I understand the confusion: I have a neighbor who I'd always assumed was
German, due to his accent; turns out he is from South Africa!

dave

wrote:

Fly-by-Night CC wrote:


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


Lot's of German and French folks in the mix for US and Canada.
That probably has some effect.


Australia still has theirs, some folks in India still have theirs.


This reminds me of a trip I once took to Saudi Arabia.
I was talking to some fellows in the hotel bar one
evening and was having a hard time placing their accent.
One minute it sound Australian, then it would seem more
like British Isles English, but not quite either. I finally
caught on that these guys were from South Africa. For an
American I usually have a pretty good ear for regional
accents, but that one threw me due mostly to lack of
exposure I guess.


What/who influenced the changeover to American English and accent versus
the Brittish (Proper?) English and accent? Did the New World-born and
raised colonists of, say 1776, sound American or Brittish? When did the
transition take place and over how long a period of time?


Remember that German was almost made the official language
of the early US. I'm sure the large non-English populations
had some effect.

Bill ranck
Blacksburg, Va.