what are the differnces between todays southern US accent and the accent spoken in the pre Civil War South?

Answer 1

This is an almost impossible question to answer. However, a clue may be gleaned from the1957 interview with John Salling (1846 - 1958), which I heard on television a few years ago, who is considered generally (but not exclusively) to be the last Confederate veteran of the American Civil War. To me, Salling's accent sounded virtually the same as a modern Southern accent. No surprise. They say that it usually takes at least 200 years to notice that a language has changed. John Salling did not live all that long ago comparitively speaking.

Some people might say, "Well, he lived a long time and his accent was probably influenced by 20th century Virginians." However, recent studies by linguists and child speech specialists indicate that people pretty much acquire their accents by 10 months of age regardless of what language they speak. So I think that Sallingers accent is a faithful immitation of the way his parents would have spoken in the 1840's.

You may wish to read the internet link on John Salling below, where they talk a little bit about the way he spoke English, calling it "Chaucerian." I don't know if this is accurate but as I said before, I do know that it sounds pretty much like what you would still hear in rural Virginia today.

http://www.omalco.com/salling.htm

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

You had over a hundred years from the time of the first permanent English settlement (Jamestown was settled in 1607) to the time of Washington's birth (George Washington was born in 1732). On top of that there were several other nations which founded colonies in what would become the United States during that period (Spain's first colony actually predates the Roanoke Island colony, aka the Lost Colony, which predated Jamestown). Because of this there was ample time for the American accents to develop by the time Washington was born. The mixture of English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Scottish, German, and Native American would have caused the evolution of the American accent by the time he was born. But it's not as simple as would he have spoken with an American accent as you'd have to look at the distinct regional accent he would have had. He would have spoken with a Southern American accent which would have been different from a New England American accent. And because he was from Virginia his Southern accent wouldn't be quite the same as that of the Deep South which would be a bit thicker.