Well, I guess before travel was so easy people didn't have other people across the world (or even countries) to compare to so they'd just speak differently because they didn't know there was another way. Same with languages.

It's not just prior to peoples meeting. Accents diverge as well. For instance, there's a theory that the modern US accent (whatever that means) is more like the 16th/17th century English accent. They took the accent with them and it changed less than those who stayed in Britain.

The real reason is that it's to stop us all sounding like brummie's or cockneys.

Can you imagine the hell if everyone spoke like that all the time !!

Geordies and scots rule...definetley the best accent...

Talking of accents..What do all the girlies think the sexiest accent is?? ...infact methinks that needs it's own thread

/me runs off to start a new topic.


{ www.tangent21.com/it.php/general/?topic_id=945 }

(Edited by Julz 04/04/2002 03:51)

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by Demona
Accents diverge as well. For instance, there's a theory that the modern US accent (whatever that means) is more like the 16th/17th century English accent. They took the accent with them and it changed less than those who stayed in Britain.

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That's true, but not for all American accents. There are certain East Coast accents in the US, in places where the population had been isolated for some time after settlement, where it is believed that the accents are sort of vestiges of what people in England sounded like several hundred years ago when English settlers first came there. That's the case in parts of the Appalachians, and in some of the islands of fishers in the Chesapeake Bay (Maryland) that had been cut off from the mainland for centuries.

What's also interesting, is that the difference in traditional American accents on the East Coast--such as some of the New England accents as opposed to accents in the coastal South--are directly related to the part of England the earliest settlers came from. Like settlers who came to American from East Anglia created a different type of American accent than those who came from, say the Midlands (hope I've got my regions rignt, but you get the idea).

I've often wondered when Brits and Americans started to sound different from each other.

How on earth, since there are no recordings of how people talked in the 16th/17th centuries, and you can't really recreate an accent even with a good written description, can linguists even make intelligent theories about what accents sounded like?

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by Diandra
How on earth, since there are no recordings of how people talked in the 16th/17th centuries, and you can't really recreate an accent even with a good written description, can linguists even make intelligent theories about what accents sounded like?

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I seem to recall reading that some of it was from rhymes, like in Shakespeare when you know most scenes end in a rhyming couplet then you know two words that (probably) rhymed once. I think they also use spelling on the grounds that it always used to be pretty phonetic and the rules for pronouncing words based on how they're spelt haven't changed as much as the spelling.

However, I too am leaning towards the dubious side here.

Well... i think it has to do with all the invading and recapturing and stuff. At least that' s why english people have all the different accents.
Easier to say why foreigners like Chambler, Noid and I got one It' s because your language sounds weird. why do you pronounce "R" like the german "A" ? Now thats something to think about!!

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by sara-angel
It' s because your language sounds weird. why do you pronounce "R" like the german "A" ? Now thats something to think about!!

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It's probably cos the last time we invaded your country the English Teachers we sent over their weren't very well trained...you can thank Government spending cuts on Education for that

(God I felt all Incish their )

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by Milky
(quotes)
(God I felt all Incish their )

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Welcome to the club.

You've been Inced!

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by Incandenza
Welcome to the club.

You've been Inced!

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Whats Paul Ince got to do with it?

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by Incandenza
(quotes)

Welcome to the club.

You've been Inced!

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*Quiver* ooooo I came over all funny then

Tis ok I got over it

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by Sweet-Sange
*Quiver* ooooo I came over all funny then

Tis ok I got over it

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Don't worry, it never does last long. Trust me!

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by Diandra
How on earth, since there are no recordings of how people talked in the 16th/17th centuries, and you can't really recreate an accent even with a good written description, can linguists even make intelligent theories about what accents sounded like?

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There was this really good series a few years ago called "The Story of English" that explained a lot. It discussed the origins of the English language and then went on to describe the origins of American English and speculate on how different American accents were related to the accents of the English settlers who came before. I think the series was a BBC co-production with one of the public television stations here in the U.S. That's where I'm remembering a lot of this from. But, yeah, it is amazing how they can piece all this together. And I'm sure that a lot of speculation after all this time.

I've always wondered why I don't have an accent (well, not much of one anyway)

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by White Hart
(quotes)

I seem to recall reading that some of it was from rhymes, like in Shakespeare when you know most scenes end in a rhyming couplet then you know two words that (probably) rhymed once. I think they also use spelling on the grounds that it always used to be pretty phonetic and the rules for pronouncing words based on how they're spelt haven't changed as much as the spelling.

However, I too am leaning towards the dubious side here.

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Rhymes are certainly very important. Verse rhythm helps as well. I'm sceptical about spelling, as that was notoriously unstable, though I suppose if there is no standardised spelling you're going to spell it as it sounds to you.

To some extent accounts by people unused to a certain accent.

This will give you some sounds, after that it will be educated guess work based on the pattern found.

(As an aside, my Shakespeare supervisor swears the texts should be read like a west-country drunk )

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by DJ Billy
I've always wondered why I don't have an accent (well, not much of one anyway)

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Everyone has an accent. Accent simply means 'the sounds one makes'. What you mean is that you have very little regional accent.

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by Demona
Everyone has an accent. Accent simply means 'the sounds one makes'. What you mean is that you have very little regional accent.

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From Dictionary.com:
ac·cent Pronunciation Key (ksnt)
n.

The relative prominence of a particular syllable of a word by greater intensity or by variation or modulation of pitch or tone.

Vocal prominence or emphasis given to a particular syllable, word, or phrase.

A characteristic pronunciation, especially:
> One determined by the regional or social background of the speaker.
> One determined by the phonetic habits of the speaker's native language carried over to his or her use of another language.


Well, the dictionary disagrees, and I think DJ knew what he meant when he typed it

(Edited by Stoo 05/04/2002 00:08)

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by Sandia
(quotes)

There was this really good series a few years ago called "The Story of English" that explained a lot. It discussed the origins of the English language and then went on to describe the origins of American English and speculate on how different American accents were related to the accents of the English settlers who came before.

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Thanks Sandia! I've seen that at the library, so I'll have to check it out.

Do you have a Joizey accent? I have to admit that the longer I work in southern Indiana, the more of a twang I have, and the more I catch myself wanting to say things like "We was in agreeance."

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by Stoo
(quotes)

From Dictionary.com:
ac·cent Pronunciation Key (ksnt)
n.

The relative prominence of a particular syllable of a word by greater intensity or by variation or modulation of pitch or tone.

Vocal prominence or emphasis given to a particular syllable, word, or phrase.

A characteristic pronunciation, especially:
> One determined by the regional or social background of the speaker.
> One determined by the phonetic habits of the speaker's native language carried over to his or her use of another language.


Well, the dictionary disagrees, and I think DJ knew what he meant when he typed it

(Edited by Stoo 05/04/2002 00:08)

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I'm guessing I won't get away with 'dictionary.com is wrong'?

The first two definition are irrelevant to this discussion, taking the alternative meaning of the word.

Oay, so I was a bit liberal with my wording. 'patterns of sound one makes' would have been better.

'A characteristic pronunciation' agrees with me. There is no such thing as not having an accent. If you're going to pronounce things at all, you have an accent.

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by Demona
(quotes)

I'm guessing I won't get away with 'dictionary.com is wrong'?

The first two definition are irrelevant to this discussion, taking the alternative meaning of the word.

Oay, so I was a bit liberal with my wording. 'patterns of sound one makes' would have been better.

'A characteristic pronunciation' agrees with me. There is no such thing as not having an accent. If you're going to pronounce things at all, you have an accent.

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*Sniff* I only thought I was asking a simple question

PS: There are two typographical errors in your previous post