More on A and D
I called my mother last night and I decided to ask her about her thoughts on institutional accents and/or dialects.
She said oh yes, she noticed it as a kid when she first entered the orphanage. She said that she noticed all the kids spoke the same and it was different. As she was very resistant to the whole experience she was bothered by this as well. She said she tried very hard not to pick it up, or lose whatever she did pick up of it. But, realized it must still be there when she would hear some of it come out of our (her kids) mouths every once in awhile.
Then she tried to think of some examples of words. She said "malk" they would say malk instead of milk. "Oh yeah" I said "I remember that, we said that. I definitely said that when I was a kid. I remember being made fun of at school for saying it like that."
She went on to say how she would especially notice the accent when new kids entered the orphanage. She said she would notice a new kid come in....speaking in their own peculiar and individual way. But, by 2 weeks later would be speaking in the intitutional slang or dialect. She would always feel a little sad at the moment, when she noticed it turn.
It was an interesting and poignant conversation.
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And now... my son who is very sensitive, perceptive and a good mimic, says I have recently started speaking differently, pronouncing words differently. He is amused by this. He will laugh himself silly and say "you just did it again mom". So, I will ask what I did and he imitates it. He says "you didn't always do that, the funny thing is it's new". Seems it's in the way I accent syllables. I do it unconsciously, and for some reason suspect it is something I do around the house. Odd that it would change out of the blue, what the hell is up with that? My only thought is that maybe in some way I am trying to change the vibe in a household that is in flux.
Anyhow, he gets very amused at me, and I get very amused at his amusement.
She said oh yes, she noticed it as a kid when she first entered the orphanage. She said that she noticed all the kids spoke the same and it was different. As she was very resistant to the whole experience she was bothered by this as well. She said she tried very hard not to pick it up, or lose whatever she did pick up of it. But, realized it must still be there when she would hear some of it come out of our (her kids) mouths every once in awhile.
Then she tried to think of some examples of words. She said "malk" they would say malk instead of milk. "Oh yeah" I said "I remember that, we said that. I definitely said that when I was a kid. I remember being made fun of at school for saying it like that."
She went on to say how she would especially notice the accent when new kids entered the orphanage. She said she would notice a new kid come in....speaking in their own peculiar and individual way. But, by 2 weeks later would be speaking in the intitutional slang or dialect. She would always feel a little sad at the moment, when she noticed it turn.
It was an interesting and poignant conversation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now... my son who is very sensitive, perceptive and a good mimic, says I have recently started speaking differently, pronouncing words differently. He is amused by this. He will laugh himself silly and say "you just did it again mom". So, I will ask what I did and he imitates it. He says "you didn't always do that, the funny thing is it's new". Seems it's in the way I accent syllables. I do it unconsciously, and for some reason suspect it is something I do around the house. Odd that it would change out of the blue, what the hell is up with that? My only thought is that maybe in some way I am trying to change the vibe in a household that is in flux.
Anyhow, he gets very amused at me, and I get very amused at his amusement.
posted by Annie Van Bergen at 7:53 PM
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