New York Accent

[SuperMario]

Originally Posted by Stone28

I'm a third generation consruction worker with a thick NYC accent. I'll never forget the first time I heard my voice on my telephones anwsering machine. I sounded like I should be hanging out with John Gotti. Back then I thought it was cool. Now I have two kids live in Jersey and hope and pray they do not end up with an accent like mine.

Do you folks think kids get there accents from there parents or fro the area they are raised?

I think it's a little of both. I think the area where you're raised has a little more influence. Especially after you get older and are with your parents less.

[Beetlez]

Originally Posted by Stone28

I'm a third generation consruction worker with a thick NYC accent. I'll never forget the first time I heard my voice on my telephones anwsering machine. I sounded like I should be hanging out with John Gotti. Back then I thought it was cool. Now I have two kids live in Jersey and hope and pray they do not end up with an accent like mine.

Do you folks think kids get there accents from there parents or fro the area they are raised?

The overwhelming factor in determining a child's accent is his/her peers and the place they grow up (unless the kid is in some strange situation where they're isolated from everyone but their parents). Parents have some input, but it's minimal compared to the environment.

[slowloris]

Originally Posted by Beetlez

The overwhelming factor in determining a child's accent is his/her peers and the place they grow up (unless the kid is in some strange situation where they're isolated from everyone but their parents). Parents have some input, but it's minimal compared to the environment.

The "TH" in words like thing, think, etc etc, would just end being the T. I always had a hard time pronouncing the H. I've gotten better but I need to think about it. My mom does the exact same thing. I don't know if it was a Brooklyn thing, but it's no coincidence that my mom who was a stay at home mom does the same thing I do. My sister also talks like my mom.

I took a childhood communication development class in college (Go figure). Surprisingly I learned a ton about communication development in children. It's interesting to note that so much of the development takes place a young age. Things like a lisp for example can be remedies by a speech pathologist from a very young age. Pretty much 100% of your development happens at a very young age. Theres the story of the girl who sadly chained to a bed post in a room for 10 years with a father who never spoke to her or anything. I believe shes a lot older now and can't speak still.

It's interesting. This was like 5 years ago so my facts might be off. Look into it.

[Carbro]

Originally Posted by SuperMario

I think it's a little of both. I think the area where you're raised has a little more influence. Especially after you get older and are with your parents less.

If the parents influenced the children's accents exclusively, we'd all have the stamp of the old country, the accents our immigrant forbears developed upon settling here.

[nyman83]

i was born in bensonhurst brooklyn, and moved to staten island when i was 10. iam 25 y.o and you can definately tell my ny accent where ever i go, and i dont try to hide it or exagerate it, like alotta people do.

[mead]

Is your family Irish? Because that's how they pronounce the "th" sound. Instead of thanks it sounds like "tanks" and instead of things it comes out like "tings"

Originally Posted by slowloris

The "TH" in words like thing, think, etc etc, would just end being the T. I always had a hard time pronouncing the H. I've gotten better but I need to think about it. My mom does the exact same thing. I don't know if it was a Brooklyn thing, but it's no coincidence that my mom who was a stay at home mom does the same thing I do. My sister also talks like my mom.

I took a childhood communication development class in college (Go figure). Surprisingly I learned a ton about communication development in children. It's interesting to note that so much of the development takes place a young age. Things like a lisp for example can be remedies by a speech pathologist from a very young age. Pretty much 100% of your development happens at a very young age. Theres the story of the girl who sadly chained to a bed post in a room for 10 years with a father who never spoke to her or anything. I believe shes a lot older now and can't speak still.

It's interesting. This was like 5 years ago so my facts might be off. Look into it.

[Carbro]

Originally Posted by slowloris

I took a childhood communication development class in college (Go figure). Surprisingly I learned a ton about communication development in children. It's interesting to note that so much of the development takes place a young age. Things like a lisp for example can be remedies by a speech pathologist from a very young age. Pretty much 100% of your development happens at a very young age. Theres the story of the girl who sadly chained to a bed post in a room for 10 years with a father who never spoke to her or anything. I believe shes a lot older now and can't speak still.

I heard about her, too. There's a very small window when a child develops the ability to use language. If it's not developed in the first few years, there's no opportunity to recover it.

[Beetlez]

Originally Posted by slowloris

The "TH" in words like thing, think, etc etc, would just end being the T. I always had a hard time pronouncing the H. I've gotten better but I need to think about it. My mom does the exact same thing. I don't know if it was a Brooklyn thing, but it's no coincidence that my mom who was a stay at home mom does the same thing I do. My sister also talks like my mom.

I took a childhood communication development class in college (Go figure). Surprisingly I learned a ton about communication development in children. It's interesting to note that so much of the development takes place a young age. Things like a lisp for example can be remedies by a speech pathologist from a very young age. Pretty much 100% of your development happens at a very young age. Theres the story of the girl who sadly chained to a bed post in a room for 10 years with a father who never spoke to her or anything. I believe shes a lot older now and can't speak still.

It's interesting. This was like 5 years ago so my facts might be off. Look into it.

As far as actually learning language, yes, there's a critical period in the first few years in which a child must be exposed to some minimal amount of speech or else it will be next to impossible for them to really acquire it afterwards. By the time a kid is 3 or 4, he's pretty much wired with language.

As far as dialect goes, think about this--the child of immigrant parents who speak English with an accent is not going to speak English with that same accent. Maybe he'll have a few quirks here and there, but all in all, he's going to sound like the other kids in the area he grew up in.

And that th-->t thing you described is very much a part of the NY accent, but it's becoming less and less common (unfortunately!).

[Carbro]

Originally Posted by mead

Is your family Irish? Because that's how they pronounce the "th" sound. Instead of thanks it sounds like "tanks" and instead of things it comes out like "tings"

The New York Irish may have acquired this habit, but it didn't originate with them. English, one of the few (perhaps the only) language with a "th" sound, is spoken in Ireland. The substitution to a "t", or more commonly "d" sound,* is more likely to have come from immigrants from the Netherlands, France, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Africa, etc. -- people from places where the "th" sound is not part of the language.



* "I got dis ting . . . "

[HeleenieWeenie]

Who said that "th" about it must be indicative of their Irish ancestry, if that were true; then they must be why 'all blacks' say "BAFFROOM" instead of BATHROOM? "the erf is the 3rd planet from the sun"...instead of EARTH or "THO the ball", instead of "THROW THE BALL' ...

SEE? You cannot just clump ALL of something in a general group. Dees, dem, dos dere.
My mother was Italian, came here as a kid, but still sounded like she pronounced the word "taught", but she was meaning & saying the word "thought". fuggettaboudit!

Its just a force of habit like bad english; "He be always talking sh*t bout somebody, or "I ain't stuttin' you. which means "I'm not studying you"...(i.e. you're not on my mind at all).
bla, bla bla ...