Relief for Long Islanders: BU students don't develop Boston accents

Well, the professor's position is consistent with that of my (Long Island based)family. They all swear that I've been putting on an "act" with the way I speak for the past 13 years. "You got a Boston accent 15 min. after you got to Boston" they like to say.

Look, here's the deal. I came here for college (not BU) and never had any intention of leaving (yes, that's right, I always wanted to live here, and followed through on that dream). I am routinely accused of having a Boston accent (I was actually asked which parish I grew up in Dorchester by a priest in Rome (who was originally from West Roxbury).

Maybe it was all of the blue collar guys I worked with while I was in college (best jobs in the world), but apparently, the professor's theory does not work as applied to me. But I still think living here is a wickid f%&*in' pissah, nonetheless.

Developing a native accent can only occur prior to puberty, Gavvet said. Once that time has elapsed, a person’s accent becomes more stable and less likely to change because of environment, Gavett said.

An interesting theory I heard, for why language acquisition suddenly gets harder around the onset of puberty...

Go back to early tribal humans/primates. You go through puberty, make a baby, and start to raise it. You spend a lot of time with the baby. Baby has no language initially. If you have not had suddenly diminished capacity to acquire new language, so the theory goes, you might meet the baby halfway, and develop a pidgin language that only you and baby understand. Then your baby is at disadvantage in the tribe, due to the tribe not sharing a common language.

So, nature selects for humans who suddenly get stupid right before child-bearing. :)