Automatically Copying Peoples Accents In A Conversation.

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My Mother does this a lot, and I do it too but to a lesser extent. (I have said that if I am on the spectrum my Mum is also as she thinks a lot like me and her ways are like my ways etc.).
My Mum became one of the key workers for several door to door and then telephone interviewing companies due to her naturally copying the accents of the ones she was interviewing, which made them open up more and relax, and think of her as one of them... She would often get interviews where many others could not.

But is it related to autism? Is it a type of trait? I do it sometimes and when I realize I am doing it, I over compensate the other way and emphasize my local accent incase I offend the person whos accent I have been copying, but then because I have done this people realize I have been copying them... Uhmm...

Does anyone else do this?

I don't, though I am more of a visual than auditory processor. People tend to fall into one of the three operating modes in uneven ways. Perhaps your mother is primarily an auditory processor. In that concept, I would describe myself as visual processor (60%) auditory processor (20%) and kinesthetic processor (maybe 10%, perhaps less). Everyone has a dominant mode. And I think overall that AS profiles of dominant modes would look different from NT profiles of dominant modes, if the two groups were ever studied robustly. Or at all.

My mother used to put on a bit of a Chinese or Indian accent when we went to such restaurants in the 60s and 7Os . It used to make my siblings and I a little embarrassed .

Many times, I would THINK that I was imitating an accent well; I would "listen to myself," and feel like I got it perfect. I would go to a locale, and think that I'm adopting the speech of that locale.

In reality, though, I really suck at imitating other than the New York accent.

It's actually a common occurrence across varying demographics.
It's a subtly normal human behavior. Some are just more obvious than the other, for which factors I'm not sure.


In my own case, my own accent made me a bit out of place and yet also subconsciously copying other accents whenever I hear it.

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If I've been around someone for a couple of months I might end up pronouncing a select few words in the same way they do without thinking about it. However, it takes me a while to fall into doing this. If I were in a restaurant and the server had a different accent I am rather unlikely to copy it.

For some reason I am quite bad at verbal impressions and cannot sustain any accent for long without slipping back into mine. When I visit my grandma I have a tendency to copy her accent on particular words and sometimes I end up using certain phrases and terms associated with the area. I used to live in that part of the country for sixteen years so it's not too surprising that I automatically switch back. When I travel back home after visiting my grandma I find myself still using those pronunciations and I don't usually realise I'm doing it until someone points it out.

There are certain words that I frequently switch between different pronunciations, sometimes even in the same sentence since I'm so used to hearing both. For instance, with the word water I might put emphasis on the t or leave it out completely. I know that my accent can leave people confused since they can't place it. Often the initial assumption is that I'm southern since I tend to speak in generalised received pronunciation. However, there are particular words where I suddenly sound northern. I grew up in a northern area that was still highly influenced by the old grammar schools that used to encourage received pronunciation. This area was surrounded by two other places that spoke in a more northern manner in comparison. Now I live in a different area in the north. My accent has become a mixture of the two, often neutral with a vague southern quality but I use northern phrases and the way I say particular words such as home is heavily northern. I've seen people look confused when having a conversation with me before, then they ask me where I'm from and admit to trying to figure it out when I was speaking.

Frankly I'm surprised anyone can figure that out about someone most of the time. Especially in England, we have so many different accents and dialects. To some people, they think that my sister and I have the same accent. We don't. She spent time in a different area for a few years and people who are more familiar with that accent can tell the difference between mine and hers.

Anyway, I'm going a bit off topic here. Sorry about that, MG. In summary, I don't copy people's accents unless I've either grown up around them (and therefore I am familiar with the accent) or I've at least spent a couple of months around that accent (even then I only end up copying the odd word here and there). I've lived in a different area for a while now and I still mostly sound like I did when I lived in my hometown, but every so often I say something in the accent of my current area. Or maybe I have changed a lot more than I realise. Admittedly I tend to be a bit oblivious to accents, sometimes I forget what accent someone talked to me in. I can recall what they said to me but often can't remember how it sounded.

I do it. I think it is a result of trying to blend in. I copy not just the accent as such, but also the rhythm and gestures and mannerisms.

For a time I was collecting oral histories in the south (US) and if I had come on with my "yankee" accent (it is really totally bland midwestern) no one would give me the time of day. But if I relaxed my whole body, my gestures, my mannerisms, so many people were happy to talk to me. Not every one, but many.

I don't hear accents well. I can't tell British from Australia from New Zealand for example. And from my reading I now understand there are a plethora of accents in Great Britain, even one village to another.

I think it is marvelous people have so many different ways of talking.

I heard that is common with those with Tourette's but I'm not 100% sure if it's true or not.

Personally I never copied other accents even as a child, but if there is a language barrier I tend to speak like how the foreign person is speaking, for example short-worded sentences, using hands more than I normally do, and using the same tone of voice the foreign person uses (not emotion-related, more so accent-related).