On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 22:45:04 -0800, Fly-by-Night CC
wrote:

At what point did we U.S.-ians and Canady-ites lose the Brit accent?

They didn't. Seventeenth century English travelled to New England and
stayed their, spelling, pronunciation and all. Then England changed.

From the '60s onwards, RP (received pronunciation) has gradually
disappeared from the UK. Brian Perkins and Alastair Cooke being the
last radio bastions of it - Brian Sewell is a caricature of it.
Regional accents have also toned down, with increased communications
between the regions. About the only widespread and locally distinctive
accents left in England are Geordie and Brummie - everything else is
diluted beyond recognition.

Now kids spend so much time watching cheap imported TV that they speak
a vile concoction of Sydney valley-girl that's unintelligible to
anyone over 30.

Australia still has theirs,

Australia speaks a variant of Dickensian Convict, with that weird
rising inflection at the end of every sentence, you know ?


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