What would cause a person to speak in different accents randomly?

NoneYa@lemm.ee to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 66 points –

There’s this woman I work with who seems to have her accent change randomly.

Some days she sounds like a typical American accent, then others she sounds like she has a Caribbean accent and others she sounds like she has a French accent, and others she sounds like she has an Arabic accent. Other days her voice is super messed up, like she’s been screaming.

Beyond her voice changing, she is an odd person to work with. She’s gotten into public, loud vocal spats with other coworkers even in meetings. She was very nice and sweet with me when I first had to interact with her but that all changed when I made an honest mistake one time and she went off on me and wouldn’t stop until I ignored her and now I just keep my distance unless I have to. Others have said similar things about her as well.

I’ve wondered if maybe she has a personality disorder, but I would think that would also cause her to not do her job correctly?

I don’t know, I’m just curious. This is something I’ve never experienced before and wondering what this could be.

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I speak with an american accent in my academic circle because everyone there is super american.

But in my friend group I let my half-aussie half-british accent go free.

Also speak that american accent with most strangers since they have usually learnt american english and will probably understand me better.

I speak perfect German, in fact my German is better than my Russian (which my parents taught me). I cannot say one word or read a sentence in German to my parents without the heaviest Russian accent. It's insanely hard to turn off and I have to concentrate on every word if I want to pronounce it normally. But the default is the most heavy and cliched Russian accent.

Code switching is pretty common, but this sounds like something different since she's using different accents with the same people.

Also speak that american accent with most strangers since they have usually learnt american english and will probably understand me better.

I love it when I meet Asians who learned English from the English. Same goes for black people from England. The accents are so unexpected that they sound really appealing and cool.

With the kind of demogaphic on lemmy sure. But trust me speaking in a thick half aussie half british boganesque accent anywhere with non-uni educated people in the US gets you blank stares of confusion. I once had an old lady at wallmart yell at me too speak english or leave the country 😂

Same. I met a German girl at a hostel in Los Angeles once when I was young and her English was so perfect and her accent so thoroughly American that she had to show me her passport for me to believe she was German.

It was all fun. I had kinda forgotten about that little incident until this thread. :)

Pretty sure I read about this in Joe Navaro's book What Every Body Says. It's possibly a sign she is uncomfortable or stressed. My wife in social situations will sometimes start talking like an old Jewish lady from the Bronx, sort of like Fran Drescher. More commonly peoples voices will go up an octave like when asking for a favor.

Just because someone has a personality disorder doesn't mean they are incapable of doing their jobs. That's an ableist assumption.

Don't take it as an insult, if you keep being ableist that would be grounds for insults, but I'm honestly just letting you know.

Understood, thanks for the correction. I didn’t mean it in that way but I can see how that’s how it comes off and I’ll be more sensitive in the future.

It sounds like she has some personality issues, but as someone who has lived in a bunch of different countries, I can attest that sometimes I forget how to pronounce certain words, and something weird can come out every once in a while. It’s rare, but some close friends and family have noticed and rightfully made fun of me for it. I really wouldn’t have noticed unless they pointed it out.

And don’t get me started on spelling…living in the UK for a while totally ruined my confidence with English spelling and turns of phrase. I also still say ‘cheers’ in lieu of ‘thanks’ more than I’d like to admit, and I’ve been back in the US for almost 8 years…

So yeah, your coworker sounds like a trip, but language is so goddamn confusing it’s totally possible that she has no idea how she sounds. Could also just be looking for attention, as others have suggested.

It's normal for people to change how they speak based on the audience they're speaking to. Here's an interesting video focusing on "gay voice" but notes it's not just a thing gay men do. Everyone does it. The thing is, it's consistent, not random. If the person at your work isn't changing their voice based on who they're talking to, but randomly, they're just being weird.

I have encountered that before. I remember a kid I went to school with, his family had come from the UK and he had a noticeable accent when speaking to his parents and sister but his accent changed whenever he spoke to us yanks.

That made sense to me and easily understood why he sounded that way depending on who he spoke to.

This coworker…it’s the same group of people each day she speaks to us and none of us have anything but the standard American accent.

I have a good friend who lives and works in West Hollywood. Whenever he comes to visit his accent sounds hella gay when he first shows up, and gets less and less gay as the visit progresses. We definitely adjust our speech based on whom we are surrounded by. I once hung out with a Londoner for a week, and near the end of the trip it was pointed out to me that I was speaking with an English accent when I got drunk. The funny thing is that my then-girlfriend told me to stop it, and I couldn't. I couldn't go back to my normal accent for some reason. Of course it went back to normal on its own when I sobered up the next day.

Does she work on a very diverse workplace? Some people unconsciously mirror the speech patterns of people around them, that can include accents

Somewhat. We do work with people with Arabic accents which could explain that. But no one with a Caribbean accent and only one person I’m aware of who just started working with us with a French accent. But that’s an interesting theory.

Is she, or her family, Muslim French-Caribbean? Many locales in the Caribbean were historically controlled by the French for some time. Many Caribbeans moved to the US, and many would have settled into, broadly, black communities. Many black people in the US converted to Islam.

If she fits this description, it's perfectly reasonable that she has spent much of her life talking to people with American, French, Caribbean, and Arabic accents. It's also possible that she consumes media where speakers have those accents. As elsewhere noted, we tend to mimic accents somewhat, especially with consistent exposure.

It's perfectly reasonable that, shortly after spending some time around a certain accent, or while discussing a topic predominantly discussed with those of a certain accent, she may slip into one herself.

She did wish some of our team members a happy Ramadan once I can remember. Not exactly confirmation as not just Muslims can wish someone that, but possible.

That’s an interesting theory and seems to line up with some other things I do know of her based on her location somewhat near the Caribbean. This is a possible theory with what little I know about her background.

For myself, I sometimes still slip into it when I'm in a place where my anxiety is heightened. I was told I have "borderline DID" (disassociative identity disorder) stemming from PTSD, and that causes these kinds of "defenses" to pop up. Stress can absolutely trigger something like that.

It could very well be a brain injury, an autism quirk, or something else. Sounds like it's nothing to be concerned about, but I agree that it can be confusing or jarring!

As for her aggressive behavior, definitely talk to your superior about it. Regardless of her issue(s), a coworker should not be so hostile towards anyone.

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For people that have lived in different places it can be normal.

There is a specific psychiaric disorder associated with speaking in varied accents. I don't remember what it's called, but you might find more on the wikipedia page for the DSM5

It's called being bored at work.

Work sucks. Guess it's time to fuck around with the plebs. Nothing TOO obvious. Not dressing up like a pirate weird. Thats TOO over the top. Just something nice and subtle to make people question their own reality.

Oooooooh, talk with a different voice everyday! That'll fuck with the plebs!

.........and now you know the truth, OP. She's just bored.

Autism/ adhd masking

My first thought as well. I this autistic masking would be more suitable here but technically both could work.

That said, there's a lot of great ideas in this thread.

I didn't think there's a specific disorder that results in accent changes. It could be a simple as wanting attention - maybe wanting someone to ask her about it - or it could be she has some psychological disorder.

There is a thing called "Foreign Accent Syndrome," but as I understand it, it just affects the way your mouth and tongue work in a way that others perceive it as a foreign accent. I don't think it would cause shifting from one accent to another.

I met a southerner who speaks in a more northern accent, but sometimes slips into their original southern accent on certain words or when yelling, which happens in the busy kitchen I was working with them in.

It’s pretty funny to have someone behind you shouting about their hot trays of potatoes or about them carrying knives or whatever.

Maybe she's a theater kid. They're weird. Does she do acting?

I know someone like that. Does she also sometimes claim to be working on her PhD and to have multiple marriage prospects?

Just sounds like a narcisst to me. I wouldn't look into it much. Your attention is exactly what they want

I knew someone--American--who would affect some sort of British-ish accent. It was part of her identity because she had spent some summers in England or something. It was strongest at times, especially when she was meeting someone for the first time; no one with an accent themselves, so it wasn't that she was absorbing some influence, more that it was an aspirational trait.

Just offering this as a possibility

IANAMD but simply using various accents, by itself, is perhaps less relevant clinically than the emotional disregulation and socially maladaptive behavior you describe.

Unchecked, compulsive aggression with fixation that requires coworkers to physically extract themselves (harassment) is certainly diagnosable, but not by us or by you.

This should be addressed formally by a superior, if only so that your coworker has the documentation necessary to get the help they need. Your coworker will not remain so for long if this continues.

I've heard of people's accents changing after receiving a brain injury. Whether that's more likely than some form of attention seeking, who knows.

She learned all of them, and changes her accent depending on her situation.

So... she is accentfluid? (Comparison to genderfluid but replace "gender" with "accent")

Sounds like a disorder relating to MPD, but it could be any number of things. My advice is to be supportive as much as you can be, when ones own mind is the issue it just feels impossible to deal with.

Not all disorders are ones that will affect work in "predictable" ways, everyone is different. They might just like practicing dialects and not have particularly strong social and coping skills.

As difficult as it can be to interact with people like that, keep in mind their perspective: it might feel like everyone wants to alienate them which makes it difficult to interact without that assumption tainting the experience.

Yeah that’s how I feel about it. Despite the nasty way she responded to me personally, I just try to imagine she may be in pain and leave it alone. Thankfully she did back off eventually.

I didn’t push back on her, but I had apologized for my mistake and she took the opportunity to reply with more unpleasant messages to each apology that I just decided to not say anything else which led to her stopping.

Whilst I agree with the above, remember to look out for number one. It's important that you prioritise your own mental, physical, social, and financial wellbeing over that of a coworker you don't seem to know all that well.

It's important to give the benefit of the doubt and be charitable when you can, but not at any significant expense to yourself

Thank you for saying that. I agree.

I do have my limits that I was and am aware of that would make me want to pursue reporting her if it got that far. I felt uncomfortable and uneasy and still do a bit to this day, but don’t feel it warrants any official reports at this time. Thankfully we don’t interact in person which helps with a lot of that.

You're welcome <3 You seem like a kind person, and those people are easily taken advantage of. I don't like seeing people lose that kindness because they forget to put themselves first.

This person you're dealing with could have any number of good and valid excuses for their behaviour. But it's still straight up abusive, and could equally stem from a harmful and malicious place. Unless you know for sure, the best you can do is not antagonise them.

An official report would be valid in your situation. But I wouldn't get involved any further. Just save her messages and any evidence you have of her behaviour, on the off chance it does escalate and you or another coworker need to protect yourselves