Accents (What's It To Ya?!)

A possible insight:

Many of us had regional accents - Bostonian, New York City, Cajun, Midwest, etc. - when we were growing up and, in many cases, they sort of faded on us. Military service, college, the deepening and neutralizing influence of national radio and television broadcasts all tended to influence and flatten our speech patterns.

But here's the thing: As I get older, I find that the Noo Yawk accent that nearly disappeared in my young- and middle-adulthood seems to be creeping back into me again.

I can't find any research on this, but here's an interesting site dedicated to American speech patterns.

(Anyone else out there experiencing a similar phenomenon? Click the comments link right below this post and join the discussion.)