Stroke gives woman dodgy foreign accent

[Meenzer 15754]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/5144300.stm

 

Stroke gives woman foreign accent

 

A Geordie woman has apparently developed foreign accents after waking up following a stroke.

 

Linda Walker awoke in hospital to find her distinctive Newcastle accent had been transformed into a mixture of Jamaican, Canadian and Slovakian.

 

The 60-year-old may have Foreign Accent Syndrome, where patients speak differently after a brain injury.

 

The former university administrator says she hates what has happened to her and now feels like a different person.

 

Mrs Walker said: "My sister-in-law said that I sounded Italian, then my brother said I sounded Slovakian and someone else said I sounded French Canadian.

 

"But the latest is that I sound Jamaican, I just don't know how to explain it.

 

"Everybody is obviously hearing me differently.

 

"I didn't realise what I sounded like, but then my speech therapist played a tape of me talking. I was just devastated."

 

Researchers at Oxford University have found that patients with Foreign Accent Syndrome have suffered damage to tiny areas of the brain that affect speech.

 

The result is often a drawing out or clipping of the vowels that mimic the accent of a particular country, such as Spain or France, even though the sufferer has limited exposure to that accent.

 

The syndrome was first identified during World War II, when a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel damage to her brain. She developed a strong German accent, which led to her being ostracised by her community.

 

Different sounds

 

Dr Nick Miller, a senior lecturer in speech language science at Newcastle University, said the condition could occur in patients who had suffered a stroke or other brain injury.

 

He said: "The stroke has affected the coordination between different muscle groups like the lips, tongue and vocal chords.

 

"The balance has been changed and certain sounds get distorted so vowels and consonants take on different sounds.

 

"Intonation is also affected so sometimes it will fall at the end of a sentence and sometimes it will rise."

 

Mrs Walker added: "I've lost my identity, because I never talked like this before. I'm a very different person and it's strange and I don't like it.

 

"It's very hard and I get very upset in my head, but I'm getting better."

[Gemmill 46231]

Imagine if her granddaughter takes her new black boyfriend around. He'll think she's taking the piss.

[catmag 337]

Forgot to tell manc-mag - we tried to win you a Rasta doll at the Hoppings the other night but Scott's co-ordination let him down dreadfully.

[adios 717]

The syndrome was first identified during World War II, when a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel damage to her brain. She developed a strong German accent, which led to her being ostracised by her community.

156227[/snapback]

 

 

First our jobs, now our voices? She should be deported tbh.

[adios 717]

Forgot to tell manc-mag - we tried to win you a Rasta doll at the Hoppings the other night but Scott's co-ordination let him down dreadfully.

156234[/snapback]

 

[Jusoda Kid 1]

Maybe Manc-Mag could help her out, he once had the same problem from what i hear.

[Woodgate27 0]

Same thing happened to my late great grandmother. She suddenly had a South African accent. Though she didn't talk much after her stroke.

[The Fish 10978]

I mean no offense, but I wouldn't have thought the South African accent was a massive shift from the Australian. I know they're not the same, but to switch from Geordie to Jamaican would be like Aussie to American, shirley?

[Kid Dynamite 7204]

''her distinctive Newcastle accent had been transformed into a mixture of Jamaican, Canadian and Slovakian''

 

Who the hell figured that one out!

 

'....erm yes, your voice has changed, a definite hint of slovakian in there, with some jamaican vowels and a few canadian verbs thrown in.'

[Woodgate27 0]

I mean no offense, but I wouldn't have thought the South African accent was a massive shift from the Australian. I know they're not the same, but to switch from Geordie to Jamaican would be like Aussie to American, shirley?

156432[/snapback]

 

I can see what you mean, but I don't think the two accents are that similar. The mainstream South African accent is much faster and has a german twang to it.

 

It was enough of a difference to be noticeable. Though you're right, Geordie to Jamaican is about a big a shift as you can get.

 

And Aussie kids are already talking in American accents, so over the next 50 years expect that to blend

[Mad-on-the-cocks 0]

It happened to this woman too

 

Here

[Guest CF The Ripper]

It happened to this woman too

 

Here

156466[/snapback]

 

Just jumping on the band-wagon tbh.