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Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

nicholasjohnpatrick.com

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Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#151

Post by bocajuniors »

euccastro wrote: post #99
nandemo wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what is worth, African Portuguese sounds more like European Portuguese to us Brazilians. Portuguese poetry of the Renaissance period only makes sense phonetically if spoken with a Brazilian accent In this case I wonder which Brazilian accent? I guess it would be Rio accent or some Northeastern accent. In case anyone is curious the hear the differences, this page contains recordings of a Portuguese sentence spoken…

For Galician (see [1] for the reason why this is relevant) speakers, Brazilian and African accents are easier to parse than "official" (not northern) Portuguese. Whatever the history there, it seems very clear to me that it's the central/southern Portuguese version that diverged the most from whatever was the original language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_language

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that(due to its largely african(mores) population) some southern dialects are as much arabic as portugese dialects?

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#152

Post by bocajuniors »

davidw wrote: post #70
bocajuniors wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read somewhere that before 1960 less than 50% of italians spoke Italian.

Here in the Veneto, the former Republic of Venice, the dialect is still very alive and well, and in many situations is more prevalent than Italian. And it really is quite different than Italian in many ways: "She's a beautiful girl" Italian: E` una bella ragazza. Venetian Dialect (at least one version of it): Xe na bea tosa. Lots of words change, and even the grammar a bit. Indeed, with many italian "dialects" it's q…

The fans of Boca Juniors are called Xeneizes, wich means genovese in genovese.Genovese is a dialect of the ligurian language...

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#153

Post by fbnt »

bocajuniors wrote: post #44
davidedicillo wrote: post #8

I always been fascinated by accents and dialects, coming from a very young country like Italy, built on top of thousands of city-states, where it's enough to drive 30 minutes to encounter a completely different dialect and culture.

I read somewhere that before 1960 less than 50% of italians spoke Italian.

Probably much more than 50%. I've never heard my grandparents speaking any italian at all, but I guess they could understand it to some extents. Italian as a language started to spread among middle/lower classes only in the 60's when most of the people bought TV sets for their living room. I still use my regional language (a variation of venetian) everyday with family and friends.

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#154

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ErrantX wrote: post #51
hugh3 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does "no accent" mean? How can anyone not have an accent?

I just mean there is no discernible accent; you can't tell where in the UK I am from.

Can you point us to an example of you speaking a few sentences of unprepared material - let us decide.

I find accents hard to pick up but fascinating. I can just about make out the accent differences between my (town-sized) city and the next one though as there is a specific inflection that differs.

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#155

Post by lukev »

coderdude wrote: post #134
waterlesscloud wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Southern California definitely has an accent. I live here and I can hear the natives. I think the fact that Socal has become the defacto American accent via TV may be distracting you.

Could be, but I stand by my point that we mangle language the least when we speak. No pronouncing college like "callage" etc. I wonder if the schools really teach that.

Language's are impossible to mangle. Dictionaries only describe, not dictate. If the majority started to say "callage," then "callage" would become the "correct" (i.e standard) form.

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#156

Post by pbhjpbhj »

mahmud wrote: post #77
detst wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but which one? He says "us Somalis", "...the U.S (we...", mentions in his profile that he lives in Northern Virginia but also calls Sydney home yet the diction (i.e. "shopkeepers", "Chavs", "piss-taking", etc.) of his post screams British to me.

Hi, I am Amy Walker, I am 25, and I was born in Somalia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k (make sure to not miss a second)

She's not British is she? She's definitely not Irish or Scottish, her RP seems off to me ... is she American? She [purposefully it seems] doesn't say in her CVs.

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#157

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Gormo wrote: post #114
thinker wrote: post #25

I'd agree with the analysis that English is closer to how its spoken in the US today accent-wise. If you look at how people speak English in British colonies, the pronunciation isn't heavily accented to how its spoken in the UK today. For example, South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh).

I've heard more than a few Indians speak in an accent that very close to Scottish. Caribbean English accents also remind me of Scottish. I wonder if there were certain areas of the British Empire that had disproportionate Scottish influence.

People attempting to do a Welsh accent often make a stereotypical Indian accent.

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#158

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Mark_Book wrote: post #46

Can someone tell me when did english people start pronouncing sixth with a k instead of an x. I've only noticed this phenomenon this decade. It's almost as irritating as pronouncing 'three' as 'free' which at least has the merit of being easier to say

>It's almost as irritating as pronouncing 'three' as 'free' which at least has the merit of being easier to say

Free vs Three has been a constant battle for me. I found these extremely difficult to differentiate aurally and three very hard to make orally. This was a constant source of me being corrected throughout school.

British people can certainly tell the difference and I've learnt it well enough to make the difference in pronunciation and to hear it enough to teach it to my son and correct him - he doesn't appear to have my problem with it (he's in infant school).

Chav English and other dialects ignore the difference.

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#159

Post by isleyaardvark »

zalew wrote: post #105
ErrantX wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try being a Brit without an accent. It's so bloody boring I have to fake the Queens English to get laid. ;)

Enlighten me, what's the the British accent popular in movies like Football Factory, Human Traffic etc. which I find cool; while every Brit I've met in my life had this 'royal' accent I personally don't find understandable (sorry, no offence)? Actors of international-targetted movies use some other accent for a certain effect? Also, once I've met a guy AFAIR south London or sth, he spoke that his wife told me even mo…

"Cockney" is a good term to search for. It's a London accent you'll hear in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Michael Caine has a Cockney accent.

Re: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

#160

Post by confuzatron »

detst wrote: post #107
mahmud wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ethnocentrism 101: Only other people have accents, never us.

I served this one up on a platter for someone to take but I think lkozma's reasoning is more plausible. I don't think ErrantX's comment was based in ethnocentrism. It's just a way of describing a non-regional accent in the US and apparently the UK.

There's no such thing as a non-regional UK accent - there's perhaps a non-regional middle-class English accent, but no non-regional UK accent.
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