Meghan Markle’s accent HAS changed to become more British, claims speech experts – The Sun
MEGHAN Markle has been married to Prince Harry for less than a year but HAS made her accent sound less American, according to speech experts.
Clips of the Californian former actress, 37, have revealed that the Duchess of Sussex now pronounces certain words using a British intonation.
PA:Press Association
Marisa Brook, assistant professor in linguistics at the University of Toronto, pointed out that in Birkenhead in January this year, some of her phonetics were more British than American.
An example she gave was when Meghan said “I do appreciate that”, when talking to well-wishers.
Marisa explained to BBC: “The vowel in ‘that’ is further back in the mouth than you would expect for American English.
“I think a lot of it is deliberate on her part. She’s developed a style to be used when directly talking with the British public.
PA:Press Association
“These are the situations where people might be judging her in public instantly, where it really benefits her to sound British and aristocratic. If it’s conscious, I don’t think it makes her manipulative, or a poser or anything.”
Meanwhile, phonetics expert Dr Geoff Lindsey agreed with Marisa, and also said her pronunciation of the word “all” during her visit to Cheshire in June 2018 has changed since she married Prince Harry.
He said that Meghan used to British pronunciation of “orl”, whereas she’s previously been filmed saying the American English version, which sounds like “ol”.
So is there a benefit to sounding more like the Brits she is meeting during public engagements?
Phonetics professor Jane Setter, from the University of Reading, says yes.
HOW MEGHAN MARKLE’S ACCENT HAS CHANGED TO SOUND MORE BRITISH
Vowels
- Dr Jeffries said when Meghan said “Yes, we all had a good day I think”, she used the British “orl”, instead of the American English “ol”.
Intonation
- Typically when Americans ask questions, their intonation rises at the end. Dr Lindsey pointed out Meghan adopted the British style when she said “Did you make that for us?”
Consonants
- Americans typically pronounce words that end in “t” weakly. Dr Lindsey said Meghan follows the British way of saying it strongly, like when she says “sweet” here.
Getty Images – Getty
She explained: “We all do this to some extent – speak differently with different people.
“In a social role like the one Meghan is now in, where she has to meet lots of people and basically make a good impression on them in a short space of time, the ability to do this is very useful.”
And sociolinguist Dr Ella Jeffries, from the University of Essex, said that accents can go as far as to represent your “affiliations and aspirations.”
She said: “Someone with lots at stake in trying to ‘fit in’ or sound like they belong to a new in-group – British royalty, in the case of Meghan – might find accommodation happens quite naturally and quite quickly.”
The professional linguist said that her role as an actress will have helped Meghan to quickly pick up accents and help her to mimic them.
Meghan Markle and this newly inherited British accent 🙄 siiiiissss goodbye!
— LER (@elle_woods2) February 5, 2019
You can hear a British accent when Meghan Markle talks now and it is so cute! 😭
— Avhlee (@AvhleeWrites) October 16, 2018
Why tf does Meghan Markle speak with a British accent… je suis confused.
— Laura M 🌿 (@lauramackmclean) December 20, 2018
Many fans are split on Twitter as to whether or not they like the slight change in Meghan’s accent.
Some have gushed over the duchess and said they approve of the changes.
One woman said: “You can hear a British accent when Meghan Markle talks now and it is so cute!”
But some aren’t that impressed.
One wrote: “Meghan Markle and this newly inherited British accent 🙄 siiiiissss goodbye!”
Another added: “Why tf does Meghan Markle speak with a British accent… je suis confused.”
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