Your Kid Might Be Picking Up A New Accent From Gaming

You might’ve noticed your child who enjoys online gaming, particularly formats like Fortnite’s Battle Royale, sometimes sounds a little, well, different.

It might be that they’ve switched to what linguists call ‘Fortnite accents’ – high-pitched and fast-paced accents with an upward inflection at the end of each sentence, almost as if everything is being said in the tone of a question.

According to experts at the English language classes platform Preply, the accent “mimics the sound of an overly excited or frustrated child’s voice”.

“The accent is fuelled by the intense, sometimes chaotic nature of the game, especially when players get knocked down,” they said. 

“When you die in Fortnite, you have to start from scratch, losing all the loot and perks you’ve built up. That can lead to a lot of high-pitched shouting, panicked chatter, and exaggerated expressions of frustration.”

Discussing a defining feature of ‘Fortnite accents’, Adam Aleksic, a linguist and influencer known as Etymology Nerd, previously said many Fortnite players use “response cries ... almost like they have to communicate a feeling of excitement or shock”.

He added that these cries serve “an important meta-linguistic function, both as reactions to stimuli in the game and as a kind of social performance for the other people in the voice chat”.

“Interestingly, they do seem to be uniquely mediated by the first-person shooter format, where it’s both necessary to respond quickly and signal the end of an utterance, so the rising tone functions almost like saying ‘over’ on a walkie talkie,” he explained.

There is also research suggesting gamers switch into “ludolects”, or specific dialects for each gaming format – and this might vary depending on the game and users. 

As Aleksic explained: “So the ludolect for Fortnite might be similar to the ludolect for Valorant [another first-person shooter game], but both will have their subtle differences as their users will basically build a new language together.”

Why does this happen?

It’s a pretty normal reaction to have. As Preply’s language pros explained: “When you spend a lot of time in a particular social setting, you naturally start to mirror the way they speak. This is called linguistic conversion.

“It’s a subconscious way of adapting our speech to fit in, helping us feel more connected and accepted by the group. It builds a sense of belonging and shared identity through language.”

Should parents be worried?

The accent probably won’t stick – like the utterly meaningless phrase six-seven (and all the other unusual sayings kids say online these days), it will pass. 

“Children’s and teens’ interests and hobbies are constantly evolving, and chances are that as they grow older, they’ll find themselves in different social settings than online gaming lobbies,” said Preply’s team.

They noted once kids stop playing the game as frequently, or begin mixing with different groups, they’ll usually revert to their original way of speaking – or shift to a new way entirely. 

“Most changes that happen through social mirroring aren’t hard-wired, and in most cases, they’ll naturally grow out of it,” they added.