Foreign Accent Syndrome

[KumaruRockz]

GEORDIE Linda Walker woke up in hospital after a stroke — speaking with a West Indies accent.

Linda, 60, made a speedy recovery after suffering the minor seizure at her home.

But she was shocked to discover her traditional Tyneside lilt had been replaced by one which sounds like she is from Kingston, Jamaica.

Doctors diagnosed foreign accent syndrome, where a stroke or knock affects the brain’s voice control centre, producing different stresses on words.

Now despite intensive speech therapy, they think Linda, of Westerhope, Newcastle, may keep her Jamaican accent for ever...

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Well it turns out this is possible. I honestly think this proves what an amazing creation by God the brain is.

[Sakaki Onsei]

Trust me, its possible.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

You may find these interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_area
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke%27s_area

[Warrior4Christ]

I've heard of it before... it would amusing at first for everyone else!

[Fantasy Dreamer]

Not heard of this before, but its very interesting. o.o

[F.M Disciple]

I've heard about that before.

An american woman woke up with a brittish accent. After a stroke.

[RandomBurrito]

I've heard about that before.

An american woman woke up with a brittish accent. After a stroke.

I saw a documentary about that too a few years ago. Maybe she's the same one I saw..... I don't know.

[Mr. Rogers]

I've seen a show about this before. The lady ended up speaking in a British accent. Luckily, she actually had some British decent and knew where her family came from, so when people asked her where in England she came from, she at least had something to say. xD

[Bobtheduck]

Now if only the same thing could cause you to speak another language... Say, Japanese...

Forget irradiating myself to get super powers, I'm going to temporarily cut off blood supply to my brain to start speaking fluent Japanese!

[KumaruRockz]

Now if only the same thing could cause you to speak another language... Say, Japanese...

Forget irradiating myself to get super powers, I'm going to temporarily cut off blood supply to my brain to start speaking fluent Japanese!

Idk if that will work xD but it would be cool if it did!

[~darkelfgirl~]

I think this was on 60 Min? Don't know, but the news link was on Yahoo a couple of weeks ago.

Apparently this has happened to several other people. Seems like the people affected are growing in number ...

[Dante]

My mother and I have the interesting trait that whenever we talk to people with different accents, we have a tendency to start to mimic their accent (AKA, if your from britain, we'll start switching to a British Accent) without even being aware of it... in fact it probobly sounds rude, but its very unintentional, we don't even realize we're doing it until after we've started doing it... at which point the questions becomes continue or stop and start again later when it kicks in again... its really weird.

[TriezGamer]

It may be an interesting trait, but it's not unique -- I do the same thing.

[ShiroiHikari]

I do it too. If I hang around with a lot of people that have strong Oklahoma accents, I'll start to pick it up myself. Also a lot of people tell me I sound like I'm from California. Well, my dad was born and raised there and doesn't have an Oklahoma accent, so that's probably why. XD

I wonder why we pick up on other people's accents like that? Is it some kind of old survival mechanism-- we try to blend in so people won't be suspicious of us, maybe?

It's also interesting that when two people with accented English have a child that is raised in the US, the child has a US accent and not the same one as their parents.

[Doubleshadow]

Now if only the same thing could cause you to speak another language... Say, Japanese...

Forget irradiating myself to get super powers, I'm going to temporarily cut off blood supply to my brain to start speaking fluent Japanese!

Actually, that did happen. I read a scholarly article on it a while back. A German man with severe head injuries was rescued by a squad that he had to speak to in English. After that, though he knew practically no English and had no exposure to speakers, he became fluent. Immediately, instantaneously. Doctors theorized his brain threw up emergency pathways so he could communicate and save himself.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Actually, that did happen. I read a scholarly article on it a while back. A German man with severe head injuries was rescued by a squad that he had to speak to in English. After that, though he knew practically no English and had no exposure to speakers, he became fluent. Immediately, instantaneously. Doctors theorized his brain threw up emergency pathways so he could communicate and save himself.

Got any online sources? =) I'd like to reach this article. XD

[shooraijin]

My mother and I have the interesting trait that whenever we talk to people with different accents, we have a tendency to start to mimic their accent (AKA, if your from britain, we'll start switching to a British Accent) without even being aware of it... in fact it probobly sounds rude, but its very unintentional, we don't even realize we're doing it until after we've started doing it... at which point the questions becomes continue or stop and start again later when it kicks in again... its really weird.

Although I'm a dual Australian-American citizen, I normally have a California accent. However, when I had been in Australia for around a month, I started to pick up some of the rhoticisms and vowel changes to the point where they thought I sounded vaguely Canadian. <-- "eh"

[RandomBurrito]

I tend to do the same thing. It's kinda cool to me actually. I can sound French or British

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I don't think altering your voice to sound like you have another accent really counts for this, RandomBurrito. XD It's more like you wake up one day and your accent has totally changed.

[RandomBurrito]

I don't think altering your voice to sound like you have another accent really counts for this, RandomBurrito. XD It's more like you wake up one day and your accent has totally changed.

I know, I was talking about when I hear someone with a different accent I can mimic them like what Pascal was saying. Not the syndrome thing. ^_^

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Oooh. Gotcha. Okay. XD

[minakichan]

I've heard about that before.

An american woman woke up with a brittish accent. After a stroke.

I hate to say this, but...

SEXY BRITISH ACCENT PLEASE.

My health is seriously deteriorating because of my poor eating habits and lack of sleep. Maybe one day I'll fall into a coma and wake up BRITISH SOUNDING.

[Sparx00]

Dude! If something like that ever happens to me, I hope I get a Jamaican accent! =D

[Amzi Live]

I want a British accent!!!!
Darn,it said you needed a stroke for that right?
Hit me!

[That Dude]

I heard about something like this happening but the lady woke up with a french accent...And she was from the Bronx or something like that.

Anyway on the other hand I too will unintentionally start mimicking peoples accents after hanging around them for a while.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

I have the problem of subconsciously picking up people's accents when I'm in an area or around people who have a different accent than mine. I hope I don't do this when I"m in Scotland and Ireland. Where it would be cool to have a Scottish accent, it would not be cool for some Scotsman to hear it and think I'm (being the tourist American) am making fun of them or trying to be like them. I'd make them mad, or get laughed at... and it wouldn't be on purpose. I suppose I'll have to watch that...

[That Dude]

Something like that happened to me when I went to Canada...But nobody got mad or anything. It was pretty amusing though.

[Amzi Live]

I always thought that Canadians sounded like regular Americans.
Then again I think it depends. Just as there are different accents throughout the US I believe that the Canadian accents varies. Interesting

[Cognitive Gear]

When I worked at gamestop, my boss was an immigrant from the UK. He'd lived here for 2x as long as he lived in the UK, so his accent is nearly undetectable.

Oddly, whenever I'd work there, I'd pick up his nearly unnoticeable accent. As we talked, his accent would slowly return, and I would slowly pick it up. By closing, we would have customers asking when either one of us had moved to the US.

[That Dude]

I always thought that Canadians sounded like regular Americans.

Depends on what part of Canada... One main difference with the midwest at least is the way they pronounce the O's. Take the word sorry for example. Midwesterners would generally pronounce it saw-ree and Canadians generally pronounce it sow-ree.