Jah Foreign Accent Syndrome, mon

A 60-year-old woman wakes up
after a stroke speaking with a
Jamaican accent.

After a brain injury, her
distinctive Newcastle accent has
been replaced by a mixture of
Jamaican, French Canadian and
Slovakian accents.

Dat poo' ooman, har inna wan jam mon.

"Researchers at Oxford University have found that patients
with Foreign Accent Syndrome have suffered damage to tiny
areas of the brain that affect speech.

The result is often a drawing out or clipping of the vowels that
mimic the accent of a particular country, such as Spain or France,
even though the sufferer has limited exposure to that accent.

The syndrome was first identified during World War II, when
a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel damage to her brain.
She developed a strong German accent, which led to her being
ostracised by her community." BBC News