Didn't even know this was possible: Also, as a Chinese person who has heard a lot of Chinese accents in my lifetime, her accent really doesn't sound Chinese. More like some sort of southern European accent, like Spanish or Italian.
WTF? That is so strange. I can detect a bit of westcountry in her accent, but it mostly sounds like a foreign accent.
It doesn't always sound Chinese, but there are times when it sounds like a bad imitation of a Chinese accent. But I'd say it sounds more like an Spanish accent with a lisp or something
I remember reading this a while back, but never got to actually hear it. I do think it sounds Chinese though, there's a Chinese teacher at my school who sounds exactly like this
Read a few stories on this before, I want to hear the woman who ended up with a strong Jamaican accent.
This reminded me of a pretty weird story. http://chattahbox.com/curiosity/2010/04/15/teen-girl-wakes-up-from-coma-can-speak-german-fluently/
I dunno. I'm kinda wanting to call bullshit on this one. She says it's something that more or less effects her motor functions in her jaw and mouth area -- how her jaw and tongue moves. That can certainly change how you sound when you talk and I could totally buy that. If this is a purely physical thing however, then what it can't change is your understanding of the language -- proper conjugation and choice of phrasing, and she was speaking as if she didn't fully understanding the language, using "have" in place of "has," (when she's clearly capable of producing sibilants) and using phrasing that is indicative of someone who doesn't know the right words to use. (eg. when she said, "We can make joke and find funny.") She isn't simply affecting a foreign accent, she's affecting a foreign lack of understanding of the language she's speaking, albeit a relatively mild one. So since her doctor told her she didn't have a stroke, either he didn't find it (micro-stroke) and it effected the speech centres of her brain in this manner, she's suffering from some oddly specific and mild form of aphasia (dysphasia), or she's lying for the attention.
I've read an article explaining that. Part of the reason foreigners leave out certain words and replace some with others is because their mouths and tongues haven't been trained to move in such a way. It's not just a misunderstanding of the language, it's that it simply isn't comfortable so they adjust it to suit their needs. They probably could do it, if they tried, but it'd be like a person with a lisp trying to lose it instantly, or someone who can't pronounce their Rs suddenly trying to. Probably doesn't account for all words, so you'd need to hear more from her and find out where she's doing it.
I can understand it of a foreigner, especially someone for whom their native language has vastly different conjugation than English. They form parts of speech very differently, sound out certain sounds very differently, and they construct sentences very differently, so learning English I can understand is a pretty difficult task because it's so different from their native tongue. But this woman is not a foreigner. She's a native Brit, by all accounts perfectly fluent and of at least average skill. She already understands how to speak it perfectly well, and if all that had happened was that she pronounced things differently because of the change to her muscles and motor functions I'd buy it. I could even buy changing a few words over time that have suddenly become uncomfortable to use by using either synonyms or mildly incorrect conjugation that is still intelligible. But for someone in a position where they find they're speaking differently, their first instinct and desire would be to at least try to speak as clearly as possible so as to minimize the strangeness and difficulty in understanding this new accent. Perhaps over time as they get fed up trying to wrap their mouths around words that have become difficult to say, they might say "screw it" and start saying certain words differently or using similar but different words to make it more comfortable to speak, but not inside a month. Her entire language structure has changed, and it has changed in a manner that matches the accent she seems to have taken on. In a month. I still don't buy it.
Well considering it's her muscles that are affected I could totally understand her having difficulty getting extra words and sounds in. MS sufferers have similar problems as do other stroke victims to a lesser degree. It's like trying to speak Welsh, yodel or do that human beatboxing stuff, I can hear the sounds perfectly but there's no chance my mouth is able to get them out, it's way beyond my skill level. I'd be missing syllables all over the place.
Sure, if you're the kind of person that thinks Australians and Brits sound alike despite the accent being totally different.
