Accent and voice ponderings

[burntcopper]

Inspired by tenebraeli's ponderings on this.

See, I think of myself as fairly normal middle-class Berkshire Estuarite, having grown up here since I was five, and gone to a school which was a jumped-up snobby grammar school which bore a slight resemblance to an exam-results-obsessed St Trinian's. With possibly a hint of Cornish when I lived there, but only then.

Except I keep being mistaken for a Kiwi.

Of course, when I *listen* to my voice when recorded, it sounds nothing like I think of it. The answerphone is fairly flat. Customer service voice gradually becomes Tour Guide Barbie. Asking questions to guests at conventions brings out this *terribly* plummy voice, probably because I'm enunciating.

So, for all of those who've met me... whayt the hell do I sound like?

Comments

[marta-eggerth.livejournal.com]

As a person who studied theoretical phonetics at the university I can say that the way you speak does not totally depend on the place you were born and live and the people who surround you but on the peculiarities of your respiratory system.
And of course you're absolutely right mentioning customer service voice.