How did the americans/Australians get their accents? when the colonies were found?

Question

I cant understand why the americans ended up with an destintive accent, even though most of the first colonists were from the UK.

Answer 1

Actually, an important part of your answer is in the second question -- 'WHEN the colonies were founded?' Yes! This also helps explain why Australian accents sound closer to modern British accents than American ones do because the BRITISH accents had changed between the time of the earliest American settlements and those in Australia (etc).


I see some trying to explain the difference by giving a very large role to the influences of other immigrant groups, and seem to assume that the accents one hears in Britain today have changed much less than those in America.

Not exactly. Though it is certainly true that mixing with non-English languages was one factor that shaped American accents (and other dialectal features including vocabulary), the MAIN features of the main regional dialects in the U.S. reflect much more the dialects of the regions of England from which the bulk of the settlers had come.. . that is, the dialects of those regions AT the time the settlers migrated!

Thus, the main dialect areas of the US reflect the four main migrations of English speaking people to America from the British Isles during the colonial period (1607-1775).

SUMMARY:
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
(=notes from a college course on Linguistics, taught by Ed Vajda. Check the rest of that page. It includes a discussion of other factors that shaped the various dialects, and lists many of the distinctive features of these four regional dialects.)
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Now note that some very significant changes in British English --and esp. of the 'dominant dialect' of the Southeast (what later gave us the "Received Pronunciation")-- took place from the late 17th to late 18th centuries, that is, AFTER the main migrations to America. This included the change in the pronunciation of /r/ and various vowels. In fact, in many cases, most modern American dialects are CLOSER to 17th century British English than what one hears today in Britain. That is NOT to say that American dialects are ALWAYS closer. Again, ALL types of English changed -- in vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, etc. Sometimes one group is 'closer to the older way', sometimes another; sometimes BOTH just reflect DIFFERENT ancient patterns; sometimes both have dropped them!
http://www.linguistlist.org/ask-ling/accent.html

These changes in British English are important for understanding why Australian English sounds closer to modern English dialects than any brand of American English (with the possible exception of some New England speech, affected by continued intense trade contact with England after the colonial period). The first settlers from England to Australia arrived at the end of the eighteenth century, AFTER these changes. Thus Australian, as also New Zealand and Singapore English, reflect something closer to current British dialects.

Of course, Australian pronunciation, like the American, reflects the regional accents of the areas of Britain THEIR forebears came from came from. In particular, since the settlement began as a penal colony, sending British convicts mostly from large English cities, the accents of the working class of these cities -- such as (and esp) London Cockney-- played a large role in shaping Australian pronunciation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English

Answer 2

pawt72 has it right. People think that the American accent has developed and evolved and the British has stayed the same. Hollywood depicts 17th century English people with plummy cut glass accents wheras if you study the text books used in schools in England at the time it is clear that the English accent back then was far closer to modern colonial accents than is generally recognised.

There was a recreation of a Shakespeare play at the Globe recently using original accents and it was a mixture of English West Country, Southern USA and Australian twangs. Very Strange.

When Russell Crowe was picked to play Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander he had to convince the director he could do an English accent. Ironically his Australian accent was probably more appropriate for Nelsons navy. You can see it in the word order used in some speeches.

Very very roughly speaking 17th century English people had sort of American accents, 18th century people had sort of Australian accents. It was the late Victorians and the advent of the BBC that caused the "Received Pronunciation" (BBC English) to spread.

Of course Britain and America have lots and lots of different accents so you can't generalise and both countries have evolved many different patterns of speech - however these are my opinions on how Americans and Australians got their accents- they brought them across with them!

Answer 3

Did you pay attention to British Accent? And I'm asking about Scotish, irish, Midlands, Southeast, londoners, Oxford (Brillliant and real english).

300-400 years are enough to change accents. Specially, because after UK, many others come from Europe. Italians were one of the latest.

Compare Texan accent with someone from Australia.

I saw BCC documentary from Scotland fishermen where had subtitles....

Answer 4

Actually the 'general American' accent is said to be more like the original accent of the UK. Appparently around the 17th century the British accent began to change. I don't know where the Australian accent came from.

Answer 5

Americans don't all talk the same. they have regional accents and dialects. how they talk depends on who originally settled in that area. the English settled in the Deep South, the Scots settled in the mountains of Appalachia, the Scandinavians settled in the mid-west. people from Iowa might not understand someone from Vermont because of the accent and different words used for an object.

Answer 6

Accents everywhere in spoken English are regional. Major cities such as New York, Boston etc., receive a constant flow of new immigrants, therefore the accents of such places change quite quickly - within a single lifetime.

In the Mid West of the USA where people have settled from c1850s, accents tend to remain unchanged over time since there are fewer new arrivals. This means accents and dialects remain steady over time and have changed little.

Television and Radio have influenced accent change, certainly.

The first English Settlers in America, would have had English accents. Since most of these people were 'Puritans' and since the heartland of Puritanism was East Anglia, they probably had accents associated with that part of England.

Accents in the Southern States of positively English mainly of the 1800s kind. I have often heard words spoken exactly as one would have heard them in Regency England. [Beau Brummel, etc]. A slow drawl kind of southern England mode of speech.

Australians tend to have a mix of Eastern English, some Cornish, Welsh and lots of Irish sounds in their accents. Words such as 'cobber' come directly from the Cornish Tin Miners. Cobber in Cornish means 'copper'. So, "good on yuh cobber" is a greeting between Cornish miners who settled in OZ.

Accents in London have changed quite dramatically even in my own lifetime. Cockney is nowhere near as 'sharp' as it used to be. Listen to any song recorded by the famous Cockney singer [Rock n Roll] Tommy Steal. The clarity of his voice is startling, but it's undoubtedly Cockney of the Burmondsey kind.

Answer 7

According to Melvyn Bragg - who did a documentary on English - he believes they derive directly from emigrants from the south of England. I think Irish accents have their part to play too.

Answer 8

Irish???!!! Noooooo, it was the Scousers and the Geordies who gave the Americans their accent.

Answer 9

Its a matter of isolation, convergence of different cultures, etc etc. Take 1000 Brits, throw in a bunch of Germans, Irish, and Native Americans and put them on an island for 200 years and see how they talk...it would be different.

Answer 10

Australian accent is basically Cockney, but with your face screwed up because of the sun.