Since US states imposed harsher COVID-19 restrictions, the soaring demand for Peppa Pig is giving US kiddies Bri’ish accents.
The “Peppa effect” refers to children who develop British accents from watching iconic TV show, Peppa Pig. However, communication experts doubt that the show can really change their accents.
Rather, Dr Susannah Levi of NYU says, it’s more likely kids are picking up individual words and phrases, such as “mummy,” instead of “mommy,” or “tomah-to,” and “zeh-bra”.
Peppa Pig‘s popularity has skyrocketed in the last year.
Longer hours of screen time was caused by stricter COVID-19 restrictions ordered by the US.
Between February 2020 and February 2021, Peppa Pig was the second most in-demand cartoon in the US, behind SpongeBob SquarePants.
According to the same statistics, Peppa Pig, in the last 30 days, has had 20.2 times the demand of the average TV show. In the US, it currently has 112 per cent of the demand of its country of origin, the UK.
Despite Dr Levi’s scepticism of the Peppa effect, parents are adamant that their children have quickly adopted Peppa’s accent.
One mother recounts the story of her young daughter picking up the accent after watching Peppa Pig during an overseas flight.
She notes that, according to a study at the University of Plymouth, children begin developing an accent at 20 months of age. So for her daughter, it was the perfect time for Peppa Pig to work her influence.
Many parents have been sharing the Peppa effect to TikTok, with the hashtag #peppaeffect having more than 30,000 views on TikTok.
@cultofdom#momsoftiktok #toddlersoftiktok #peppa #peppapig #benandhollylittlekingdom #british #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #accents #toddler #toddlermama #cute♬ original sound – Dom
Although the effect might be difficult to prove, kids’ accents being shaped by TV shows is definitely a thing.
If you think about it, many Australian primary schoolers with nickelodeon or the Disney channel seem to have a slightly American leaning accent.
Regardless of linguistic studies, if not a real change within their voice, it could just be that kiddies want to emulate the queen that is Peppa Pig.
oh yesss…my daughter commonly uses words and phrases like ‘sat nav, petrol, can i have a go?’ etc. and for Christmas i had to put out a freaking mince pie for father christmas or as we call him here in the states…santa 🤣
— onnie 🌈🌿🌷 (@onnie46) June 29, 2021
