What are the roots of American accents? Where did the English accents go?

Question

Specifically I’m wondering how the typical English accent became the typical western accent (Which sounds relatively country), and how did that become the modern accents on the West Coast? What factor was added in that made cowboys start sounding like the modern day Californian.

I’m assuming the typical NY accent comes from Italians coming over.

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Bonus question: Why are there no places in the US at all that kept the English accents????

In: 613

Answer 1

I also wondered this and when I looked into it the research said that the US actually has retained the original “British” accent; it’s the British accent that changed in the 1800s. The hard “r” that you hear in North American English was the original British accent. The soft/rolled “r” that you hear in British English now is a fairly recent development.

I really wish I had retained the resources where I learned about this.