Is the popular children’s program Peppa Pig causing children to speak with British accents? Some parents think so.
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In an article on Romper, Janet Manley wrote about the phenomenon of young children suddenly adopting English accents after watching Peppa Pig, something she termed the “Peppa Effect”.
“Up until the age of 20 months, my daughter was a pristine developmental specimen, untouched by screen-time. Then we flew to Australia,” Manley wrote. “After 21 hours of flight time spent binge-watching Peppa Pig episodes on the iPad, my kid had adopted Peppa Pig‘s plum British accent, calling me ‘Mummy’ and finishing her sentences with Peppa’s trademark snort … call it the Peppa effect.”
For those unfamiliar, Peppa Pig is a British preschool animated television series which airs on Nick Jr. in the United States. The show centers around an anthropomorphic pig, Peppa, as well as her family and friends who live in a fictional town in the UK. Most of the show’s episodes feature everyday activities that most young children can relate to, such as visiting grandparents, going to the playground, and playing dress up. The show is very popular and it’s YouTube channel alone has over 7 million subscribers.
However, that popularity seems to be having an impact on how toddlers speak. Manley isn’t alone in her observations. Fox News reported that many parents have been taking to social media to document their own children adopting a British accent as well as using some British language. One parent noted that their child that, in addition to the accent, their child had taken to using terms like “straightaway” with regularity.
As it turns out, there may be something to it. Roberto Rey Agudo, the language program director of the department of Spanish and Portuguese at Dartmouth College told Romper that children mimicking Peppa’s accent and language is “a matter of exposure” and that the reports of such mimicry is prevalent “in part because Peppa Pig has been such a phenomenon with the 2 to 5-year old crowd and it’s considered cute, whereas I don’t know what other shows have that kind of currency right now.”
Agudo also notes that children may have some fluidity with accents such as the Peppa Pig effect because they don’t process American English and British English as separate languages, even if they may notice some of the terms being different.
While most parents who have taken to social media to talk about their child’s Peppa-inspired accent think it’s cute, some have questioned whether these accents may end up being permanent. Agudo indicated that it’s theoretically possible however the accent may just be a way kids are getting their parents’ attention, especially when they use Peppa’s trademark snort.
“The snort is not far from a fart noise,” author and scientist Dr. Emma Byrne told Romper. I When I laugh I snort and it’s mortifying. I think the main reason it resonates with kids is it really winds up adults.”
“If you imagine being somewhere between the ages of 2 and 5, you don’t have much power in this world, beyond those tantrums of going all floppy, but as soon as you find a word or a sound in this case to consistently get youre parents’ attention, it’s an amazing thing.”
Do you think Peppa Pig could be causing children to have British accents? Let us know in the comments below.
Peppa Pig airs on Nick Jr.
