Why does the American accent sound the way it does? What/who influenced it?

Question

Is it possible that the American English accent sounds the way it does today because of the linguistic influence of settlers from other non-English European countries, such as Germany? Or is it something else, such as the Americans' desire to distinguish themselves from the British?

I'm talking about the standard American accent--the kind that news broadcasters speak.

Answer 1

Be careful about your assumptions. Sometimes we get the idea that what we hear in British English today is THE form of English spoken in the colonial period, that it has pretty much stayed the same and that American English deviated from it. As a matter of fact, American regional dialects (including accents) frequently reflect features of various British dialects of the 17th century, and the British English you are hearing today has also changed significantly since that time.

So, while it is true that the languages of non-English played some role in the development of the various American English dialects (including their accents), a MUCH larger role seems to have been played by the different dialects of English of the British Isles from which the majority of the original colonists to various regions came.

This also means that modern American English accents an dialects are NOT the result of some sort of deliberate effort to be different from the British.

_________________________

Here's a helpful overview I've found of what happened to give us our major U.S. dialects and to distinguish them from modern day British English (follow the link below for details):

"British colonization of other continents led to the establishment of various colonial, or overseas, dialects. These dialects developed because of the following factors:
1) the language spoken by emigrants who first established the colony was a particular variety of British English--the so-called founder's effect
2) this may have mixed with some non-English language in the colony--the so-called substrate effect
3) there may have been further mixing with other English dialects in the colony--the leveling effect of dialect mixing
4) innovations in British English that did not occur in the more conservative overseas dialect, or conversely, innovation in the colonial dialect (for any of the three previous reasons) which did not occur in Britain

"The main dialect areas of the US can be traced to the four main migrations of English speaking people to America from the British Isles during the colonial period (1607-1775).

1. New England - Puritan Migrations (1629-40) from East Anglia
2. Coastal South (Virginia to Florida) -Cavalier Migrations (1642-1675) from South England
3. New Jersey, Pennsylvania - Quaker migrations (1675-1725)from the Midlands area of England (near Wales)
4. Appalachian English - Scots-Irish migrations (1715-1775), mostly English people from Britain's Celtic fringe (North England, Northern Ireland)
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/AmericanDialects.htm

(For other distinctive features of thses four groups -- not just language but "folk mores" covering all areas of life and to some degree persisting today, see David Hackett Fischer's book *Albion's Seed*.)

For more on "General" or "Standard" American English, which combines features of some of the regional dialects, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American#Characteristics

Answer 2

All languages change, and are constantly changing. To speak of specific influences is to an extent silly; the most significant reason behind the modern-day sound of American English is that as Americans and British people stopped being part of the same communities and coming into contact with each other every day, their dialects naturally diverged.

Answer 3

It's actually a mix of all the immigrants to America.
Keep in mind ALL Americans other then Native Americans ARE immigrants and that includes white people too.
The immigrants from Britain, Germany, France, Ireland, and much more in the earlier times have most influence while the ones that came in 20th century or later prolly don't have that much influence since they only make up minority groups.

Answer 4

Yes itis like that because of the influences, for example in Louisiana they had french influence in the north like in Massachuset English, Netherlands influence. Also influence from native americans according of the location of the tribes.

Answer 5

Americans have no accent. At least not us real ones! Everyone else has an accent!

Answer 6

The influence of English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, German and other dialects.

Answer 7

wow i never realized we have an accent.....well i think it is a mix of toned down british and maybe native american(i dont think its our desire to distinguish ourselves from britian)

Answer 8

The only logical answer is the spirit of the buffalo which caused the invaders to speak funny.

Answer 9

even within english their are all kinds of accents-- sooo which accent are you talking about

Answer 10

Americans do not have an accent. Everyone else does.

Coach