Or did they already speak in an american accent.
Their families already lived in the colonies for over a century mind you.
Did the founding fathers have a british accent?
American accent is the result of mass immigration to the states.
They probably spoke like the British back then due to frequent cultural exchange although British accents have also evolved since then
So called proper English is trendy upper class talk of 18th century. Current Appalachian accent is closest to common people English of that time. Don't know which one founding fathers used.
I'm in no way Anglo but it always cracks me up when Americans believe in this crap
There was no British accent.
Cockney accent?
appalachians were from northern ireland. how the fuck is that "most common"
There's no way to know what their accent was.
If you want my guess, I think this comes closest.
From around 3:05 in this video the man recites the Declaration with an accent that sounds eerily like something that could become the general American accent later.
They say that American English sounds closer to Shakespeare English versus modern rhotic British English.
American is the original
What is this?
Mini-series called John Adams I think.
>a British accent
Which one?
>Current Appalachian accent is closest to common people English of that time.
This claim is made for different groups from time to time. Some small pockets of folks in Eastern NC is one I saw fairly recently.
As far as I can tell, they are all bullshit.
>an american accent.
Which one?
American accents, compared to British ones, really aren't that different.
That's not true. You can't really tell me that a southerner sounds like a new yorker or that either sounds like a californian. And none of them sound like a midwesterner.
It wholly depends upon which southerner you're talking about. I mean, most young people from Austin, Texas for example don't speak like cowboys from the 1800s did.
In fact, most young people in the States these days all sound the same to me.
lol
They were literally all English, and all saw each other as just Englishmen, this whole idea of national and ethnic division between Americans and English didn't exist till later
That's because young people are increasingly in a standard American accent due to media influence.
Doesn't change the fact that American accents are notably distinct.
You're telling me America has as varied accents as this?
youtube.com
Because it doesn't.
The American accent has been around since the 1600's so yes they would have spoken American. In fact Jefferson and Washington probably sounded like southern aristocrats which is quite funny because nobody ever imagines them talking that way.
It does though, just because you don't know about the extent of the accents doesn't mean they're not very real.
This is how they think English sounded around 1600s
soundcloud.com
>That's because young people are increasingly in a standard American accent due to media influence
That's literally a myth
They talked like Frasier.
youtube.com
youtube.com
Star at about 38 seconds
I always figured this is the closest we're gonna get today
how is it bullshit? it's a well known phenomenon that national media standardizes speech, whether in the usa or italy or france
fuck that old guy sounds almost aussie
pro-American accent since they've been in North America for awhile
The Inland Northern accent has expanded exponentially since the dawn of radio, it's a myth
>The Inland Northern accent has expanded exponentially since the dawn of radio, it's a myth
isn't that the standard american accent? if not the fact that is spreading at the expense of other language might mean that people from that region are migrating to surround areas or that other accents are being killed to make way for inland northern.