Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Interesting - and, to me, a bit surprising.

"In 1776, whether you were declaring America independent from the crown or swearing your loyalty to King George III, your pronunciation would have been much the same. At that time, American and British accents hadn't yet diverged. What's surprising, though, is that Hollywood costume dramas get it all wrong: The Patriots and the Redcoats spoke with accents that were much closer to the contemporary American accent than to the Queen's English.

It is the standard British accent that has drastically changed in the past two centuries, while the typical American accent has changed only subtly.

Traditional English, whether spoken in the British Isles or the American colonies, was largely "rhotic." Rhotic speakers pronounce the "R" sound in such words as "hard" and "winter," while non-rhotic speakers do not. Today, however, non-rhotic speech is common throughout most of Britain. For example, most modern Brits would tell you it's been a "hahd wintuh." It was around the time of the American Revolution that non-rhotic speech came into use among the upper class in southern England, in and around London. According to John Algeo in "The Cambridge History of the English Language" (Cambridge University Press, 2001), this shift occurred because people of low birth rank who had become wealthy during the Industrial Revolution were seeking ways to distinguish themselves from other commoners; they cultivated the prestigious non-rhotic pronunciation in order to demonstrate their new upper-class status.

"London pronunciation became the prerogative of a new breed of specialists — orthoepists and teachers of elocution. The orthoepists decided upon correct pronunciations, compiled pronouncing dictionaries and, in private and expensive tutoring sessions, drilled enterprising citizens in fashionable articulation," Algeo wrote.

The lofty manner of speech developed by these specialists gradually became standardized — it is officially called "Received Pronunciation" — and it spread across Britain. However, people in the north of England, Scotland and Ireland have largely maintained their traditional rhotic accents.

Most American accents have also remained rhotic, with some exceptions: New York and Boston accents have become non-rhotic. According to Algeo, after the Revolutionary War, these cities were "under the strongest influence by the British elite."

http://www.livescience.com/33652-americans-brits-accents.html

For spelling differences, please use this link:

http://www.livescience.com/33844-british-american-word-spelling.html

Regards,
John

[scot47]

The dominance of Southern English speech - in the forms of RP and Estuary English are a historically recent phenomenon. When radio came along there was an attempt to make RP the sole accepted form. The enthusiasts for that heresy have been defeated. It is now chic to speak with barbarous "regional accents",

Personally I will persist with my silken Sean Connery accent and an idiolect sprinkled with Scotticisms. If it was good enough for David Hume, it will do for me. "Damn Scotch philospohers," as some 18th century London grump decried us !

Thank you Johnslat, and my respects to Messrs Franklin and Jefferson. Confusion to their enemies !

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Johnslat

I'm not sure your article is fully on the ball when it says that the typical American accent has changed only subtly, though it is true that the British one has changed quite dramatically. Now, please correct me if I am wrong, and it is entirely possible that I may be in error, but is it not the case that while non-rhotic took over most of Britain, a similar process was happening in the States, though in reverse? That is to say, rhotic was slowly taking over there. For instance, how non-rhotic is New 'Yoik' today compared to even the 1950s?

The article also completely ignores the phenomenon of having a massive melting pot of non-English-speaking immigrants mixing together and their effect on accent change in the US.

So, the claim that the typical US accent has somehow undergone less change than the British one seems to me to be on rather shaky ground.

I share your surprise, but I feel my scepticism probably goes deeper...


Best wishes

Sarshar

[johnslat]

Dear Sasha,

Your skepticism always goes deeper .

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Johnslat

It is a product of a rational understanding of historical materialism. A committed Communist must always be at the ready to denounce any humbug propagated by the Piggies - whether that be the British monarchy, or in this case, some sort of spurious American claim to 'purer English'.

I mean, why else would we call our world-famous newspaper 'Pravda', eh?

Sasha the Unvarnished

[wangdaning]

English is not the only language that got changed with the colonization of the new world. I think the pronunciation of the "r" is a good thing. Same with other consonants forgotten by our Bri'ish cousins.

[Phil_K]

And that would be "BriDish cousins", would it? Strange way to pronounce a "t". Better not to pronounce it at all.

[Sashadroogie]

'R' is pronounced in Britain - just not always as a consonant, but as a vowel at the end of a word or syllable.

/ɑː/ Retroflex R, as it is sometimes called.

[scot47]

Not in Scotland where an R is an R !

[Sashadroogie]

Is Scotland still in Britain?

[scot47]

Until we vote to cast off the chains !

[Sashadroogie]

Vote! You have nothing to lose but your retroflex R's!

[scot47]

I intend to vote early and often.

[Sashadroogie]

..and what about the voting habits of all the dead generations of your glorious freedom-loving line? I hope it can match the resurrective power of the average Florida burrough?