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Where did American Southern accent come from?
A diversity of earlier Southern dialects once existed: a consequence of the mix of English speakers from the British Isles (including largely Southern English and Scots-Irish immigrants) who migrated to the American South in the 17th and 18th centuries, with particular 19th-century elements also borrowed from the …
Where did the Southern drawl come from?
However, rural and less wealthy classes who came from Northern England settled in the South. And they did (and still do) pronounce the “r” sound in words. This is where the origins of the Southern Drawl lie. Note that there are places in the South that don’t pronounce the “r” but still have a similar accent.
When did the Southern accent become a thing?
By the time of the American Civil War in the 1860s, many different Southern accents had developed, most notably in eastern Virginia, the Lowcountry (namely Charleston), Appalachia, the Black Belt (the major plantation region), and the secluded islands along the Atlantic coasts of the Southern states.
Did the American accent come before the British?
The “American English” we know and use today in an American accent first started out as an “England English” accent. According to a linguist at the Smithsonian, Americans began putting their own spin on English pronunciations just one generation after the colonists started arriving in the New World.
When did America lose their British accent?
Most scholars have roughly located “split off” point between American and British English as the mid-18th-Century. There are some clear exceptions.
Did the Southern accent actually originate in England?
Probably the most “classic” southern accent is that of the lowland south. This accent has its origins in the older, rhotic dialects of southern English counties like Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Somerset (which are ultimately derived from the West Saxon dialect of Old English).
What is the history of the Southern accent?
The stereotypical Southern accent is from the “Lower South”…specifically states like Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia…when I hear most people trying to make “southern accents” they are trying to mock people who live in rural areas of these states. As other mention southern Accents vary by region…
What states have a Southern accent?
Mississippi. Mississippi has the lowest cost out of living of all 50 states.
Is the Southern accent an original English accent?
Elizabethan English was closer to a southern accent, but the southern accent has changed as well. The article there doesn’t take a firm position on what accent would have been spoken. The recent discussion about Richard III demonstrates some British accents that predate the colonial period that are close to what is there today.