I'd live to read more about this. One area left out here is "Southern" American English, which actually sound a lot more British (non-rhotic) than the rest of us. #ddtb
Reshared post from +Leland Kruse
American Accent? Or is it….. Maybe the British are the Ones Who Changed
… I’d always assumed that Americans used to have British accents, and that American accents diverged after the Revolutionary War, while British accents remained more or less the same.
Americans in 1776 did have British accents in that American accents and British accents hadn’t yet diverged. That’s not too surprising.
What’s surprising, though, is that those accents were much closer to today’s American accents than to today’s British accents. While both have changed over time, it’s actually British accents that have changed much more drastically since then.
…
The biggest difference between most American and most British accents is rhotacism. While most American accents are rhotic, the standard British accent is non-rhotic. (Rhotic speakers pronounce the ‘R’ sound in the word “hard.” and "Color" Non-rhotic speakers do not.)
So, what happened?
In 1776, both American accents and British accents were largely rhotic. It was around this time that non-rhotic speech took off in southern England, especially among the upper class. This “prestige” non-rhotic speech was standardized, and has been spreading in Britain ever since.
Most American accents, however, remained rhotic.
There are a few fascinating exceptions: New York and Boston accents became non-rhotic, perhaps because of the region’s British connections in the post-Revolutionary War era. Irish and Scottish accents are still rhotic.
© 2010 Nick Patrick
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DID AMERICA'S FOUNDERS HAVE ENGLISH ACCENTS? | The Last Goddess Magazine
DID AMERICA'S FOUNDERS HAVE ENGLISH ACCENTS?
Hmmm, after looking at the title of the article and the pic, I've got a different question. What does Angelina Jolie dressed as Laura Croft have to do with English accents? Did I (as usual) miss something?
I evolved. You didn’t 🙂
@LH – I have to say, this is all one of the more interesting and less mainstream questions I’d love to see settled by time travel. I suspect you could get useful info from period grammar books (and poetry, as in what rhymes with what), but actually hearing how people in Boston, London, etc. spoke in the late 18th Century would be kind of cool.
Thanks +Hal O'Brien! Given a year or two, I could have figured that out too 🙂
I have to confess, I was wondering the same thing. Though including Angelina Jolie dressed as Laura Croft is something that most posts could benefit from.
I think about this every time I watch Shakespeare, for which an English accent is inevitably adopted.
@Avo – I suspect both Shakespeare and Robin Hood would be nigh-unintelligible to modern audiences in their native accents. Though the article puts a whole new spin on the mockery done of Kevin Costner’s lack-of-accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Lack-of-accent being a relative term, of course.
+Jim Tatsuda Short answer: Nothing. It's just an excuse to use a cheesecake shot. Longer answer: Lara Croft, the character, is British. Unsurprising, since Tomb Raider was written in the UK. Ms. Pitt is not. So when she played Croft in the movie, she was an American doing a British accent.