When did Americans lose the British accent?

This has puzzled me for some time. I have done my best to research my query with little success.

I base my question to the scholars here on ATS in hopes of getting the answer. What first made me think of this subject was predicated by simple mathematics and a chance run-in with a 72 year old Brit. here in the states.

I met this man in a grocery store and he spoke with a distinct British accent. I asked how long he had been in the states to which he replied, "I came here in 1950."

We parted ways and I began to think. If this man has been here for more than 50 years and his accent is still highly apparent, how can I classify him in my search for the coming of age of the American accent?

Our fore-fathers arrived in this country in the mid 1700's. Brits they all were, equipped with their accents. For my research I will use 1750 as a starting date for these men and women to simplify the math.

There are numerous audio recordings from the early 1900's of various Americans. It is quite clear the British accent had vanished in these recordings. This leaves us with approximatley 150 years or perhaps 2 1/2 generations for the development of the American accent.

This is mind boggling to me. The man in the grocery store has been in the states for 57 years and hasn't americanized his speech.

How did the American accent come to be?

When did this take place?

Are there other examples of the development of unique accents?

I appreciate any and all input into this topic.

Becker

[edit on 18-10-2007 by Becker44]

It's not so much that we "lost" an accent, it's that they diverged. Pronunciations in the UK have changed since then too.

Here's some reading:

en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by djohnsto77


Thank you for the links. I am reading them now.

If I may impose upon you further, why do British musicians sing with an American accent?

Im also very fascinated by this and I also dont understand the standard explanations for it. Glad someone here is doing a little bit of thinking and questioning stuff everyone else takes as self-evident.

Why, how and when british turned into american is not evident at all.

Ive read entire books on the subject, and its still not evident to me.

Some believe its the mix of many nations and accents that came to america that turned the language into a "simplified" form of english.

Others believe its an accent that already existed in some parts of england (some say ireland) and just managed to dominate in america.

These two explanations still dont do it for me.

Originally posted by Becker44

If I may impose upon you further, why do British musicians sing with an American accent?

To sell more records in the U.S.....or is it that singing requires a different kind of language?

Originally posted by Becker44
If I may impose upon you further, why do British musicians sing with an American accent?

I think it's just more difficult to discern any accent in singing since the beat of the music takes over the natural cadence the singer would use if speaking naturally.

One more thing: According to some sources, the Brits spoke "American" 600 years ago.

This would mean that Americans speak the original English and Britians English has developed into something else...as the other poster here says.

Don't forget there never was (and still isn't) a "standard" British accent ... although the one you might be most familiar with is "BBC English/Received Pronounciation".

Try youtube and listen to the way Queen Elizabeth speaks and Gordon Brown the Prime Minister, both well educated people but she with a very clipped & restrained way of speaking and him with an educated but still thick Scottish brogue. Even within a very small country like Scotland and even now you can still pass from town to town and find the local accent to be slightly different. And in Scotland it's further complicated by some areas still holding onto the the Scots language, a language in its own right but a weird amalgam of English & European languages.

I suppose in the early days of the USA the new settlers started out with a wide range of English rural accents but over the years as immigrants arrived from other parts of the UK & from the rest of Europe, especially Ireland, over the generations accents did come together ... but even now accents & the way of speaking within the USA still vary wildly ... maybe it's because immigrants tend to keep together once they arrive. The same thing happened in Canada, Australia & New Zealand too.

Perhaps we might find that our own children & grandchildren will speak with a different accent to us as they're more influenced by the internet and tv than we ever were. Perhaps too there will be influences on English from Spanish as the hispanic community grows in the USA and that will spread back to the UK. Kids here already seem to say "whatever" everytime they get pulled up for some misdemeanour ... it's a small world indeed.

Thank you both for the insightful responses

I too am facinated one can not find a direct link to this transformation in speech. Being a New Englander I am quite familiar with what most call the "Boston Accent". This dialect seems to be the only American accent which has any resemblance to the original British one.

Bostonians and other new Englanders are quite proficient at eliminating the "R" if it is at the end of a word.

Cah = Car
Bah = Bar

This has British flavor to it wouldn't you agree?

Also, the "R" can be contained in the word and quickly replaced with an "AH"

Pahk = Park
Mahk = Mark

Then there is the New England "Soft A" for lack of a better term. This too has reminents of the British accent.

Pahth = Path
Cahf = Calf
Hahf = Half

My Dad is a native Bostonian and uses all the pronunciations above.

Then there is the unexplainable additional "R" New Englanders choose to put on the end of words.

Idearr = Idea
Indianer = Indiana
Florider = Florida

And lastly the adding of a syllable for no apparent reason.

My-in = Mine

Still puzzled.

Its a joy of mine to imitate various accents and languages and try to get them right. For this reason I was always fascinated by WHY these differences.

And another question that always mesmerized me, while driving my car: Where does one accent stop and the other start? Does this town I am driving through still have accent X or have I crossed that line?

Anyway...the new england deletion of the "r" and addition of the "r" in strange cases....like in "idear" is British, yes. A friend of mine is Londoner and always speaks like that "I have an idear". Funny, because I originally thought that was an american thing. And still new england english sounds vastly different than British.

And its not only the specific words but also the tone of voice and entire mentality that is different...have an australian, a scotsman and a texan stand side by side and talk and they will sound like three different planets.

reply to post by Becker44


That's the difference between rhotic and non-rhotic pronunciation. Standard American English is rhotic, while standard British pronunciation is non-rhotic; however, regionally both styles occur in both countries.

Another link: en.wikipedia.org...

Sometimes when I hear the Irish accent I think for a minute I'm listening to an American. I'm Scottish and if you heard me you would probably have no idea what I'm saying and I am speaking English BTW.

reply to post by wigit


You have a point there. Ive mistaken certain Irish accents for american too on some occassions.

The Boston area as we all know has a very high Irish population. I think all who have responded agree the New England accent is very close to the Irish brogue (sp?)

Wigit, Have you ever seen the Robin William clip about the origin of golf? One of the best I've ever seen.

For anyone who likes golf, Williams, or comedy in general here it is. Some coloful language if you are at work.

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by Becker44


LOL I was just considering posting the Robin Williams Scottish golf piece when I read your post.... funny stuff, I actually made a comedy anime video using the characters from Death Note lip synching along. So that one is particularly close to my heart especially since, I have a primarily Scottish heritage. I'm Scottish and German so, if you looked at Stereotypically, I should be grouchy all the time, hate paperwork, like drinking, soccer, etc. Anyhow if you have a few minutes to waste and/or enjoy Death Note check out my vid.

www.youtube.com...


Anyhow, I like the theory that we are speaking something more similar to the original British accent. I don't know if that's the case. I do understand that either way languages naturally evolve just like everything else. So who really knows who has changed more us or the Brits. To us, in America, Australians seem to be closer to the British accent, but who knows the Australians might think the same thing about us. Hopefully one will gives us an opinion on the matter.

reply to post by Osiris1953


That my friend is great work and hysterical. I'll give you some much deserved stars on YouTube!

Still hoping Wigit can translate the beginning for us.

Originally posted by Osiris1953

Anyhow, I like the theory that we are speaking something more similar to the original British accent. I don't know if that's the case. .

I read this in a book by Bill Bryson...either the one on Languages (Mother Tongue) or in the one about America. Im not certain about it either, but its an interesting theory.

Originally posted by Becker44

Still hoping Wigit can translate the beginning for us.

That's a job. He's making most of it up as he goes along and throwing in a real word here and there but that's exactly what a drunk Scotsman sounds like sometimes, lol.There's a very fast cumtahinkaboorit (come to think about it). Then there's something about yer erse (your bottom) anoot it kem (and out it came). The rest of the beginning is made up methinks.Have you ever heard of Rab C Nesbitt, our famous Scottish street philosopher? Hilarious stuff. Let me know if you need a translation.

Thanks for the compliment on the video and thanks wigit for shedding some light on at least some of what he said.

The guy in the videos sounds to me like
the movie Snatch "pikies" (sp?)
"need to get a caravan for me mum"

Well to my ears that is.

My take on loosing the accent why wouldn't it happen sooner. I've heard many people still having there accent after many years and the only thing I can't think of is they still use it everyday even at home. Like a Chinese guy uses it at home then at his restaurant. something to that effect.

Like when I had moved from up north to down south I didn't speak much to others, but when I did, I had to try and explain what I saying, talk slower cause the accent was still there. After time when I moved back north, Others found that I had picked up words I spoke like down south.