Diablo

I've noticed myself a great deal of us British say different things from the Americans.
I wonder how the Americans got rid of their UK accents because most white Americans that speak English as there main language had to come from any part of Europe.
Do you think this difference has to do with our history?

carlam

Well, that the UK isn't the only country in Europe could be part of the reason. And I think most immigrants these days aren't coming from Europe.

Diablo

True.
But I still wonder how us Britians got the accent and how the American didn't.
I wonder how that works...You might be right about the UK not being the only place in Europe.

I wonder if that is a reason.

carlam

hmmm... I don't know. It is pretty wild, though, how 300 years following a big move like that, people would lose an accent from generation to generation.

Diablo

I agree.

Its baffles me to think that people would lose their accents. I mean in the 1840s they mostly had their accent.
So how did they lose it?

And how did the United Kingdom keep theirs?

emilyb

hmmm, what do you mean? are you refering to the English UK accent, Irish UK accent or the Scottish UK accent? as far as i knew, the US doesnt have only immigrants from the UK....but all over the world....i suppose my accent was lost when my irish ancestors procreated with native americans and poof, i was born speaking yankee.
anyhoo, where are you from? you are learning spanish? hows it going so far?

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Emily B

Diablo

I was refering to the British accent and how the Amercians most of them were British lost their accents.

I'm from London. I'm learning Spanish in my unfiformed bording school. So far my minds seemed to be asparated from the tedious Spanish.
Every time I tried to read a long paragraphs of Spanish my mind goes blank and like a fish tries to gasp for air.

But my mother is Mexican and my father is British...I'm just a bit of an oddball.

carlam

Well, I'm done.

sarab

Contact between a variety of cultures always results in changes in languages and customs. The U.S. is not the only place where this happens...try studying some of the regional words and accents all over Latin America and you will see how the contact between immigrants and natives from a particular region has given each country a very different culture, language, etc.

In the case of the U.S. and U.K., you will find that both accents have changed over time...the British accent of today is likely extremely different from the accent of 150 years ago, and the same goes with U.S. English. Languages and accents constantly evolve, they are not "lost".

Good luck with learning Spanish Diablo, we are here to help!

ScottJ

The accent argument is similar for me to the evolution argument: the American English accent "comes from" the British accent as much as humans "come from" monkeys. The accent used in spoken English 400 years ago or 200 years ago in England is different than what is spoken today. It, too, has developed. So, the American branch and the current British branch could be linked to the same accent, but their modern forms are quite different from each other AND from the mother accent from 400 years ago.