Antarctica Researchers Develop New Accents After 6 Months of Isolation

A study conducted by BBC found that 26 international researchers and staff have developed a strange accent after being isolated in Antarctica for 6 months.

This study provided a quick overview of how new accents come into being among communities after spending time in isolation, just like the English colonizers who developed new accents.

The researchers recorded 29 commonly used words every few weeks for analysis. The results showed that, over the period of six months, there were subtle changes in the accents and the researchers noticed tweaks to a few consonants as well. The researchers also picked up a few Antarctica slang words according to the study.

Every other week, they would record a few words like “food,” “coffee,” “hid,” or “airflow” and were analyzed by the researchers at the Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich. The researchers concluded that they found gentle changes to the accents and a slightly different way of saying the sound “ou” in the words “flow” and “sew,” as well as slight adjustments to a few consonants. Although there were no major changes in hearing them, a slight change was found.

These slight accent changes will not likely last long, as according to scientists, it takes generations for the accent changes to be noticeable. To learn more, please continue reading at: Researchers in Antarctica developed a strange accent after being isolated for 6 months