The origins of different American accents?

Question

There are many different accents in different parts of the United States. Some of the New England states almost sound British which is understandable. I'm curious about some of the other accents such as Southern, Midwest and Western Pennsylvania. I'm sure it has to do with the ethnicities of the people who settled there but does anyone know anything interesting about the origins of all of the different accents?
Thanks!

Answer 1

The classic southern accent comes from the way that certain British colonists spoke. The Cajun accent (and the fact that many Cajuns speak French) comes from their ancestors, French colonists, who were driven out of Canada by the British and settled in Louisiana. Many people in Minnesota and Wisconsin still speak with accents influenced by Norwegian and Swedish. The Amish who may be the source of your western Pennsylvania speech were mostly German and their language and accent has been mistakenly called Pennsylvania Dutch (a corruption of Deutsch, i.e. German.)

Strong accents tend to fade out the farther west you go which reflects the cultural mixing that went on as people migrated.

Linguists have been known to be able to pin down where someone was born in New York to the nearest street intersection based on their pronunciation of certain words.

Answer 2

Southern accents originate from the Irish immigrants who, unable to find suitable work in the North and big cities (when the Irish fled to the U.S. due to the potato famine, citizens were concerned they would take all the work, similar to our feelings on Mexicans today, so no one hired them), fled to the South where it is warmer and you're less likely to freeze to death at night.