How was the american accent formed?

Question

I know that there is more than 1 american accent as it varies state to state but how was the accent formed,i know in history that the first white americans were actually british settlers so how come they didnt keep the british accents?

Answer 1

with his toung, teeth, palat and epiglottis, i believe

Answer 2

Read Bill Bryson's marvellous book called "Made in America", this will not only answer your question but also tell you a lot about America that the schools do not, and in a very entertaining way too!

Answer 3

If you listen closely to the Boston accent you will find that there are many similarities to it and British accents. Accents change over time with new influences. Settlers from other regions, interactions with native peoples, the arrival of the dutch and independent adaptations of langue all result in the formation of accents.  

Answer 4

some of the weaker american accents have elements of the british accent if you listen closely.

which part of the british accent? scottish? northern englush? welsh? irish? west country?

Answer 5

Many of the original Quaker settlers sailed from Plymouth, taking their West Country accents with them - and true, Bill Bryson's book is brilliant - do give it a read.  Also, I'm guessing a bit, but it might be that the upper reaches of British society had no quarrel with the Catholic church, each economically bolstered by the other at the time, and so their more 'elocuted' accents remained here.  Same true of Australia, I believe.  The poor of London were ruthlessly shipped out, along with their Cockney accents, and that has now refined - in an amazingly short space of time - to the pleasing lilt heard today.

ps - Just read Amber's answer - very good!  She makes the good point of the evolution of language.

Answer 6

One theory is that it didn't form, rather it is like a "snapshot" of an Elizabethan english accent. America was first settled by English speakers in the 16th century. The accent in america "froze" and the accent in england continued to change. Some shakespearean experts (and not just american ones) say that the language of Shakespeare works much better in an American accent, and this some proof to that theory.

Another example of colonists keeping the old accent, while the "homeland" keeps evolving is Australia. Linguistics have long suspected that the Australian accents is similar to a Georgian London cockney accent.

Answer 7

There is a major work of scholarship, the Dictionary of American Regional English, that provides a linguistic atlas of American speech. Trained linguists can very accurately locate a speaker's birth place by listening for regional speech inflections.

Next to British settlers, the second largest group of immigrants came from German-speaking countries. Hence there is a lot of German in American speech, way beyond the amount resulting from the Saxon roots of English speech.

An answer to your query is that Americans have no accent. We all speak American. Foreigners have accents.

Answer 8

Accents from other countries came together and blended into one. Why do you ask s**y Paul? Your accent I'm sure if perfectly fine and sounds so sweet in the ear of anyone you communicate with.  

Answer 9

American accents change more rapidly in cities such as New York where there is a constant influx of new immigrants - perhaps less so now than in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

American accents which largely remain the same for about 100 years or so, are those of the mid-West and deep-South.  Why?  Fewer new people moving in.

American accents are greatly influenced by such as Scottish and Irish accents plus English country accents.

Here are samples of Irish accents and by listening to them, it is easy to understand how they have had an influence on accents in the USA over time - wherever the Irish have settled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Grg5Kqu...

Sean Connery - Scottish accent but not doing himself many favours here.  You can hear how his accent has influenced accents right across the USA over time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FgMLROTq...

English Devon accent - how to etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA09_U6Nk...

Here again you can hear how this accent was taken to the USA.

The very first English colony in USA was at Jamestown VA and the folk who went there first came from East Anglia and spoke a bit like the next vid-clip.

Communicating in a Norfolk [English] accent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJl5Vd_FK...

There is absolutely no doubt that both German and Dutch accents have had a great influence on the accents of the USA.  German accents would have been very common in pre-Independent America and even more common after when even more Germans came over.

Hundreds of thousands of Germans moved from Germany to the USA in the early and mid 19thC - probably escaping religious persecution.  No doubt of it that their accents have influenced the accents of Americans.

Like I say, accents change over time.  This is particularly true in major cities with an ever changing influx of newcomers.

Here is a recording of former slave Mr Fountain Hughes speaking about his life.  The recording was made in 1949.  He speaks with a clear Southern Accent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzXsH6YBu...

The above recording gives a good indication of what a southern accent of the 19thC probably sounded like, since Mr Hughes had been born in the 19thC and was over 100 years old in 1949 when the above recording was made.

There are other recordings of a similar type.

The most unhappy state of affairs concerns the very earliest recordings, most of which are believed lost.  One was known to have been made of Abraham Lincoln - it got lost.  That would be interesting to hear, but we cannot, which is a great pity.

Thankfully with modern recordings we will be able in say 100 years from now to know how American accents have changed over time.

Strange thing is that if you watch an American movie of the 1970s you can already hear the changes since back then.  For example, if you had asked to someone in 1971, "have you seen my cell-phone" they would probably understand the word CELL and PHONE but not the meaning of cell-phone.  Likewise when you see an office scene back in the 1970s movies there are no PCs on the desks.  How did we manage without them?  Paper shuffle!

Answer 10

i think when poeple find USA and lived there, they got lazy to learn english and say words also spelling the lazy way.

Answer 11

The pilgrims were mostly peasants who moved away from GB to evade taxation and to make their own country. The accent you hear is in fact derived from Cockney ( a dialect of English).

Answer 12

I believe the second world war changed the American accent more than anything else, for an instance watch a few or more American films made before 1938 and you will gain an insight to my views.

Before 1911 the accent was certainly of a British nature and change again took place with the huge influx from Europe from that date.

Answer 13

In parts of Southern Maryland, they still have the British cockney accent, crabbers fisherman etc.