To me, Tessa’s accent sounds Midwestern (newscaster accent). It is not predominantly class based. Somewhere on The New York Times website is an interactive survey that lets Americans determine where in the United States their accent is most common, based on their word pronunciation. What would the results be if people from the U.K. took the survey?
I never lived in the midwest but yes I have a general US accent I guess. Although I did live in Texas so I picked up a few yawls ;) I think that survey could be very interesting!
I would have thought that most Americans never had an English accent. The biggest immigrant group into early America were of Germanic descent. Those from Spanish/South American descent and French and Irish descent also entered the mix. I would have thought that mixing that lot up developed a new hybrid accent.
Yes, some Spanish spoken in New Mexico is the Spanish equivalent of Elizabethan English, but has mostly faded. When New Mexico became a state, there were many people that never spoke English there whole life; it wasn’t necessary. Spanish is basically a second language in the United States.
I almost put in that about 4.5 million Brits emigrated to the US between 1820 and 1957 (my parents among them) and I think that must have contributed to the late uptake of an "American" accent in the US. Americans love the British accent so I'm not surprised they imitated it over any other for so long.
There are several you tube clips off early recordings by the mid 1800s Americans in their dotage, these include civil war vets. early photographers, pony express riders, Wyatt Earpe, and one off Sim Webb, Casey Jones's coloured fireman, recounting the crash. One thing that struck me, as an Englishman myself, was their perfect English, it was better than the English spoken today by the younger population. Search them out and see what you think.
In this spirit of discussing of accents, I noticed your round "o's'" and a,distinct pronunciation of "now." Are you from the Baltimore or maybe Philadelphia region? Cheers!
I don't mind the differences, but when Americans say 'route,' rhyming it with 'sprout', my brain explodes. Chuck Berry never sang 'Get Your Kicks on 'r-out' 66' did he? Why , why, why did they change it! It's r-oot!!!!
I totally agree. It seems to becoming more of a problem in computing terms. A rOUTer is a tool for cutting routs (grooves) out of wood A rOOTer is a device for selecting the correct route. What the Americans erroniously call a Wi-Fi rOUTer should be a WiFi rOOTer!
“England and America are two countries separated by the same language!” I believe the above quote is attributable to George Bernard Shaw, but he and others have said something similar.
@@chrisvowell2890 Route is often pronounced differently depending on the context. The most common are the following: Route 66 = rhymes with boot A postal worker has a mail route = rhymes with sprout
@@chrisvowell2890If you find the pronunciation of route annoying, some portions of the Midwest pronounce the word idea as ” I-deer”. The English language can also be difficult to spell, especially if one has lived in several different English speaking countries and/or regions. Due to the history of the English language, there are many inconsistencies between how a word is spelled versus how it is pronounced.
@@HipOverFifty can you post a video explaining why the Brits spell it "programme" and we spell it "program," as well as other words like center/centre and color/colour?
There’s a school of thought that the American accent is the original English accent but after Brits started moving to the new world the accent in England began to change whereas the people who went to America didn’t go through that change.
Less than 2% of British people have the same RP accent of the Royal family. Modern PR is spoken by around 20%. It's estimated that between 6% and 10% of Americans have British ancestry The most common ancestry in the USA is German. So quite naturally the American accent developed away from the English.
Try the Aberdonian Accent. Even we Scots find it hard to understand them. I encourage you to listen to a song sung by the late Andy Stewart, titled : *THE MUCKIN O GEORDIE'S BYRE* then tell me if you could understand the words :)))
The British West Country accents are ROHTIC. If you have heard someone from Somerset for instance, saying a sentence such as the following: *_"THERE ARE WORRR WORRMS IN THE PATATES"_* (THERE ARE WOR WORMS IN THE POTATOES) *They roll their R's*
Oh I live in Somerset, and have a hard time understanding the local accent. Have you watched the guy on Clarkson's Farm? I know that's not Somerset but he's as tricky to understand ;)
As Irish I prefer the English accent all of them. Sounds so nice to the ears.
Very interesting. This is not something I had thought of before.
Neither had I until I read an article and sparked the idea!
I've always wondered why the Americans and Brits have a different accent. Thanks for sharing.
You're very welcome. I found an article in Pocket and it sparked the idea :)
To me, Tessa’s accent sounds Midwestern (newscaster accent). It is not predominantly class based.
Somewhere on The New York Times website is an interactive survey that lets Americans determine where in the United States their accent is most common, based on their word pronunciation. What would the results be if people from the U.K. took the survey?
I never lived in the midwest but yes I have a general US accent I guess. Although I did live in Texas so I picked up a few yawls ;) I think that survey could be very interesting!
I would have thought that most Americans never had an English accent. The biggest immigrant group into early America were of Germanic descent. Those from Spanish/South American descent and French and Irish descent also entered the mix. I would have thought that mixing that lot up developed a new hybrid accent.
Yes, some Spanish spoken in New Mexico is the Spanish equivalent of Elizabethan English, but has mostly faded.
When New Mexico became a state, there were many people that never spoke English there whole life; it wasn’t necessary.
Spanish is basically a second language in the United States.
I almost put in that about 4.5 million Brits emigrated to the US between 1820 and 1957 (my parents among them) and I think that must have contributed to the late uptake of an "American" accent in the US. Americans love the British accent so I'm not surprised they imitated it over any other for so long.
I love different accents.
If everyone and everywhere were the same wouldn't it be a boring world?
So true. I was on a gondola in Porto and heard an accent that I cracked as Mancunian. I was so proud of myself lol.
You'll love Latin America then
There are several you tube clips off early recordings by the mid 1800s Americans in their dotage, these include civil war vets. early photographers, pony express riders, Wyatt Earpe, and one off Sim Webb, Casey Jones's coloured fireman, recounting the crash. One thing that struck me, as an Englishman myself, was their perfect English, it was better than the English spoken today by the younger population. Search them out and see what you think.
Interesting I guess that proves my point thank you
In this spirit of discussing of accents, I noticed your round "o's'" and a,distinct pronunciation of "now." Are you from the Baltimore or maybe Philadelphia region? Cheers!
Ha no neither of those places although I spent a lot of time in Boston!
I don't mind the differences, but when Americans say 'route,' rhyming it with 'sprout', my brain explodes. Chuck Berry never sang 'Get Your Kicks on 'r-out' 66' did he? Why , why, why did they change it! It's r-oot!!!!
I totally agree. It seems to becoming more of a problem in computing terms. A rOUTer is a tool for cutting routs (grooves) out of wood A rOOTer is a device for selecting the correct route. What the Americans erroniously call a Wi-Fi rOUTer should be a WiFi rOOTer!
“England and America are two countries separated by the same language!”
I believe the above quote is attributable to George Bernard Shaw, but he and others have said something similar.
I say root for Route and rhowter for router. I've never heard anyone in the US say Rhowt 66 ... I thought that was British pronounciation! lol
@@chrisvowell2890 Route is often pronounced differently depending on the context. The most common are the following:
Route 66 = rhymes with boot
A postal worker has a mail route = rhymes with sprout
@@chrisvowell2890If you find the pronunciation of route annoying, some portions of the Midwest pronounce the word idea as ” I-deer”.
The English language can also be difficult to spell, especially if one has lived in several different English speaking countries and/or regions. Due to the history of the English language, there are many inconsistencies between how a word is spelled versus how it is pronounced.
What’s funny is that your everyday average Brit doesn’t know what RP or BBC accent is, because to them they are speaking what’s natural.
Thank you for a very interesting programme!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@HipOverFifty can you post a video explaining why the Brits spell it "programme" and we spell it "program," as well as other words like center/centre and color/colour?
Yeah European/White Americans used to have a British accent because they were from Britain but I don't know how they lost the British accent
There’s a school of thought that the American accent is the original English accent but after Brits started moving to the new world the accent in England began to change whereas the people who went to America didn’t go through that change.
Less than 2% of British people have the same RP accent of the Royal family. Modern PR is spoken by around 20%.
It's estimated that between 6% and 10% of Americans have British ancestry The most common ancestry in the USA is German. So quite naturally the American accent developed away from the English.
There is no such thing as a British accent accents in Britain change every 15-20 miles there is a huge variation in accents
I always thought the posh accents of people like George Plimpton and William F. Buckley Jr. had a British quality to them.
IMO the Northern Irish accent is the nearest to the US accents in the English speaking world.
PS love your channel.
Now that's interesting as I have a good friend who's N Irish and she always says we're like the odd ones out when we go out! Thank you so much.
Americans never had British accents. Neither did the British. It's called an English accent.
It’s called a British accent 🤡
@@AnythingLounge There's no such thing as a British accent.
Try the Aberdonian Accent. Even we Scots find it hard to understand them. I encourage you to listen to a song sung by the late Andy Stewart, titled : *THE MUCKIN O GEORDIE'S BYRE* then tell me if you could understand the words :)))
I have to admit that would stump me! It's funny how Glaswegian is so different than the Edinburgh accent too. You have such a lovely country :)
The British West Country accents are ROHTIC. If you have heard someone from Somerset for instance, saying a sentence such as the following: *_"THERE ARE WORRR WORRMS IN THE PATATES"_* (THERE ARE WOR WORMS IN THE POTATOES) *They roll their R's*
Oh I live in Somerset, and have a hard time understanding the local accent. Have you watched the guy on Clarkson's Farm? I know that's not Somerset but he's as tricky to understand ;)