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Why does the US have different accents?
America has a multitude of regional accents that have evolved from numerous waves of immigration throughout US history. When you’re traveling to another part of the US, it might be surprising to hear how different the locals sound.
How has the American accent evolved?
The American accent was influenced by immigrants and British colonizers. American English is the set of varieties of English language spoken by Americans. The American accent thus developed into new dialects due to the influence of the British colonizers and immigrants from Germany, Africa, and Dutch.
How many accents does the US have?
There are roughly 30 major dialects in America. Go here if you’d like a see a map of the various regions with an example of what each dialect might sound like. On the East Coast, we have many very small regions, with slightly varying dialects in each one.
Why American and British accents are different?
An important reason why American English and British English sound different is rhotacism, the change of a particular sound in a language. Americans kept their rhotic American accent—for the most part. Port cities on the East Coast, especially in New England, had a lot of contact with the R-less Brits.
Where do American accents come from?
American accents have been evolving for hundreds of years. And while Americans sound very different today, here’s where some of those iconic accents got their start. Let’s start with New England, which was one of the first US regions to develop its own American English accent.
Are there any exceptions to the rhotic American and British accents?
As mentioned above, there are regional exceptions to both these general American and British sounds. Some of the accents of southeastern England, plus the accents of Scotland and Ireland, are rhotic. Some areas of the American Southeast, plus Boston, are non-rhotic.
Why do people have different accents in different languages?
This sounds wrong, or ‘foreign’, to native speakers of the language. The other kind of accent is simply the way a group of people speak their native language. This is determined by where they live and what social groups they belong to.
What is the difference between an American and a British accent?
The General American accent is rhotic and speakers pronounce the r in words such as hard. The BBC-type British accent is non-rhotic, and speakers don’t pronounce the r, leaving hard sounding more like hahd. Before and during the American Revolution, the English, both in England and in the colonies,…