Posted on 07/04/2006 6:29:44 AM PDT by Marius3188
A woman spoke of her distress yesterday at emerging from a stroke to find that her Geordie accent had been transformed into a Jamaican one.
Linda Walker, 60, is one of only 50 people to have been recorded as suffering from foreign accent syndrome. She is now helping researchers from Newcastle University in the hope that they can find a cure for future sufferers.
The condition occurs when patients wake up after a brain injury. In Mrs Walker's case it appeared as she regained consciousness from a stroke in March.
She failed to realise the extent of the transformation of her voice until her speech therapist played her a tape.
"I was devastated," said Mrs Walker. "I don't sound like me. It is so strange because you don't feel the same person. Not only did I have a stroke but I got lumbered with this foreign accent syndrome as well."
There is nothing in Mrs Walker's history to indicate why she should now have an accent that some hear as Jamaican and others as an Eastern European dialect.
She was brought up in the Westerhope area of Newcastle and now lives a short distance away in Fenham. She lived for a brief period of time in Canada.
After four months of speech therapy she is beginning to despair of recovering her native accent.
She said: "I want my own voice back. It's like losing a big part of your identity. You don't feel like the same person any more."
Frauke Buerk, Mrs Walker's speech therapist, said: "Although Linda has improved it looks likely that she will be left with an accent."
Foreign accent syndrome was first discovered in Norway in 1941 when a young woman started to speak with a German accent after an air raid.
Imagine waking up with a gay-lisp?
Wonder if her nurse was Jamaican?
Obeah!!
All right; what's a "Geordie" accent?
There's no way a stroke could be powerful enough to conquer my Texas drawl.
"foreign accent syndrome"
You have got to be kidding me.
Must be like that African-American draft dodger from Georgia who went to England in the 60's and now sounds like the Queen's nephew.
Ya mon.
Like AlGore addressing the congregation at a Baptist Church.
Leni
(.....by the way, what's a Geordie accent?)
I think there are worse things that could happen after a stroke.
Geordies are residents of north-east England, particularly around Newcastle Upon Tyne. They are the nearest major English city to Scotland and have a reputation for being tough and hard-drinking men. They have a spectacularly impenetrable accent.
http://www.geordie.co.uk/dictionary/l.htm
Noo hadaway 'n shite ya friggas!!!!!!
She also woke up with dreadlocks and a craving for ganja.
Not to mention she can't stop singing "Don't Worry! Be Happy!"
Vedy vedy intadesting, mon!
You speak like you have a hair barret across your eyes. 
I think it's interesting that when people are around a certain accent for awhile, they morph their own speech to mimic that accent.
Heck, I'm sounding like Cheech Marin more and more everyday.
God smiled on her that she recovered so fully as the only side effect was the accent with her speech. I hope people will fogive me if I point out that along with the obvious miracle of her recovery someone upstairs has a sense of humor.
"We're sending her back, Ted, it's not her time yet."
"Oh, one of the lucky ones. No major physiological problems. Hey Bob..."
"What Ted?..."
"Let's change the accent...What have you got in the files under 'Marley'..."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.