Where did the british accent come from?

Answer 1

As many others have stated there are a whole variety of "British" accents. In fact, for an island it has the largest number of seperate accents than any other place on the planet.

Most people from the US think that there are only 3 though, consisting of Cockney, the Upper Class Twit and Mancunian (Daphne from Frasier).
Many of the regional dialects were taken from various invaders. The Newcastle or "Geordie" accent can be traced to the Viking raiders from the Scandinavian countries, hence its lilting musical sound.
Others that have influences from surrounding regions making it a fantastic mish mash. Buying a couple of soft drinks in a local pub in Wiltshire you might be asked if you'd like "hoize i' bo' ?".

The accent closest to many from the US is Cornish, with its slow drawl and heavy "r" sound.
A lot of people refer to the Queens English as the correct form of British accent. This however is incorrect as all of the royals speak affected English. For example when Prince Charles says "yes" it sounds like he's saying "ears".

The British accent that you might be reffering to is RP or Received Pronounciation, traditionally used by the BBC. This itself has changed over the decades (listen to broadcasts from the 50's) and is the one taught to non english speakers.
RP is often believed to be based on southern accents, but in fact has more in common with south-east Midlands dialects such as: Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire. In the 14th and 15th centuries migration to London from these areas resulted in something of a conglomeration which then mixed with elements of Essex and Middlesex. By the end of the 15th Century, this "standard English" was established in the city of London.

Answer 2

There are tons of different British accents, all bred from the relative isolation of little villages. Before the advent of the BBC, the fact that people tended to be born, live, and die in the same little area of the country bred these particularly different ways of speaking. The BBC, in both its radio and television forms, tended to standardize accent during its first few decades of operation, by choosing presenters with one particular accent that AMERICANS think of as "the British accent." The BBC now often chooses presenters with a hint of a regional accent.

I can pick out about 9 different British regional accents: inner-London accent, Home Counties-type-accent, Glasgow accent, other Scotland accent, Greater Manchester, Geordie accent, Welsh, Northern Ireland, and down around Devon; but I'm sure someone who has grown up in Britain would be aware of more, even if at a subconscious level.

Answer 3

There is no one British accent - the Scots & Welsh have their own distinctive accents - and some regional variation within them.

In England there are regional accents, which vary quite substantially - at least as much as those in the USA -between say the deep South & New England., and also class accents - the upper and middle classes tend to have a class accent -often with a little regional overlay.

Accents overall are becoming more universal, as the society becomes more egalitarian, people travel more, and the influence of television as a leveling medium.

Answer 4

From Britain....

It comes from the same place that the dialects of any country or region come from, like America, Canada, or the Caribbean. It developed over time as different ancient peoples settled the area, each with their own language or way of speaking. The "british accent" is actually the base for a lot of modern dialects, as the British were settlers on so many different islands and continents.

Answer 5

Which British accent?
You might as well ask, where does the hearing mindset come from that can't distinguish between the hundred or so British accents?

Answer 6

To break through all the goofy answers with a real one I heard that spoken English changed in Great Britain after America was colonized. According to a Shakespeare scholar that I listened to during college at some point the people of Great Britain started to feel that spoken English was an unattractive language. So they took some of their favorite sounds from French and Italian, languages they considered to be far more beautiful, and incorporated them with English. They thought that words ending in 'r' were the worst, and if you listen to many people from GB you'll find that words that end in 'r' are often pronounced with an 'a' sound.
That's one story, and of course being separated from Great Britain Americans, which I assume you are, speak in our own way as do the British.

Answer 7

Britain

Answer 8

An alien species called the Brittanthians inseminated old white men with the power to wear wigs and blessed them with a splendid dialect of mush mouth linguistics.

Answer 9

Great Britain

Answer 10

It was a reward from Jesus when they defeated the Borg during World War 2.