# What's this accent? Is it a native English speaker or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377 "2019-07-21T01:00:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/1 "2019-07-21T01:00:53Z")
[1:57](https://youtu.be/cRVGt0lYfLQ?t=118) in this video, where a narrator says “Long Beach has a reputation of being extremely challenging” and then continues. It’s American-sounding English with a subtly unusual inflection and some odd nuances in the words like “because” and “small”, in which the long “a” sound is enunciated almost like a French speaker would do. It also reminds me a bit of the narration beginning at 2:56 in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR229NK0RIY), a promotional video from the early 90s for a device made by the Kawai company, which sounds as though it may be a native Japanese speaker doing an unaccented but oddly-inflected English voiceover. Does anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/2 "2019-07-21T01:05:41Z")
To me it sounds like a blended accent. I recently met someone whose accent I just couldn’t place and it turned out his parents had been diplomats and he had grown up in American schools all over the world. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/3 "2019-07-21T06:49:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To me it sounds like a blended accent. > > I recently met someone whose accent I just couldn’t place and it turned out his parents had been diplomats and he had grown up in American schools all over the world. To me it does sound rather like a mid-Atlantic or trans-Atlantic accent. It may be an affectation, either an American trying to sound more European or a European trying to sound American. Or it could be the speaker has spent time abroad and his accent has shifted. Probably still the most well-known modern example of this accent, in the UK at least, is that of famous foodie Lloyd Grossman: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-dZ7UVaL6F4/hqdefault.jpg "'Taste Master' Loyd Grossman offers his top tips for getting") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dZ7UVaL6F4) OB ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/4 "2019-07-21T12:29:13Z")
Not native English in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/5 "2019-07-21T12:58:13Z")
Not native English, the way he pronounces the word ‘cars’ with is R-heavy inflection is the giveaway and there are a couple of other similar ‘R’ inflections. Compare to the speaker at 2.47 which is definitely English. Also at 2.17 the speaker mentions the 1979 grand prix, and a native English speaker would not run the words seventy and nine together in that way. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/6 "2019-07-21T13:18:31Z")
Doesn’t sound like a 2nd language speaker to me. Just affected. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/7 "2019-07-21T13:22:00Z")
I don’t think it’s affected or a non/native speaker. I just think it’s someone with an unusual combination of influences. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/8 "2019-07-21T18:41:00Z")
Going out on a limb here, is it not an old fashioned posh Australian accent? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/9 "2019-07-21T18:51:33Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > Probably still the most well-known modern example of this accent, in the UK at least, is that of famous foodie Lloyd Grossman: I had not heard of him before. That is a really interesting accent, shifting from word to word. Like he isn’t sure where he’s from. > [@casdave](#): > > Not native English, the way he pronounces the word ‘cars’ with is R-heavy inflection is the giveaway and there are a couple of other similar ‘R’ inflections. Compare to the speaker at 2.47 which is definitely English. > > Also at 2.17 the speaker mentions the 1979 grand prix, and a native English speaker would not run the words seventy and nine together in that way. The “seventy-nine” sounds like the American south or southwest. I suspect this guy is an American with a regional accent trying to use a “neutral” American accent for this. A good example of this is Dan Rather, who sounded bland midwestern on his news broadcasts but more like the Texan he is when more relaxed. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/10 "2019-07-21T18:55:45Z")
By “old fashioned posh Australian accent”, do you mean the same as what the guy in this video calls the cultivated Australian accent (with the examples of Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Malcolm Fraser), which is demonstrated at 1:36 through 2:40 in this video?: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZnioDeQNlxQ/maxresdefault.jpg "The 3 Australian Accents: General, Cultivated & Broad | Australian Pronunciation") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnioDeQNlxQ) ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/11 "2019-07-21T19:11:29Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > Probably still the most well-known modern example of this accent, in the UK at least, is that of famous foodie Lloyd Grossman: > > [https://youtu.be/-dZ7UVaL6F4](https://youtu.be/-dZ7UVaL6F4) > > OB That’s an interesting accent too, and I would have thought he was Australian if I had to guess. The way he says “tomato” is an immediate giveaway that he’s not American though. The narrator of that F1 clip has no such giveaways…I wish I could find the full video, whatever it is. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/12 "2019-07-21T19:33:34Z")
Loyd Grossman spent the first 25 years of his life in the U.S. (in a well-off Boston suburb) and the next (almost) 44 years in the U.K.: > **[Loyd Grossman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyd_Grossman)** > > Loyd Daniel Gilman Grossman CBE (born 16 September 1950) is an American-British author, broadcaster and cultural campaigner who has mainly worked in the United Kingdom. He is well known for presenting the BBC programme MasterChef from 1990 to 2000 and for being the co-presenter, with David Frost, of the BBC and ITV panel show Through the Keyhole from 1987 until 2003, visiting homes of many UK and US celebrities. > Grossman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 September 1950 and raised in Mar... ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/13 "2019-07-21T19:34:05Z")
[quote=“Wendell\_Wagner, post:10, topic:837377”] By “old fashioned posh Australian accent”, do you mean the same as what the guy in this video calls the cultivated Australian accent (with the examples of Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Malcolm Fraser), which is demonstrated at 1:36 through 2:40 in this video?: [/QUOTE] Possibly, but I’m not staking my reputation on it. ---
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/14 "2019-07-21T20:09:15Z")
Not an accent from the UK For my moneys worth, East European living in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/15 "2019-07-21T20:35:15Z")
Maybe I’m reading too much into this but it also sounds like he enunciates the word “cramped” in a weird way, like he’s saying “kremt” when most Americans would sound out the consonants more clearly and pronounce the vowel with more of an A sound and less of an E sound. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/16 "2019-07-21T20:45:04Z")
I have a blended accent. Part Northeast Philly, part County Mayo, Ireland. All my life I have been asked where I’m from. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/17 "2019-07-21T22:54:03Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > Not an accent from the UK > > For my moneys worth, East European living in the USA. Doesn’t sound like a typical Eastern European accent to me; I’m not saying it can’t be, but I’ve lived my whole life around Eastern Europeans in the USA, and that doesn’t really sound like any of them. ---
**Author:** ![upend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@upend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/upend)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/18 "2019-07-22T12:00:41Z")
to me it sounds like an upmarket US accent. The sort of accent that Frazier Crane would like to befriend ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/19 "2019-07-22T12:42:27Z")
It’s native (US) English and has hints of southern hemisphere native English too IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377/20 "2019-07-22T16:29:57Z")
It reminded me a bit of [Father Mulcahey fro M_A_S\*H](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvLH22RSpaY) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-accent-is-it-a-native-english-speaker-or-not/837377.md?page=2)