<p>I agree that children do pick up the local accent. In my own case, I don’t really know when I altered my non-standard pronunciation of the word egg. I know it was sometime after starting first grade. I prorbably did alter my pronunciation because I heard others at school and in the neighborhood pronouncing it differently, rather than because I heard it being pronounced differently on TV. I’ve always been curious about where the aigg pronunciation for egg comes from. I’ve heard some older people in the N. KY / Cincinnati area pronounce it that way, too. Both the Louisville and Cincinnati areas have a high concentration of people of German ancestry. I wonder if that has anything to do with it???</p>
<p>I have cousins who grew up on Long Island with a dad from Louisville and a mom from Boston. They speak with a Long Island accent. My siblings and I found it very interesting to listen to them talk when we were growing up. Our uncle sounded “normal” to us, but our aunt and our cousins had “accents”.</p>
<p>My husband’s parents are from Alabama, but he grew up in N. KY. He has a midland accent, except for a couple of southernisms that he learned from his parents. My Ds and I find it interesting that we can tell when he’s on the phone with any his Alabama relatives - his speech changes. He says he’s not conscious of it, but the girls and I sure are! His speech becomes noticeably Southern.</p>