Have you ever noticed how your accent seems to change around different people or in various situations? You’re not alone! A Filipino woman recently took to TikTok to showcase how her accent transitions depending on who she’s with.
Meet Trish Bautista, a resident of Los Angeles, who shared a video (@trish_bautista) where she humorously reveals her “different accents” as an American immigrant. She effortlessly showcases her Californian generic accent before smoothly transitioning to her Manila accent. She even switches up her voice for U.S. settings, another for when she’s in Manila, one for family interactions, and a specially tailored “voiceover creator accent” for TikTok.
Bautista’s joke about her accents reflecting different personalities is quite common and falls under the term “code-switching.” This phenomenon, as described by Encyclopedia Britannica, refers to the seamless shift from one dialect or language to another based on social context.
Code-switching is a unique way to maintain a strong sense of identity and foster a sense of belonging within different groups.
Since Bautista’s video was posted at the end of May, it has garnered significant attention on social media platforms. As of writing this article, the video has amassed over 106,600 views and garnered more than 11,400 likes.
Viewers were amazed by Bautista’s fluidity in switching between accents, with some relating to the phenomenon of code-switching in their own experiences.
For instance, when teaching beginner Italian, I choose to conduct classes solely in Italian from lesson one to help students immerse themselves in the language. Occasionally, I may simplify complex words or concepts to aid comprehension.
It’s not just educators like Lodola who alter their speech to aid understanding; we all engage in some form of code-switching, consciously or unconsciously.
Whether it’s adapting your language according to whom you’re addressing at a public event or in everyday interactions, code-switching is a skill many of us possess.
Bautista’s social media posts on her accent transformations have sparked a myriad of responses. One viewer commented, “The ease with which you switch it up is impressive.” The video has attracted over 200 comments, with many expressing how they relate to the experience.
One TikTok user wrote, “Ahahaha, this is so me! When I moved from NZ to Canada at 23 and now live in the US after marrying an American, code-switching has become second nature.”
Another comment reads, “As another immigrant in Canada, thank you for validating my multilingual personas.”