‘I even asked a history professor (a long time ago) about when our accent stopped being British. When would we describe it as distinctly American?.’
I have often wondered the same thing myself. One of my favorite periods of history is the colonial/Revolutionary period. BTW, the wife of our landlord is the head of Welsh studies at a local college. I want to pick her brain someday. :)
It’s my understanding that we are speaking what was once the British English and England late went on to new dialects c
The same is true with Quebec, as the speak old French.
The “New World.” Go figure.
I remember reading an article a while back as to what the Brits actually sounded like during the Revolutionary times. It stated that the British accent has changed so much since then that the Brits of 1776 actually sounded more like what you would hear today in some parts of North Carolina.