Foreign Accent Syndrome.

[Methuselah]

this woman awoke with a completely different accent!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...MC-new_04072006

[PersianPaladin]

this woman awoke with a completely different accent!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...MC-new_04072006

Lol.

Is this a wind up?

[Methuselah]

Lol.

Is this a wind up?

Honestly PP, it isn't! It's a well-documented side-effect of suffering a stroke. I once heard a radio interview with a woman who woke-up with a French accent, after suffering some kind of trauma...I'm guessing that it's something to do with the brain's ability to utilise alternative neuronal pathways after it's suffered damage???

[Methuselah]

Here you go, PP...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome

[BARRY]

sometimes known as saterday night fever

no only joking its quite an intresting subject

[crimsone]

All I'm going to say is this...

Try saying "Beer Can". You can say it fast, slow, sideways whatever. Just say it a few times and see what it sounds like. It just goes to show how easy it might be for a little neural disruption to change an accent.

Edited July 8, 2006 by crimsone

[Summer of 95]

It's a true condition, and a fascinating one- it seems to be to do with only very slight changes in the nerves and brain areas that control speech and pronunciation (which begs the question: what causes regional accents in the first place?) which can nonetheless give people a totally different perspective of the affected person's speech.

Here's an interesting fact: If I try to imitate a Jamaican accent it more often than not ends up sounding Geordie! The two accents seem to me to have some quite similar vowel sounds (particularly the "ai" in "Jamaica") but different intonations and pitch/stress patterns- the more I think of it the more this dawns on me.

[kold weather]

Wow that is extremely intresting to hear about though it doesn't suprise me that much, because good impersonators can do many many accents so if they can do it then surely everyone else can do it as well. Also as Summer 95 said for quite a few accents there is only a slight differenc ein accents I've noticed.

[crimsone]

Wow that is extremely intresting to hear about though it doesn't suprise me that much, because good impersonators can do many many accents so if they can do it then surely everyone else can do it as well. Also as Summer 95 said for quite a few accents there is only a slight differenc ein accents I've noticed.

Welsh and pakistani accents aren't much different, which is why when English people attempt a welsh accent and fail miserably, they end up sounding pakistani. By contrast, the language of welsh itself is similar to German, but that's because of the Celtic connection.

Has anybody not sounded like a jamaican saying "bacon" yet btw

[SP1986]

I know it's slightly cruel but that made me laugh. Imagine waking up next morning with a Jamaican accent! :lol: I hope she gets her accent back though if it really is troubling her. On a more serious note though, it was probably the stroke that caused it.

As for accents, well I'm prone to catching accents, so if ive been around welsh people ill pick up a welsh accent, Irish people Irish accent etc.

[PersianPaladin]

I know it's slightly cruel but that made me laugh. Imagine waking up next morning with a Jamaican accent! :lol: I hope she gets her accent back though if it really is troubling her. On a more serious note though, it was probably the stroke that caused it.

As for accents, well I'm prone to catching accents, so if ive been around welsh people ill pick up a welsh accent, Irish people Irish accent etc.

Lol. You cruel boy.

I was born in Durham and i have a different accent to those in geordie-land. There is quite a bit of mutual distance between the macam's and geordies and i'd hate it if i woke up with a geordie accent as opposed to my mild durham accent.

Here is the BBC article btw (with a video interview of the woman): -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/5144300.stm

Edited July 9, 2006 by PersianPaladin

[funkymonkey15]

Thanks for the video! A very strange accent indeed. I work with quite a few French Canadians this winter and I can definately hear a hint of that! :blush: