British accents that sound American? (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

British accents that sound American?
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27 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

tractor
Tetraglot
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Message 25 of 27

11 August 2011 at 10:27pm | IP Logged

William Camden wrote:

Burns also speaks in an old-fashioned way, sometimes using expressions common
around 1900 or so, although I can't think of any to hand that he uses.

Automobile.
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amethyst32
Diglot
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Message 26 of 27

16 August 2011 at 3:17am | IP Logged

etracher wrote:

But I was wondering: which British accents might Roach be referring to as sounding American?

Maybe he's referring to the way they speak in the south west country, (e.g., Cornwall). It doesn't sound American to me - no way - but I could excuse a foreigner for thinking it resembles a certain type of US accent. Incidentally I was reading an article about this and it was saying that some 300 years ago the British and Americans shared the same pronunciation, but it changed on the UK side because of a non-rhotic fashion among the aristocracy in the late 18th century. I'd always presumed that it was the Americans who changed the way they speak, but according to this (and I wish I could find it!) it could well have been the other way around. :)

Edited by amethyst32 on 16 August 2011 at 3:22am
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Elexi
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Message 27 of 27

16 August 2011 at 10:15am | IP Logged

Me, I blame the Scots...

I am not sure the rhotic/non-rhotic split between US and English English pronunciation is simply based on the US English being 'frozen in time' from the 17th century. As in Canada, it might have a great deal to do with Scots and Irish immigration in the 18th-20th centuries - Lowland Scots, Ulster Scots and Irish English are generally rhotic and thus could have substantially influenced the American accent. According to the ministry of misinformation (Wikipedia) the old English colonies such as Massachusetts and Virginia had non-rhotic speach until recently, so that might indicate that the old 'English' parts of the US retained the South Eastern English non-rhotic pronunciation.

Still, I must admit, I do not know for certain.

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