# Does the Cornish accent sound a lot like (general) American English? (UK dopers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545 "2014-02-05T03:13:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/1 "2014-02-05T03:13:59Z")
After watchning the Southwest episode of **Food Glorious Food** , the Cornish accent sounded a lot like an American with a couple of peculiarities. UK dopers, do you agree? [Example 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzacygXU8zU) [Example 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcMJWZBzYjU) ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/2 "2014-02-05T06:04:10Z")
I’m _not_ a UK Doper…but to my American ears, the Cornish accent sounds like a slightly Irish-tinged American accent. Not too dissimilar from our stereotypical Irish-American cop or priest. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/3 "2014-02-05T06:34:33Z")
No, it doesn’t make me think of America. Makes me think of Pam Ayres. That said when I hear American accents, they do sometimes put me in the mind of the west country. The west country accent isn’t geographically confined just to Conrwall (though of course it does vary from place to place) I live about 35 miles due west of central London and even this far east as the west side of town the local accent is broadly-speaking west country. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/4 "2014-02-05T07:02:02Z")
UK doper, no. To my ears it is very distinct from most USA accents I can recall. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/5 "2014-02-05T08:40:02Z")
Interesting isn’t it? Absolutely not to these Australian/British ears. Just not even in the same territory. There is no doubt we latch onto different parts of accents, and components that to one ear are totally differentiating, to others are inaudible, and vice versa. (For instance, I, unlike most people, don’t have any accent at all. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/6 "2014-02-05T09:00:58Z")
I was told while living in England that the accents of the West Country sound closer to American accents than any other accents in the U.K. This does not mean that they sound closer to American accents than to other British accents. Anyone listening to them would say that they are definitely British accents. It’s just that there are certain ways that they resemble American accents: > **[West Country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country)** > > The West Country is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, and less commonly Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. The West Country has a distinctive regional English dialect and accent, and is also home to the Cornish language. > The West Country is bounded by the English Channel in the south and the Bristol Channel, Severn Estuary or Herefordshire in the north. The eastern limit is less clearly defi... ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/7 "2014-02-05T09:32:10Z")
Englishman here, no they don’t sound even slightly American to me. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/8 "2014-02-05T09:56:40Z")
English woman here and nope, they sound like pirates to me. I live in the South West although I’m not from here and struggle to discern Cornish from Devon, Somerset or Dorset. But they certainly don’t sound American to me. Some American accents occasionally remind me of other accents - I feel I can recognise Irish and Italian in New Jersey accents, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/9 "2014-02-05T10:17:59Z")
Not surprisingly, since there are lots of people of Italian and Irish ancestry in New Jersey: > **[File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg)** > > Original file ‎(SVG file, nominally 800 × 593 pixels, file size: 2.5 MB) > A chart of the top reported ancestries in the US, as provided by the 2000 census. Shaded color represents the largest number of respondents (a plurality) from sample. Areas with the largest "American" ancestry populations were mostly settled by Germans, English, Italians, French, Welsh, Scottish and Irish. > (Above explanatory text originally by users Quasipalm and W.marsh.) > Based on page 8 of https://www.census.gov/prod/20... ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/10 "2014-02-05T10:39:36Z")
If we’re keeping count, no - to me (English) it doesn’t sound like a US accent at all. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/11 "2014-02-05T10:50:54Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Not surprisingly, since there are lots of people of Italian and Irish ancestry in New Jersey: > > [File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg) Well, quite, it’s just interesting how Americans accents have developed. Were there a lot of immigrants from the South West of England to parts of the US? Although I’ve said I can’t hear it, I wonder if us Brits are too close to it to hear the West Country influence on American accents. I read on this board that New England accents show traces of East Anglia (in the South \*East \*of England). Again, I struggle to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/12 "2014-02-05T10:52:31Z")
I’m English. It sounds like a summer holiday in Cornwall, or as **SanVito** says “pirates”, not American at all. I think it’s the rhotic r that makes it seems American, but there is so much more to it than that. There are plenty of other English/British accents that are rhotic, so that doesn’t make it American to me. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/13 "2014-02-05T12:04:05Z")
I’m working in Padstow today (lovely place, if a bit damp at the moment ), and no one here sounds American to me. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/14 "2014-02-05T14:01:49Z")
I’m English. From the West Country, in fact. Cornish people sound very, very slightly like rural New Englanders to me. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/15 "2014-02-05T14:10:19Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > I’m working in Padstow today (lovely place, if a bit damp at the moment ), and no one here sounds American to me. “get ooooorrrrrrrff moi laaaand!” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/16 "2014-02-05T14:32:12Z")
As an American, to me it sounds like it could be an American, or possibly, someone from the east of Canada. If I heard that accent without any context to it, I certainly wouldn’t think “Oh, he’s English”. For that matter, I had no idea the Wurzels were British at all. I always thought “Combine Harvester” sounded like it was being sung by some guys from Wisconsin. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/17 "2014-02-05T14:45:07Z")
The Wurzels were from Somerset. Somerset is one thing (“soidarrr!”) but Cornwall is another. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/18 "2014-02-05T14:49:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > For that matter, I had no idea the Wurzels were British at all. I always thought “Combine Harvester” sounded like it was being sung by some guys from Wisconsin. The Wurzels made it to the States? For shame! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/19 "2014-02-05T14:52:12Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > I think it’s the rhotic r that makes it seems American, but there is so much more to it than that… Exactly. Many of us with only an average familiarity with British and US accents latch on to the “do they pronounce the syllable-final\* r\*?” as THE mark of distinction. Such folks would me reminded of a “standard” American accent whe hearing those those Cornish examples. But, as you say, the more you learn about the many American and British accents, the more you realize this “rhotic/non-rhotic” thing isn’t such a big deal after all. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545/20 "2014-02-05T14:53:27Z")
Listen to this [Cornish dialect: Jon Mills with Alistair McGowan on BBC's The ONE Show - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcMJWZBzYjU) and make your own mind up. Or this [John's Story- dialect of a Cornish Farmer - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzacygXU8zU) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-cornish-accent-sound-a-lot-like-general-american-english-uk-dopers/680545.md?page=2)