Did Americans In 1776 Have British Accents?

Common Sense Evaluation ^

[gaggs]

Have you ever wondered if the Founding Fathers spoke with a British accent? I know I have. Well here is the answer.

The typical English accent didn’t develop until after the Revolutionary War, so Americans actually speak proper English. Here comes the science.

[humblegunner]

(Excerpt) Read more at

[Yaelle]

Very interesting. I love the regional accent developments in the USA. The French and African influence in the south, mid European in the east, the spreading of the vowels as the settlers trod west, the Scandinavian influence still seen in the north and Canada. And my accent came from broadcasting. In the 1930s everyone in Los Angeles spoke English with an American twang, but broadcasting and the entertainment industry flattened out our vowels over the next three or so decades.

[Redbob]

The part of Alabama I’m from, people have different accents in different parts of my county. I’d be very surprised if the “American” accent wasn’t very different from that of the Brits of the day.

In fact, I’d be very surprised if the accents of Philadelphians, for example, wasn’t very different from that of New Yorkers, and both were very different from Bostonians, or Virginians, etc.

[Grampa Dave]

Over decades ago, those who monitored the Brits were told that there were over 30 distinct accents.

Apparently, that was an under estimate:

How many accents are there in the British Isles and North America?

https://www.quora.com/How-many-accents-are-there-in-the-British-Isles-and-North-A...

There are about 56 main “accent types” in the British Isles (or less controversially the “Anglo-Celtic Isles”), but within each of those accent types there a. ... In parts of Yorkshire, England, the 2nd person singular pronouns and adjectives “thou, thee, thy” are still used even among young people, and they have a very distinctive ...

[Slyfox]

It is very interesting that when the British sing they sound like Americans.

The reason being is that Americans are taught proper diction. Webster's dictionary is a great example of that.

[\/\/ayne]

Walt Disney lied!

[b4me]

which one is your blog, humble?

[alexander_busek]

In the 1930s everyone in Los Angeles spoke English with an American twang,

Can you perhaps explain why people from L.A. used (in the 30s and 40s) to pronounce the name of their city "Los AN-gel-eez" (with a hard "g"), while today it is pronounced "Los AN-jel-iss?"

Likewise Honolulu: Used to be pronounced "Hon-uh-LOO-luh," and is now pronounced "Hon-uh-LOO-LOO."

Regards,

[DLfromthedesert]

Thank you. Fascinating.

[outofsalt]

I like to remind people that if George Washington had not defeated Lord Cornwallis in Yorktown in 1781 we would still be speaking English in this country.

[buckalfa]

But do not call the Swamp Fox “Shirley” !

[Fiji Hill]

I once read a magazine article which argued that George Washington, being a Southerner, spoke with a drawl, y'all. It should be noted that the magazine in question was The Southern Partisan.

[SoCal Pubbie]

I wish my parents were still around to ask them if your statement is true. My father was born in East Baskersfield in 1915 and graduated from Maricopa High School. My mother was born outside Portland, Oregon the same year, and moved to Los Angeles around 1919. She was moved around LA a lot as a young girl and finally graduated from Eagle Rock High in 1933.

Neither had any twang that I recall. My father tended to pronounce “creek” as “krik” but that's about it. My mother always pronounced “Brea” as “Breeya” but again that's the only anomaly I remember. She did have an older sister who added “R” to words like pronouncing “Washington” as “Warshington.”

I do know that Southern California was so full of Midwestern transplants that Los Angeles was derisively called “Double Dubuque.” I always thought that the flat Midwestern accent was the basis for the standard media style.

[Yaelle]

Ha Ha Ha my mom used to say Los AnGeleez. She was the only one. I used to look at her weird. No idea where that came from!

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Ebonics was popular then.

[laplata]

There are some interesting videos on YouTube covering this subject.

From what I’ve seen, Washington sounded like a typical upper class British gentleman.

[The Deplorable Miss Lemon]

Interesting question. I was told by a professor that if we traveled back in time we would probably not understand a word our ancestors said. I tried it with some copies of written manuscripts and while I could get the gist of the writings I was a stumbling fool trying to read them aloud. LOL

[Dilbert San Diego]

Speaking of California, there are some words such as crayon, which are pronounced differently than elsewhere.

For example, my kids, born and raised in California, pronounce the word crayon, as “crain” as a one syllable word. My wife and I with midwest and east coast origin, say that word as “cray_yonn” with two distinct syllables.

[BlueLancer]

...and is now pronounced "Hon-uh-LOO-LOO."

Or, as the majority would say, "Hon-uh-ROO-ROO".