Where Accents Come From.
 

Wouldn't it be neat to know where accents come from? Many of the different accents came from people who have ancestry from the same places. But as they were separated by time & space different accents emerged.

Some very distinct accents I can think of are...

Southern
Ausie
English (British)
Joysey (Jersey)
etc.

I would love to know where these accents got their beginning and how they became so entrenched in a geographical area.

I wonder sometimes if an accent might eventually boil down to the influence of one person way back when.

These are just some of the odd things I think about from time to time.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Ya der hey!

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

It gets better-Missouri bootheel southern is distinct from Virginian southern, and both vary from Louisianan southern. There are also several very distinct British accents. In northern Missouri there is an accent that's distinct from southern or central Missouri. I never did figure out where that one came from.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Yep... there are tons of them. I used to be a part of a forum that was frequented by a Brit. I asked her why Brits don't pronounce their T's. As it turns out that is distinct to certain areas and she had never noticed that before and found it interesting once I pointed it out.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

The only accent I absolutely cannot stand is the East coast Boston one, for which Ted Kennedy is best known for. It grates on me like fingers on a chalk board.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

LOL! I know what you mean. Headed out there (Hartford) in a couple weeks.


I guess we will give them a pass, seeing it's unintentional...

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

I don't think I have a Texas accent, but some Yankees tell me I do.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

At the salon I frequent, there is a lady who was raised in England, but lived in Texas most of her adult life. So she has a British accent with a Texas twang. It is so funny! I love to hear her talk!

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Pfft...

What do they know. :)

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

I was born and raised in Dallas, but I've been told I sound like I'm from Georgia or the Carolinas. Though I can see where people get that, I can definitely say I don't sound nearly as Tar Heel as some of my cousins who live there. When they say "no," it sounds like "nay." Most of my kin folk live in the south (i.e. MS, GA, FL, N/SC). So, it must be in the blood. Who'd have thought accents were genetic??? Hahaha! I know they aren't; just sayin...
:)

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Yankees talk funny.

:heeheehee

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

LOL... Indeed they do.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Yep, they do.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Do people still keep their accent when they speak foreign languages?

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Like a Canadian speaking German, "Sprechen sie deutsche eh?"

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Or a Texan speaking French, Je suis apprendre à parler français y'all!! :heeheehee

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

It has always made me wonder how North American accent in English came to differ so much from British English! The settlers came from Britain! Maybe it is the confusion of other accents from other national origins that changed the accent in English.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

I don't have an accent. I live in Ohio and sound perfectly normal. :lol

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

:heeheehee

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Kwal (call)
Twalk (talk)
Shoah (shore)
Cah (car)
pahk (park)
dwaghtah (daughter)
mutha (mother)
fatha/fwatha (father)

etc, etc, etc...

Just a few Jersey/Mass examples...I talk to 'em all the time at work...:heeheehee

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

As small as Germany is, even they have different accents in different parts of the country. Some pronounce it 'Spreshen', some say 'Sprecken'. :doh

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

Yep, I've studied quite a bit on where y'all got your'ns funny accents. Youn's shore don't talk proper like us down here in Alabama. Ain't never figured it out hows come folks from Chicago, New York City or over yonder in Boston ain't never learnt to talk as good as us. Reckon they didn't get the right kind of schoolin'.

Re: Where Accents Come From.
 

There is High and Low German. Low German has no written version!