My Languages

The difference between how people speak and how they write is something that has always quite interested me. For example I find it interesting how differently people speak to how they use language in a text or an email. The most interesting aspect of anyone’s language though, I feel, is the one that we all can’t help but use the most of all: speech. Being quite a sociable creature and a student I would say I hear a variety of different voices and accents every day. Of course I sometimes make judgements on people based on the way they talk. Who doesn’t? It doesn’t mean I decide I don’t like someone or that they are stupid, just that I assume they are from a certain area.

I’m quite a confident person normally, but I do have a tendency to worry unduly about what people might be thinking of me. I feel like the way I speak tends to vary between sounding almost posh and ridiculous amounts of slang. The way I talk changes often, dependent on who I happen to be with. Around those I consider my closest friends I’m a lot more relaxed and I probably use a lot more slang and shorten words down- for example, ridiculous often becomes “ridic” with my friends. I would also say I tend to swear more around my close friends because I know that I don’t need to worry about offending them.

When I visit other parts of the UK I almost always find that other accents are strong enough to absorb my own and find myself unconsciously accommodating and picking up their ways of speech instead. When a friend and I visited Northern England for a weekend and spent two days constantly around Northerners, by the end of the Sunday we had both found ourselves with a thick Northern accent. Sometimes when this happens I worry people will think I’m mocking them, but most of the time I think it’s just quite an entertaining thing, and it’s enjoyable to have a surprise break from your normal way of speaking. It’s not just accents for me, either- when I spend a lot of time around people who use certain phrases I find myself picking those up very quickly.

I find that when I particularly want to be listened to- whether it’s by a person of authority, or someone who I happen to be having an argument with- I change the way I speak very deliberately and quickly. This is the opposite of the way I change my language when speaking to my friends in the sense that it isn’t me relaxing, it’s me making more of an effort. I really attempt to use the full extent of my vocabulary and I wouldn’t say I speak more loudly, but I certainly speak more firmly and won’t allow people to interrupt me.

I think that speech and accents are a very subjective thing in terms of whether you like a certain way of speaking or not. I wouldn’t say I dislike any particular accent, but girls with excessively high pitched voices who simper a lot tend to quite irritate me. When I was younger my father used to pick me up on using “upspeak” quite frequently, and I can understand why he found that maddening now. My boyfriend frequently uses the phrase “isit?” which drives me insane because I would consider it an almost entirely meaningless and worthless piece of language.

I do not think that anyone should be held in a negative esteem simply based on the way they speak, but I also believe that there are some people who will always do this. Our individual languages represent, after all, where we are from and the sort of person we try to present ourselves as, and the world just isn’t open minded enough to accept everyone yet. In the meantime, I hope that ridiculous and baffling phrases and words continue to flourish, and that the human race continue to be fantastically different in every approach to such a simple, lifelong skill as speech.