Why do different accents develop?

Question

People have only spoken English in Australia since the 1800s, when deportation of criminals began. How then, has the Australian accent develop so quickly to be so different to other accents?

Answer 1

There can be numerous reasons:
a) isolation. When a group is very isolated from the main population for a few decades, their accent may remain the same whilst those around them change, or vice versa.

b) politics. A group may begin to feel as if they need to assert their identity, so within the same community, people may deliberately begin to pronounce words differently. It's like a linguistic way of saying, "I'm with these guys, and you're not." (A good example was Martha's Vineyard in the US, in about the 1980s).

c) ethnic influence. A group may be made up of mixed ethnicities, who in learning the language of the country they have moved to, carry over aspects of their own language, such as pronunciation or grammar. ("He walks away" vs "He walk away", "She is gone" vs "She be gone").

d) socio-economics. Those lower on the social ladder, such as the middle class, may (over) emulate others in more socially prestigious positions. In exactly the same, but directly opposite way, those in much lower social positions, such as the working class, may assert their identity by deliberately choosing their own accent or dialect, and refusing to emulate the higher classes.

e) media. We are going to be influenced, however slightly, by the type of language we encounter in our daily lives on the radio or TV, which in England can be a mix of BBC English (RP) and Standard American English. This again goes back to emulating those who appear to occupy a position of authority or a position to which we should aspire.

In short, the reasons are many and complex, and all interplay to muddy the waters. There are no one-sentence answers, I'm afraid.

Answer 2

Language changes all the time. Changes in Australia became independent of changes in the United Kingdom and the United States. As time goes on, the languages sound different.

Here in the United States, the speech of those living in the Great Lakes States (where Chicago and Detroit are located) has been changing since 1950. People from those areas speak with a unique accent that I don't hear anywhere else in the country.

Answer 3

Its because there are so many different races that have made there homes in such as Australia and America that the amalgamation of these different languages produces an entirely different dialect. Take Britain we have Scots, English, Welsh and Irish all living in and around the same island and they all speak differently. In different counties they all have their different dialects and pretty soon they will develop an entirely different language as more and more immigrants come to settle and live.

Answer 4

according to risk, yet likely no. you spot, once you're from a place, it particularly is problematic attempting to develop into yet another place's standards. My mum and dad are Nigerian and have not lost their accessory even nonetheless they provide the impression of being somewhat greater assimilated and somewhat greater American than customary lol. My mom in a manner sounds British while she talks and my dad somewhat additionally, yet it particularly is with the aid of fact they have been colonized via great Britain and that's the English they understand.

Answer 5

australian accent is based on the cockney convicts....England and the UK has many many accents too, along with America....

Answer 6

duno

Answer 7

That's the way God has wanted it