Why are British English and American English so different?

[Estro Felino]

The 'Southern' US accent is a relic of The Queen's English from centuries ago. The northern USA has experienced a lot more immigration and is changed by that.

That's what I wanted to say

An Italian like me, after listening a British and an American from NYC understands almost immediately that the English of the US has been italianized a lot, especially as for tonalities and inflections...besides pronunciation.
So the big change took place after the 20s

The South has remained immune to the massive Italic wave...that's why Scarlett O'Hara sounds so British

 

[Mindmaster]

Yes they do. All these languages' influences took place centuries before the founding of the US. The last one, the Norman, was around 450 years before.

Well, to some degree. Just not as massively... I would say that what happened is England stayed England, and we changed. Essentially, what you have in America is the remnants of hordes of foreigners attempting to pronounce the King/Queen's English. For awhile here, even up to the 1950's you had very small predominately single-origin communities. Out here we have a Dutch community that while it's been here for a long time speaks differently from it's neighbors who largely speak like the rest of the Chicago metro. But, around here you have a vast difference between the old south-siders (heavy Irish and Italian influences), the new south sider's (who are largely African-American, who sound like hip hop artists), and all of those people speak differently -- but live in a 40 mile radius. If you go 60 miles south of town, the people start sounding like they came from Tennessee. If you go north of the city, they sound like they came from New England. Needless to say, I always find this amusing. Anyway, it doesn't amaze me that America largely became so different than what we'd call British English. America isn't even the same with itself in 100 mile intervals.

 

[Stevicus]

Well, to some degree. Just not as massively... I would say that what happened is England stayed England, and we changed. Essentially, what you have in America is the remnants of hordes of foreigners attempting to pronounce the King/Queen's English. For awhile here, even up to the 1950's you had very small predominately single-origin communities. Out here we have a Dutch community that while it's been here for a long time speaks differently from it's neighbors who largely speak like the rest of the Chicago metro. But, around here you have a vast difference between the old south-siders (heavy Irish and Italian influences), the new south sider's (who are largely African-American, who sound like hip hop artists), and all of those people speak differently -- but live in a 40 mile radius. If you go 60 miles south of town, the people start sounding like they came from Tennessee. If you go north of the city, they sound like they came from New England. Needless to say, I always find this amusing. Anyway, it doesn't amaze me that America largely became so different than what we'd call British English. America isn't even the same with itself in 100 mile intervals.

My dad was raised in a small Dutch community outside of Chicago. What's interesting is that he pronounced it "Chicawgo," whereas most people from elsewhere say "Chicahgo."

It's just like with my Missouri-born grandmother saying "Missoura" instead of "Missouri" (although some people call it "misery" but that's another story).

Here in AZ, it's a mixed bag since a lot of people come from elsewhere. Most people speak in the standard Midwestern monotone similar to newscasters, although there's also a large Spanish-speaking influence with accents to match, as well as people from the South and New York/New England region. But we still manage to communicate with each other just the same.

 

[Jainarayan]

They say the Virginian accent in particular (I don't know if there is a specific 'Virginian accent' though).

But I would still disagree. There have always been very many accents in this country and they vary from one village to another. Even more so before radio and television. Some Northern accents were not even intelligible to Southerners, because they are closer to original English and have many Nordic influences.

Well it's true that the language on both sides of the pond is diverging. But British English diverged into many more dialects and accents in the past 300 years than American English did. BE is much more varied than AE. That's the premise.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I remember sitting in a restaurant in New Mexico or Arizona years ago. The family in the next booth, by all appearances Native Americans, were talking in whatever language they spoke...but every once in a while you'd hear clear as a bell "...three hours..." or "about 45 miles"...or "telephone" or etc., in pretty standard American English...

 

[Altfish]

Language just 'evolves', new words and phrases are constantly added, amended or discarded. Within the UK there are words that are only used it certain regions. If you used the word 'ginnel' to a southerner they probably wouldn't know what you are talking about; but most northerners know its a narrow passage way between houses.

 

[RabbiO]

My daughter, who speaks fluent Spanish, has travelled extensively to Spanish speaking countries and she has mentioned how different the language is from country to country.

Yiddish varies from region to region and Hebrew has different pronunciations as well.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

It's just like with my Missouri-born grandmother saying "Missoura" instead of "Missouri"

There's a difference. Missouri is where one finds bolo-ney, whereas they eat bolog-na in Missoura.

 

[Rival]

My daughter, who speaks fluent Spanish, has travelled extensively to Spanish speaking countries and she has mentioned how different the language is from country to country.

Yiddish varies from region to region and Hebrew has different pronunciations as well.

In my two years of being a Bat Noach I have picked up on much of a certain pronunciation and now I sound like a Haredi foundling when I say Hebrew words

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

There's a difference. Missouri is where one finds bolo-ney, whereas they eat bolog-na in Missoura.

Also, soda or sodee...

 

[sun rise]

It was British English that has changed. British English at the time of the American Revolution sounded more like us today.

Scottish English is quite something else again.

 

[RabbiO]

In my two years of being a Bat Noach I have picked up on much of a certain pronunciation and now I sound like a Haredi foundling when I say Hebrew words

Years ago, long before I entered the rabbinate, I worked along side a Sabra. Her last name is lost in my memory, but her first name was Hannah. She had no love for the Ashkenazic pronunciation, comparing it to having to listen nonstop to someone with a horrible speech iimpediment.

For me, It doesn't matter whether someone tells me that they want to know better how to celebrate Shabbos or they tell me they want to know better how to celebrate Shabbat. I'm just glad they want to know better how to celebrate the day.

 

[LuisDantas]

Interesting. I never thought of them as significantly apart, myself.

Then again, I am used to the scope of variation that exists in Portuguese, which is quite impressive.

 

[sun rise]

When I took German in college, I learned about "High German" and "Low German".

 

[BSM1]

They say the Virginian accent in particular (I don't know if there is a specific 'Virginian accent' though).

But I would still disagree. There have always been very many accents in this country and they vary from one village to another. Even more so before radio and television. Some Northern accents were not even intelligible to Southerners, because they are closer to original English and have many Nordic influences.

Yes, Virginia, there is a "Virginia" accent. There are also distinctive accents in most Southern states.

 

[Estro Felino]

Interesting. I never thought of them as significantly apart, myself.

Then again, I am used to the scope of variation that exists in Portuguese, which is quite impressive.

Indeed-
I swear to God...I understand the 80% of what a Brazilian says.
but uma pessoa de Lisboa...ay please...nada...

two distinct languages

 

[Rival]

Yes, Virginia, there is a "Virginia" accent. There are also distinctive accents in most Southern states.

I was more getting at, Virginia is a large enough place and for it to have just one accent would seem odd.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

The comments on variability in England are a bit overdone and out of date. Over the years, dialects in England have been leveling out. If you look at transcriptions of Devon dialect made 100 years ago, I've never hear anyone speak like that. The obvious reason is that we are a small, highly-urbanised country with national radio and television.

In the USA, they seem to be diverging more, perhaps because they are a large, sparsely-populated country, with more decentralised media.

Another point to remember is that there's a difference between dialects which differ in phonemes — the distinctive components of language — and those which only differ in the realisation of the same phonemes. Thus the vowel in "coat" is [əu] in the south of England and the exact opposite — [uə] — in the north, but it doesn't cause any confusion as there's an exact correspondence: they just are different realisations of the same phoneme. On the other hand, look at typical UK and US pronunciations:
cot: kɔt, kat
cut: kat, kət
dog: dɔg, dog
court: kōt, kort
A recipe for confusion!

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Yes, Virginia, there is a "Virginia" accent. There are also distinctive accents in most Southern states.

Yes, and one can learn to identify them just by knowing the sound of one voice that you are quite familiar with from each Southern state. For example, Jim Nabors is from Alabama, George Bush from Texas, Bill Clinton from Arkansas, Al Gore from Tennessee, Andy Griffith from North Carolina, Jimmy Carter from Georgia, Elvis from Mississippi, Strom Thurmond from South Carolina, etc..

When listening to a Southerner speak, ask yourself which of your chosen exemplars does this person sound most like.

 

[BSM1]

I was more getting at, Virginia is a large enough place and for it to have just one accent would seem odd.

Virginia, like most southern states, does have one accent. However, there are different inflections depending on what part of the state you are from.