How do regional accents develop?

Question

and national for that matter? Why does English in the US sound so different from the English spoken in England? Thanks.

Answer 1

This is a complex question nobody knows all the answers to.

Traditionally, there were many different accents in England because medieval English towns and villages were relatively isolated from one another, and an English farmer in one village often never heard the English that was spoken in another English village only twenty miles away during his entire lifetime.

In the late eighteenth century, the London dialect (a non-rhotic type English) began spreading in England affecting and replacing dialects which had previously been isolated.

However, America was colonized before the London dialect began spreading (1607 - 1775) so American English contains influences from English dialects other than London. For example, the Somerset or West Country dialect, seems to be the basis for what is spoken in Maryland and Virginia while the East Anglian dialect seems to be the basis for the English that is spoken in much of the northern United States from Massachusetts to North Dakota.

The Englishes of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Falklands all sound more "British" because these lands were colonized by the English later than North America was.
The American accents of New York and Boston (non-rhotic) are probably the closest to British English because New Englanders had closer contacts with England than say, mountaineers in Virginia and West Virginia.

American English has also been influenced by immigration although it's not entirely known in what ways. There may be some Dutch, German and Yiddish influences on the English of New York. According to English professor Seth Lerer, at Stanford University, the North Central dialect of American English (Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas) also called " Yopper" has been strongly influenced by Scandinavian, German and Polish settlers. Spanish accents can be heard in Miami, Texas and California but it's too early to assess the way they are probably influencing English there.

Answer 2

Yeah, I just did a Blog on this Today...I'm a Northern ! Being from the Chicago suburbs all My 50 years Makes sense.

I have Y360 Friends in England and Australia, 2 of them I I'M often and i Find myself asking them what this or is. One asks why I talk so funny The other Talks 5 languages so She knows what's happening Most of the time but She does Have Her Blond Moments...

Answer 3

I think it had a lott to do with the lack of a global community in the past. What do Y'ALL think?