either sides of my friends and family.

            I am not sure if it comes out when I am excited, angry, or what; but on rare occasions it can be very noticeable.  On one occasion, it was so obvious that my friend began to yell at me.  “Why are you talking like that?” my friend exclaimed at me.  “What are yeh talkin’ about?  I’m talkin’ normal.” I questioned her in confusion.  “You are talking with a British accent!  Why are you talking that way?” she said frustrated.  At this point I had become increasingly puzzled.  I’ve heard people say my dad talked with a Scottish accent, and I’ve heard my sister talk with a really lousy Scottish accent, but never me talk with a Scottish accent.  “I think yeh’ve gone mad” I told her doubtingly.  “Why are you talking like you are British?” she asked my impatiently.  “I’m speakin’ the same way I always talk.  This is shtupid.”  I replied, trying to listen closely to my own voice.  As I said stupid, I began to hear it.  It was as if I was mimicking my Scottish cousin, if she had a more Americanized accent.  I had no idea where it came from or why.  I began to get worked up about something and it just slipped out.  The more I got “my knickers in a twist” over it, the stronger it became, and I had not the slightest clue why.

            On rare occasions, you could easily tell that my dad was from Scotland, and if you had a good ear, which part.  The r’s are more pronounced, the words are spoken faster, and words like you and speaking and said like yeh and speakin’.  This could have been the source of my selective accent.  Even though I was raised in a community where American was the accent, my dad had a greater influence on my speech.  It is often said that kids learn the most from their parent’s behaviour and language.  When my dad was in a familiar environment he resorted back to his natural language.  I suspect this the reason why I occasionally spoke with a different accent. 

            Although I speak with a slight Scottish accent on some occasions, my more dominant accent is no dubitably American.  Every year, my family and I take a plane all the way to Scotland.  In Scotland we see my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother, and friends; all of them of finding me sounding too American.  “You should come stay with us for a year.  Get a real authentic Scottish accent!” My auntie would exclaim to my sister and I.  “I wish!” we would both wishfully reply.  “You could pass off as one of the girls in the village with your appearance, all you would have to do is get rid of that accent.  If you lived here you could get a strong quite fast.” My grandma would tell me every time I bumped into her in the hallway.  I am never sure whether she is genuine or just wants us to move so she could be closer to us.  My family in Scotland, I couldn’t sound any more American, yet my friends at home criticize me for sounding a bit British.

            For the most part, having a American-scotch accent has not been a bother.  Most people that I converse with do not even notice the Scottish part of my speech.  On those rare occasions that it becomes noticeable, most people shrug it off as if I was speaking the same way as them.  There are very few occasions where people find my accent fictitious.  My friend confronting me on the way I speak was an example of how she thought that I was choosing to speak that way.  Which is not the cause of accents.  A person and their environment determine accents, not whether they decide to be British for a day and then American the next.

            While most of the time I get off as just sounding American, there are those rare occasions where I am both American and British sounding.  Due to my family, my background, and surroundings, I have adapted my own variations of both accents.  My accent has taught me that people do not choose the way they speak, it is something that happens due to their environments.