The speech condition that makes you sound like a foreigner in your country
Waking up with a foreign accent
Imagine having lived in the United States all your life and waking up one day with an uncontrollable Irish, Australian or British accent. You’d probably think that you’re dreaming or losing your mind.
Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS)
Although it sounds bizarre, or even fake, Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is a real motor speech disorder.
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Caused by brain damage
The most common cause is brain damage that stems from a stroke or traumatic brain injury, particularly to the left hemisphere, the one responsible for language and speech, according to the National Institute of Health.
Psychological causes
However, it can also be caused by psychological conditions that affect the brain, such as schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, although that’s just in a minority of cases, experts say.
FAS was first described in 1907 in Paris
Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) was first described as early as 1907 by French neurologist Pierre Marie, when a Parisian man acquired an “Alsatian” accent.
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Over a hundred reported FAS cases
Over the next century, physicians, neurologists and language researchers reported dozens of similar cases. Today, there are a little over a hundred reported cases, per PubMed Central.
The latest case: An American man with an Irish accent
The latest one, an American man with cancer who developed an Irish accent. Described as the first case of FAS in someone with cancer. However, the cancer was not the cause, scientists said.
Caused by Paraneoplastic Neurological Disorder
Researchers suspect the voice change was caused by a condition called Paraneoplastic Neurological Disorder (PND), that happens when cancer patients' immune systems attack parts of their brain, as well as muscles, nerves and spinal cord.
A Second World War FAS case
One of the first reported cases of FAS was in 1941 when a young Norwegian woman developed a German accent after being hit by bomb shrapnel during a Second World War air raid.
Thought to be a Nazi spy because of FAS
She was shunned by locals who thought she was a Nazi spy. Clearly she had no desire to speak like that but could not go back to her normal accent.
FAS can be reverted in some cases
Foreign accent syndrome can be reverted in some cases through speech therapy, but in others it’s a permanent condition.
7 out of 10 cases returned to “somewhat normal”
Out of the 112 cases that were observed in a 2019 study, about 7 out of 10 cases were caused by a stroke and around 20% of them saw their accents return to “somewhat normal”.
Easier to cure if it’s psychological
However, if the FAS is rooted in a psychological cause, experts say there’s a greater chance of returning to the normal accent.
A change in prosody of language
But what is it that makes individuals suffering from FAS sound like foreign speakers of their native language? A common element is a change in the prosody of their language production.
What is prosody?
Prosody refers to the rhythm, pitch, and intonation of a language as it is spoken. In English, flat intonation is used for statements of fact (“I owe you twenty dollars”), whereas questions are accompanied by rising intonation (“I owe you twenty dollars?”).
Languages and accents differ in prosody
Different languages and different accents of the same language vary in their prosodic contours, and so any disruption of normal rhythm and flow might be perceived as non-native or foreign-sounding.
Subjective perception of accents
The subjective nature of how we perceive others’ accents is exemplified by the case of Linda Walker, a 60-year-old British woman who suffered a stroke in 2006.
Italian or Slovak?
While Walker’s sister-in-law asserted that, after regaining consciousness in the hospital, Linda sounded Italian, her brother claimed that her speech resembled someone from Slovakia.
Inconsistency with accent attribution
Such variability has been demonstrated in experiments as well, which showed a great deal of inconsistency with regard to accent attribution.
An example of inconsistency
For example, in a study of a Scottish FAS speaker, he was correctly perceived by some participants to be Scottish, but by others to be Irish, Welsh, English, or even Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Polish.
A linguistic netherworld
In a similar study, participants were able to reliably distinguish between native and foreign speakers but perceived FAS speakers as existing in some sort of linguistic netherworld: clearly not native, but not totally foreign either.
Undermined sense of self
Perhaps not surprisingly, people affected by FAS often feel that their sense of self has been undermined.
A case of lost indentity
Michelle Myers, an American woman with FAS, who sounded British to her Midwestern neighbors, went so far as to travel to England in search of someone who sounded like her, KNXV reported.
Photo: A perry/Unsplash
British people thought she sounded South African
When she got to England, however, British people thought she sounded South African.
Photo: Harry Cunningham/Unsplash
People attribute a country to FAS
As these examples show, Foreign Accent Syndrome is really a change in prosody (pitch, rhythm and intonation), and it’s people who attribute it an accent from a particular country or region.
Identity tied to how we speak
Be that as it may, it’s interesting how our self-concept and identity can be so intimately tied with how we speak and how we sound to others.
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