An American prostate cancer patient developed an ‘uncontrollable’ Irish accent in his late life despite never having visited Ireland.
This is according to a case study published by the British Medical Journal, which paints the portrait of a rare complication called “foreign accent syndrome”, reports The Guardian.
“His accent was out of control,” says the study, conducted by researchers from Duke University and the Urological Research Institute of South Carolina.
The scientists also specify that the patient would have kept this accent for about twenty months before his death from the consequences of his cancer.
This syndrome can develop after a head injury, stroke or when the patient has a psychiatric disorder, the case study continues.
However, the researchers had no reason to believe that the patient in question had either of these predispositions.
Their theory is therefore that he may have developed a paraneoplastic neurological disorder which would be responsible for the arrival of the Irish accent.
Some people who develop this syndrome eventually revert to their original accent, while for others the change is permanent.
This case study requires further investigation and further research to better understand this syndrome, its authors conclude.