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????
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I suspect American regional accents were as varied (in the pre-broadcast era) as they are in Great Britain, and it depended on where in the UK people came from. For example listen to an English speaker say a word like ‘true’. In some areas the word curls to something like ‘truy’. That also happens in Australia and in southern states like North Carolina, where otherwise the accent sounds very different.
Around Boston, there isn’t just one accent, but you can tell south shore from north, and the Maine accent gets more pointed the further downeast you go.
The reason actors tend to get Boston accents wrong is that there’s two: the Brahmin, a totally phony ‘english’ put-on used by politicians like JFK (ex: Mayor Quimby), and the more blue-collar southie (ex: Casey Affleck in the fake Dunkin’s ad from SNL).
Everyone I’ve ever met in California speaks like the average network broadcaster, while the further north you go it starts sounding more southern.
Now the effect of technology on accents, that’s a can of worms. Listen to the stilted lilt of an old-time radio broadcaster, or a mid-century hollywood starlet. They spoke like that because microphones weren’t very good. Born of necessity, it became the style, and didn’t diminish until the 1970s.
Listen to the British West Country accent: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahznvtDunEw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahznvtDunEw)
You can hear the hard R’s that we use in the US now. Coincidence that the West Country city of Plymouth is the namesake of Plymouth Rock?
>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.
Don’t really understand what you’re saying, but I’ll give it a shot.
The modern “standard” American accent emerged in the post-war period, as television networks preferentially hired broadcasters from the Midwest. This more authentic, ostensibly more patriotic, “American heartland” way of speaking contrasted with the more affected mid-Atlantic accent that was used in film and radio before WWII.
The American West was a relatively newly colonized area, so it didn’t have established local accents to the degree that regions in the East did. As a result, the “standard” American accent more quickly took hold in the West compared to the South or Northeast. Later regional subcultures like hippies, surfers, and valley girls led to the development of the modern California accent.
Watch this 3 part series. It’s very good.
[Accent Expert #1](https://youtu.be/H1KP4ztKK0A)
I think the Appalachian accent is a relic of the British accent. The accent in Cleveland and along the Great Lakes is a reaction to the Eastern European accent.
Apparently people in England speak differently from town to town. Here we pretty much only hear “Queen’s English” on TV, BBC’glish…but accents there vary far more than accents here that range from Boston, Brooklyn Baton Rouge. I remember trying to talk to a gal whose accent was thick and she said I am speaking english and I’m trying to translate it for you.
We’re a melting pot remember. Everyone here was not just British but from all over Europe. So like you said Italian influenced New York etc. Have you ever listened to someone speaking Dutch? It sometimes sounds exactly like an American accent except not speaking English. It’s a trip. When traveling in holland I often thought I heard other Americans only to find out they were speaking Dutch
In addition to what’s been said, I’d like to point out that the Trans-Atlantic accent has all but disappeared in modern language. So not only did accents quickly evolve in the pre-broadcasting era, but even in the last 100 years accents have seen evolution in all parts of the world.
There is actually a small island off Virginia where the locals speak with a thick West country accent: https://youtu.be/AIZgw09CG9E
Many southern US accents are very British. If you start listening to it you will hear it. I didn’t know this until an English co-worker showed me. He could not do a “normal” American accent but he could do a spot on southern accent. He said to him it was easy because a lot of the sounds were the same.
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