If you’re born in a certain country you will speak in that native accent. But what’s the science behind acquiring a new accent or vice versa?
In: Biology
Almost, (assuming no issues that would impede speech.) Every human is born which the ability to speak any language with any accent.
Accents are entirely learnt, you learn you accent by learning from your parents and those around you. And while this is most influential when you’re young (as in it’s hard to completely change accents when your older) your accent can shift and change your whole life depending who you live your life around.
All accents, all sounds we make, are is use controlling different muscles in our mouths/throat as we speak. So you can gradually change your accent by shifting how your controlling those muscles, either consciously or subconsciously.
Humans are social creatures, we like fitting into groups, so when moving countries people will start to shift their accents to match people around them, assuming they don’t often speak to people from their own country, but they’re rarely able to make the shift 100%.
Fun fact: linguists have found that Antarctic researchers who spend months in isolation with each other often will develop common accents in those months of isolation, a kind of melting pot of all the accents that went in to begin it.
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