How Do Accents and Dialects Develop?

I’ve been noticing some distinct regional pronunciations in my daughter’s speech recently.  She’s ten and we live in Pittsburgh, PA.

I hated my Pittsburgh accent. That’s why I learned to use a more General American speech pattern, so when I hear bits of this dialect popping up when my daughter is speaking, I can't help but wince a little.

No disrespect to anyone who does speak Pittsburghese.  If I hadn’t moved to NYC when I was 24 and been constantly harassed about my accent, I’d probably still use it too.

But anyway, watching (or do I mean hearing?) my ten-year-old’s dialect develop is fascinating, and it’s a good reminder that parents have very little control over a child’s accent or dialect unless they intervene intentionally. And as any parent knows, my daughter would never agree to accent coaching from me, her mother! Cringe! (as the kids say.) That would be a recipe for disaster.

And that brings us to the real question. If parents aren’t the source, where do accents and dialects come from?

Accents and dialects develop during early childhood, until approximately 7-8 years of age, and they come from your peers, friends, and social groups, not your parents.  

It’s true! 

Many children are born in, or move to, a region that is different from where their parents grew up. These children almost always end up sounding like their friends and neighbors, not their parents. That’s how powerful early social environments are when it comes to shaping speech, accents, and dialects. 

Of course there are always exceptions, but for the most part, if someone moves to a new country/location after age 10, (approximately) they will continue to use the speech sounds and pronunciation habits of the place where they were born. But if a child moves to a new country/location before the age of 10, they are much more likely to end up sounding just like the kids they hang out with.

I often hear my adult clients say, “I know I have an accent. I sound just like my parents!” But they really don’t.  We humans don’t model ourselves after our parents when it comes to accents and dialects. We model ourselves after the sounds of the social groups we want to fit in with.

And most of this is subconscious.  We don’t do it on purpose!

Kids sound like their peers, not their parents, because fitting in and feeling a sense of belonging drives the way accents and dialects develop.

What This Means for Aspiring Instructors

Here’s the part new accent instructors (and our students) need to hear:

Speech habits can change at any age.

Yes, it takes more effort, structure, support, and focused practice when you are an adult, but it absolutely can be done.

Even better, the sound substitutions that adult L2 speakers use are highly predictable. Once you've learned how to work with a speaker from a specific language background, you’ll know what to expect from other speakers of that same language background.

Of course, there are variations from speaker to speaker based on many factors including age, region, dialect, occupation, and personal speaking style, but overall, the major patterns are the same and can be easily adapted to meet the goals of each speaker.

When you understand how accents develop, you can teach your students and clients how to create new, permanent speech habits step by step.

You don’t need decades of experience or advanced degrees. You simply need a method, a structure, and the belief that change is possible.

Because it is.

Now I just need to convince my daughter that she should work on sounding more like me, and less like her friends. I think you can probably guess how that's going to go:)