His American Accent

Which one? We do it all the time. We attach labels to how people speak. We do it for personal reasons. I don’t like her, so I’ll say she has a Jamaican accent. Translation. You don’t belong here. Oooh! You have a British accent! Translation. You belong. We are so glad to have you here in Canada or America. I don’t know why people go ooooh! when they think someone speaks with a British accent.

It is not monolithic. You should know that by now because you read Pygmalion in English literature, which has been turned into hundreds of films and television series. The Queen of England that died recently was brought up by a governess from Scotland, but the Scottish accent did not rub on her. The Queen had an aristocratic accent, like everybody else in her class, the royal class.

The guest list in Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding speak differently from London cab drivers. Those drivers speak differently from Manchester cabbies. I didn’t understand cleaning ladies at a university in the north of England. David Beckham, the British football legend speaks in a way that tells you where he was brought up. Ireland and Scotland have their own accents, but, and it’s a big but. It also depends on education. Government schools or private schools?

He has an American accent. I don’t think so. Do people born and raised in LA speak like Texans? Probably not. Is there a New York accent?  Bad example. It’s too much of a melting pot. Let’s narrow it down to Brooklyn. Again there’s no Brooklyn accent because it has a garden of people. There’s a big Jewish community whose religion and lifestyle influence how they speak English. Spike Lee, the famous filmmaker made films telling his people’s stories, using their English. Is there a uniform Chicago accent? You tell me.

The mother tongue affects the way you speak languages from Europe. You can have two Africans speaking English. One guy grew up speaking Xhosa, the other one Zulu. South Africans can tell, because of how they speak English, the foreign language. Outsiders cannot tell the difference. Some South Africans grew up speaking Afrikaans. You can tell when they speak English. Trevor Noah, who hosted the Daily Show for seven years told his audience he went to private schools in South Africa. He used that English on the show, not what is called the ‘Coloured’ accent, which is heavily influenced by Afrikaans. Tyla, the trending young dancer is Coloured. Anybody from South Africa can pick up her Coloured accent.

Therefore, next time somebody tells you, you have an accent. Ask him, which one.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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