Origin of the American accent

[Leaffan]

Hell most people in North America can’t even distinguish between Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English accents at all!

[John_Mace]

@Mangetout

I’ve opined this before, but I’m pretty much convinced this is largely perceptual. To me, there’s almost no similarity between, say, Dorset and Merseyside accents, but to Johnny Foreigner, they’re just ‘British’.

You’r right. There are large swathes of the US in which the accent is unchanged. No such condition exists in the UK or even just England.

And it would be astounding if it were not so, given the different histories of the two countries.

[Mangetout]

@Leaffan

Hell most people in North America can’t even distinguish between Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English accents at all!

Whereas many people in the UK will have trouble distinguishing Canadian accents from those in the USA, or be able to pinpoint an American accent as coming from Texas, Iowa, etc

Or indeed discerning Kiwi accents from Australian accents (which I bet Kiwis and Australians have no trouble with)

[Mangetout]

@John_Mace

You’r right. There are large swathes of the US in which the accent is unchanged.

That wasn’t actually my point, and I’m not sure I wish to argue it. That would certainly be the perception of many non-American English-speakers, but that’s the point - perception can be really misleading.

[Cinnamon_Imp]

I met a lady in County Clare, Ireland who I would’ve sworn was American from her accent (but, umm, really wasn’t). I’m guessing the Irish immigrants had a large influence on various of the American accents.

[John_Mace]

@Mangetout

That wasn’t actually my point, and I’m not sure I wish to argue it. That would certainly be the perception of many non-American English-speakers, but that’s the point - perception can be really misleading.

I was not speaking from the standpoint of perception, but from what linguists have recorded.

[ruadh]

@John_Mace

I was not speaking from the standpoint of perception, but from what linguists have recorded.

What linguists have recorded no difference in accents in different parts of the US (as opposed to “no difference readily perceptible to the average listener”, which is not the same thing)?

[Connatic]

Getting back to the OP, the origin of the American accent is America.

As English speakers colonized North America, the evolution of British dialects continued apart from American dialects. Hundreds of years later, you can see the accumulation. Moreover, the changes in Britain have occured at a much more rapid pace than the changes in the American dialects. Just like our puritanical values…

Oddly enough, William Shakespeare would have spoken more like President Obama than the Queen.

[Mangetout]

@John_Mace

I was not speaking from the standpoint of perception, but from what linguists have recorded.

I’d like to see some more of that, because it sounds like it supports a position I felt sure of, but could not support and eventually abandoned in a previous discussion.