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Author Topic: British Library Maps Evolution of English  (Read 3983 times)

Brad

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British Library Maps Evolution of English
« on: December 20, 2010, 12:17:27 PM »
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bill

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2010, 01:01:36 AM »
Just what they need, a bunch of 'uhmericans with heavy accents to truly test their theory. ;-)
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Brad

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2010, 12:32:46 PM »
>>Mid West Accent is closer to old old English

I've heard this too.

It's amazing to me how many accents there are in the UK alone - like with every fold in the Earth there is a new accent.
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Rupert

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2010, 12:41:21 PM »
Its only a small Island, but we either leave it altogether, or stay in the same street all our lives.
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4Eyes

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2010, 12:47:54 PM »
The story I heard was that the accent in and around New England would be closer to Shakespeares accent than most modern British accents.

Not sure I believe it though.

As Brad says, the accent changes over small distances in the UK, and the further back in time you go, the more the accent variations existed.

If Shakespeare  had an accent, chances are it was very different from those more than 10 miles away, so not that representative of the whole UK.


I was born in Stockport, and at the age of 17-18 moved to Bolton - 20 miles north - it took me 3 or 4 months to really understand the local accent well enough to stop asking people to repeat themselves - and as far as they were concerned, I was (and probably still am) a 'bloody Southerner'.
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grnidone

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2010, 07:48:47 PM »
I've found it very interesting that the little island of the UK has so many accents, and the huge area of the US has so few, at least comparitively.  I mean, sure, we do have different accents, but in comparison to the land area to accent ratio, it surprises me there are not more.
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Brad

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2010, 08:36:48 PM »
Quote from: grnidone on December 21, 2010, 07:48:47 PM
I've found it very interesting that the little island of the UK has so many accents, and the huge area of the US has so few, at least comparitively.  I mean, sure, we do have different accents, but in comparison to the land area to accent ratio, it surprises me there are not more.

The thing is there are so many layers and invaders who settled in different areas of the UK:

Non-Romanized Britons, Romanized Britons and each tribe probably had a different accent. They got invaded by Angles, Juts, West Saxons, East Saxons each with their own accent. Then add Danes invading Yorkshire, and then Normans.  Plus the Celtic holdouts: Welsh, parts of Cornwall (with each tribe having their own accent.  Plus the peoples living in Scotland ... so when the English language evolved and finally became dominant each local group spoke it with their own accent.

You didn't have that in N. America.  It was more of a blank slate.
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grnidone

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2010, 08:38:52 PM »
Well, I do know there are accents that are dying here:  this area was a hodgepodge of Eastern Europeans who settled here.  They only spoke English because it was the one language they coudl all agree on, but they spoke whatever language at home.

Many of hte old timers around here spoke Russianized German (or Polish etc) and they still have strong accents...but their kids have the typical accent of the area.

Maybe the UK has so many accents simply because y'all have been speaking English for so much longer than we have.  I mean really, we're only a little over 200 years old.  You've got what, a couple thousand?
« Last Edit: December 21, 2010, 08:40:25 PM by grnidone »
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Brad

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Re: British Library Maps Evolution of English
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2010, 08:52:05 PM »
It's all pure stubbornness with the English, that and somebody told them it irritates the French...    ;D
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