Accents are the cause behind many debates. From George Osborne to the Beckhams no one is free from critique over how they pronounce words or more importantly why they have changed their accents. But why do we change our accents?
"But that's normal, isn't it? You change the way you speak, usually
without even noticing, because you assume the person you're talking to
is better than you are. Imagine assuming the opposite! Dreadful! That's a
level of confidence suitable only for racing drivers and the French.
(Or "zee French", as I call them when I'm in France.)" The author of the article has described the main reason why we change our accent, to aim for higher aspiration and to seem like you have a 'better' social standing.
The article also goes through the changes towards acceptance of accents, from Jeremy Kyles guests shouting that they should be accepted for who they are to TOWIE esque Facebooking.
But why did Osborne decide to converge? The journalist puts it down to him being aware of how people dislike him ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLXFXIXOkjc go to two minuets in) as this clip from a 2007 comedy explains, abet riddled with hyperbole, how badly things can go wrong for politicians more specifically Osbourne. The reason for Osbourne is because he is embarrassed and self conscious of how he appeared, Beckham is more likely simply converging to make sure that he is understood. The difference between subliminal and conscious convergence. The theory behind this comes from Howard Giles and his accommodation theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_accommodation_theory)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_2Ro5lHrY Here is the clip of the actual speech he made and compared it with a similar speech delivered in the commons, with comparisons of words such as "kind of" and "kinda" .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXeRZNaGvEA BBC's Paxman explains why people change their accents.
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