Meghan Markle Hasn’t Adopted A British Accent, According To Linguistics Experts
As the newest member of the royal family, it only makes sense that every move the Duchess of Sussex makes and every step she takes would be documented and analyzed. Everything from her hair style, to her clothing, and even the way she speaks is open for judgement.
In a surprising twist, it is Markle’s accent that is currently up for analysis and judgment.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, a video recently surfaced on Twitter featuring Meghan saying hello to a number of her fans. The video went viral and a new theory quickly emerged: Markle had adopted a British accent.
Fans and followers of Meghan quickly flooded Twitter with their reactions to this newfound British accent.
According to Yahoo Lifestyle, leading linguistics expert Dennis Preston believes people may be getting a tad carried away. Based on his professional experience as a professor of linguistics at Oklahoma State University, Preston disagrees that Markle has developed a British accent. Yahoo Lifestyle notes Preston’s expertise and experience in linguistics comes with the skills required to spot even the smallest change in an individual’s accent when they speak.
“I did a very careful listen, paying specific attention to her vowels, a big giveaway with British accents, as well as the intonation. I just didn’t find anything resembling a British accent,” Denis said as he explained his reasoning to Yahoo Lifestyle. “There’s nothing there.”
According to Dennis, the idea that Meghan could adopt a British accent after just a few months of living in England is not only a crazy theory but a miraculous one. “Us linguists would be flocking there to study her as a strange phenomenon,” Preston continued to explain. “These changes won’t happen overnight, and in the terms of language history, overnight is how long it’s been.”
Is that a British accent we hear? ? https://t.co/EMVxGgO9hp
— E! News (@enews) July 7, 2018
Preston also took the time to explain to Yahoo Lifestyle why so many people were hearing a British accent in the video if there really wasn’t one there. He explained that sometimes the human brain gets in the way of a person’s hearing. When this happens, a person hears what they want to hear or what they expect to hear instead of what is actually occurring.
Based on Preston’s analysis and reasoning, the theory caught so much traction because a few people believed they heard a British accent, talked about it, and then other people listened to the video anticipating the same accent – so that’s also what they heard.
Does This Video Prove That Meghan Markle Is Losing Her American Accent? Watch and Decide https://t.co/FHyYjvhzSh
— People (@people) July 6, 2018
Bill Kretzschmar, a professor from the University of Georgia and a second linguistics expert, agreed with Preston in an email to Yahoo Lifestyle. “People may think Ms. Markle sounds British because she has moved [to England], not because she really does sound British,” Kretzschmar agreed.
Both linguistics experts did agree that it wasn’t without merit that Meghan would eventually adopt some degree of a British accent. Kretzschmar clarified that adopting an accent used by people around you is an act of empathy as it is in human nature to “accommodate” the way those around you are speaking.
According to Preston, there is no way to predict when or if Markle will adopt a British accent. In fact, Meghan may even make an effort not to for fear of sounding “phony.”
