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Origins of the American accent?..... (Read 1328 times)
Nov 17th, 2012 at 6:27am

Fozzer   Offline
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A subject which never fails to fascinate me!

I Googled my query on the Internet, which came up with a few suggestions, but no-one answered my basic question...

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=93372

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread608868/pg1

With so many immigrants from different countries from all around the World, who decided that the natural "American language" in the whole of North America would be based on the "English" language, and not German, for instance. (There are far more German immigrants in North America than English!).

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestrie...

What is it about the English language, which made it the favourite throughout the whole of the continental USA?
Apart from local variations, American English is the predominant language!

Now there's a subject to keep you all going for a while!... Wink...!

Paul....An Iron Age resident from England... Grin...!
 
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Reply #1 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 7:05am

machineman9   Offline
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I remember hearing that Southern Brits were responsible for the Southern states accent - Including the phrase, "y'all". The imigrants from places like Southampton, etc, carried it over and it's still heavily in effect even today  Grin

I'm glad we got rid of that bit of dialect  Wink Tongue
 
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Reply #2 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 8:58am

wahubna   Offline
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English was the most commonly spoken language in the Colonies. After a few generations of mixed-background settlers it makes sense that the dialect would change. But again, English was the most common language.

Today we have excessive use of 'like', 'I don't know','I mean', or 'you know what I mean'.
You know what I mean? Like, what I mean is, I don't know. You know?
(yes I have heard many a conversation go exactly like that^^)
 
‎"At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation."- Igor Sikorsky
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Reply #3 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 9:03am

Hagar.   Offline
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machineman9 wrote on Nov 17th, 2012 at 7:05am:
I remember hearing that Southern Brits were responsible for the Southern states accent - Including the phrase, "y'all". The imigrants from places like Southampton, etc, carried it over and it's still heavily in effect even today  Grin

Not sure where you heard that.

This seems a reasonable explanation. (I can't post the link until I have 5 posts.* Grin)

"…Montgomery claims that “y’all” goes back to the Scots-Irish phrase “ye aw,” and he offers as evidence a letter written in 1737 by an Irish immigrant in New York to a friend back home: “Now I beg of ye aw to come over here.” As I understand Montgomery’s hypothesis, “ye aw” was Americanized into “y’all,” which is indeed a contraction of “you all” but would not have come into being without the influence of the Scots-Irish phrase."


Southampton was a departure port for migration to the Colonies for many years so it's possible that Scots-Irish migrants departing from there took the expression with them.

*Yes. this is your old mate Hagar. I can't sign in under my original password for some reason. Huh
 
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Reply #4 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 9:51am

Fozzer   Offline
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wahubna wrote on Nov 17th, 2012 at 8:58am:
English was the most commonly spoken language in the Colonies. After a few generations of mixed-background settlers it makes sense that the dialect would change. But again, English was the most common language.

Today we have excessive use of 'like', 'I don't know','I mean', or 'you know what I mean'.
You know what I mean? Like, what I mean is, I don't know. You know?
(yes I have heard many a conversation go exactly like that^^)


In your area, the people are mostly Dutch, Adam; but elsewhere, covering almost the whole area of the northern USA, the inhabitants were predominantly of German origin, so I imagine that none of them were speaking English at the time?....So what encouraged all of them to revert to the English Language?...>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestrie...

Paul... Smiley...!

P.S...welcome Hagar!... Wink... Grin...!

P.P.S...Our Andrew Esselbach well remembers his German roots!
 
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Reply #5 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 10:32am

wahubna   Offline
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Fozzer wrote on Nov 17th, 2012 at 9:51am:
wahubna wrote on Nov 17th, 2012 at 8:58am:
English was the most commonly spoken language in the Colonies. After a few generations of mixed-background settlers it makes sense that the dialect would change. But again, English was the most common language.

Today we have excessive use of 'like', 'I don't know','I mean', or 'you know what I mean'.
You know what I mean? Like, what I mean is, I don't know. You know?
(yes I have heard many a conversation go exactly like that^^)


In your area, the people are mostly Dutch, Adam; but elsewhere, covering almost the whole area of the northern USA, the inhabitants were predominantly of German origin, so I imagine that none of them were speaking English at the time?....So what encouraged all of them to revert to the English Language?...>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestrie...

Paul... Smiley...!

P.S...welcome Hagar!... Wink... Grin...!

P.P.S...Our Andrew Esselbach well remembers his German roots!


Yes, but English was more common in the Colonies. Michigan was not a colony  Wink
My family roots are Holland, MI, but I was raised in Muskegon, which was originally heavily populated by Native American tribes. Hence the name Muskegon.
 
‎"At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation."- Igor Sikorsky
...
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Reply #6 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 10:56am

Fozzer   Offline
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There you go...
With only a handful of English speakers there....why aren't the Eastern and Mid West speaking French...>>>
...and the rest speaking German!

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://ns1763.ca/remem/map-new-france.jpg&...

I still cant figure out how English became the predominant language over such a small space of time with just a few of us there, when other very large groups were speaking entirely different languages!

Fascinating...

Someone must have stood up, and shouted...

"Oi!, all you lot!"....
...."From now on, all of you must speak; "English"... Angry...!

Who was he?.... Roll Eyes...!

Paul... Grin...!

Amazing history...>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_history_of_the_United_States
 
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Reply #7 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 11:05am

Hagar.   Offline
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Fozzer wrote on Nov 17th, 2012 at 9:51am:
P.S...welcome Hagar!... Wink... Grin...!

Thanks Paul. I had to start again as a newbie. According to this forum I no longer exist - Apparently. Cheesy

Quote:
So what encouraged all of them to revert to the English Language?

I'm not sure they reverted. I believe most of the Founding Fathers were of British origin. Also, the Declaration of Independence & US Constitution were written in English. Perhaps that has something to do with it.
 
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Reply #8 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 1:10pm

Apex2012   Offline
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Not to change this very interesting subject, y'awl, but I also had to re-register, couldn't log in.  This sort of thing happened a few weeks or so ago, then they fixed it.  Anyone know what's whut with this?
 
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Reply #9 - Nov 17th, 2012 at 2:10pm

Hagar.   Offline
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Apex2012 wrote on Nov 17th, 2012 at 1:10pm:
Not to change this very interesting subject, y'awl, but I also had to re-register, couldn't log in.  This sort of thing happened a few weeks or so ago, then they fixed it.  Anyone know what's whut with this? 

I've seen this problem reported many times over the years but this is the first time I've suffered from it. I'm not really bothered. Wink
 
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Reply #10 - Nov 19th, 2012 at 3:58pm

jetprop   Offline
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I find that the american accent is sorta similar to the local Cork accent,maybe it came from Ireland?
 
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Reply #11 - Nov 19th, 2012 at 5:02pm

Fozzer   Offline
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jetprop wrote on Nov 19th, 2012 at 3:58pm:
I find that the american accent is sorta similar to the local Cork accent,maybe it came from Ireland?


Very interesting, Jet!

..certainly a lot of Irish folk emigrated from Ireland to America during the potato famine period in 1845.... http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm

...and I often wonder if the American Southern Counties; "Barn Dance", originated in Ireland?

Paul... Smiley...!

...and more...>>> http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm

 
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Reply #12 - Nov 19th, 2012 at 5:11pm

wahubna   Offline
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Apparently us Michiganders have a particular accent which seems to be tied with the Canadian accent. Most people from da UP tend to sound a bit Canadian in some respects. So I wonder if Michigan as a whole is predominantly of French decent....obviously I am of Dutch stock though (the proper Dutch).
Detroit is French, Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-aw) is French as well as a many other cities and towns here.
 
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Reply #13 - Nov 19th, 2012 at 5:22pm

Fozzer   Offline
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wahubna wrote on Nov 19th, 2012 at 5:11pm:
Apparently us Michiganders have a particular accent which seems to be tied with the Canadian accent. Most people from da UP tend to sound a bit Canadian in some respects. So I wonder if Michigan as a whole is predominantly of French decent....obviously I am of Dutch stock though (the proper Dutch).
Detroit is French, Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-aw) is French as well as a many other cities and towns here.


The funny thing is....
..Canadians always sound like Americans to me, rather than have a Canadian accent all of their own!
Its almost as though they have copied the American accent, rather than a version of the British or French accent!

Paul.... Smiley...!

I suppose that New England would more represent the accent from the homeland?

 
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Reply #14 - Nov 19th, 2012 at 5:24pm

jetprop   Offline
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Fozzer wrote on Nov 19th, 2012 at 5:02pm:
jetprop wrote on Nov 19th, 2012 at 3:58pm:
I find that the american accent is sorta similar to the local Cork accent,maybe it came from Ireland?


Very interesting, Jet!

..certainly a lot of Irish folk emigrated from Ireland to America during the potato famine period in 1845.... http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm

...and I often wonder if the American Southern Counties; "Barn Dance", originated in Ireland?

Paul... Smiley...!

...and more...>>> http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm


I noticed...
Tons of Irish also immigrated to Canada but you never heared trouble coming from them...

Fozzer,did you happen to walk by canada after the potato famine? Grin

The famine affected the Irish alot...
They used to mash their 'soup' so they wouldn't know what was in it and it stuck...
It tastes @#£&5. Grin
 
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