POP star Liam Payne is speaking with a combination of numerous different accents, according to a linguistics expert.
The former One Direction singer has generated headlines after speaking with a strange accent during an interview at the Oscars awards ceremony.
Dr Mercedes Durham, a sociolinguistics expert at Cardiff University, told GB News that Liam appeared to be speaking with a combination of accents.
She said his speech revealed elements of American and Midlands accents.
“I agree that his accent is a mishmash, there’s a lot of different things going on with his accent and he has some features that are from I would say Wolverhampton, or at least the Midlands in the north.
“I think he sort of kept some aspects of his own original accent, added some Americanisms, changed some other things and it doesn’t really sound recognisable to any one specific accent.”
Dr Durham was speaking on GB News’ Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel and added that Liam appeared to be trying to adapt his speech to match that of the interviewer.
“We sort of change her accent depending on who we’re speaking to but also depending on the situations, of course.
“When I’m talking to you, I’m speaking a little bit more carefully than I might if I was with my friends, but some people are actually better accommodators so they do shift towards the people that they’re talking to, to the extent that it almost sounds offensive sometimes.
“In this case, it might be partial accommodation, but it’s not hitting the target that you would expect, it doesn’t sound American.”
Eamonn Holmes commented: “He finished with a Dublin accent there. There’s no doubt about that.”
Co-host Isabel Webster said: “It did make me cringe because I felt like he was just trying to sound cool.”
