What is the origin behind the American accent?

Question

I have always been interested in accents, for example why do people in The North of England have a different accent from us in the South? etc

Answer 1

The Americans, as I'm sure you know, originally came from England. The English accent of around the 1500s/1600s, when there was mass migration to America, stayed with them in the USA, while the native English accent evolved here to what it is today.

Irish immigration in the 19th/20th centuries also contributed to the modern American accent, merging with the American English accent. Listen to an Irish and American speaker - they sound close.

Answer 2

Im from the midlands interior the united kingdom - i like maximum american accents - I truly have american acquaintances and watch dissimilar american television and dissimilar of the accents are relatively beautiful. i think of the only component to the yankee accents that get on peoples nerves is whilst they are performed up and once you do no longer purely like the guy who has the accessory - as an occasion some human beings do unlike people who talk like paris hilton because of the fact they think of she's dumb and do unlike her - this is specially institutions with those that annoys those with any accessory - american or no longer. As for no longer liking human beings i in my opinion do no longer accept as true with that - As i discussed in the previous I truly have dissimilar american acquaintances and that they are dissimilar the sweetest human beings i be attentive to. it can be a damaging generalisation for somebody to assert that they hate human beings or the different nationality in reality - because of the fact purely like everywhere else, each and every physique is diverse and unique. i will tell a honest few accents aside yet i think of i could have maximum difficulty remembering the quite a few state names! - i'm damaging at geography (i infrequently additionally be attentive to the place i stay!) this is great which you're gonna come over right here - i think of you will discover that British accents are much greater assorted than you are able to anticipate - possibly commute around the rustic somewhat to get a flavor of ways the accents exchange - dont purely persist with London, have a sturdy go searching :) desire you relish it =) xx

Answer 3

I think that when you listen to the southern American accent, you can pick out some similarities to the Yorkshire accent- the way they drag their vowels and the words they use.
Some of the accents sound a bit like posh english to me.

The Canadian accent is the best of them all (yes, I know it's not American LOL) it has all sorts of little bits of British here and there!

Answer 4

I think you pretty much answered your own question. People tend to speak differently depending on region. For instance alot of folks in massachussetts speak with an accent that probably came from Irish and English immigrants. and in the south you have a number of folks who speak with a drawl. They may speak the way they do because of the French and Spanish influence in the region. People in the midwest definitely have their own accents as well. Like people from wisconsin and michigan tend to pronounce words like "bag" more like "beg". maybe you'd be best suited studying etymology.

Answer 5

You would probably enjoy Bill Bryson's book, "Made in America", which not only addresses this question, but also gives a huge number of fascinating facts about the way language evolved in the USA (among other things)

Answer 6

I know it's off topic, but the Texan/Oklahoma accent really gives me chills right now. Only on women, of course.

Answer 7

there is no origin
every body came from somewhere
and americans making american accent everyday!!

Answer 8

There is a slight rolling R which could have orinally come from Hampshire or the County "Mayflower" sailed from

Answer 9

May be disgust for the British who kicked them out of England.

Answer 10

Your question is one that might best be answered by a long course of study in the history of English. Here is a website that might help:

http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/hel/hel.html