Why are British English and American English so different?

[Estro Felino]

You think...

budget, byte, festival, petaloso, piccare, tecnicalità, trollare.

Just a few ways your language has evolved in the last few years.

This thread is about phonology\pronunciation.
I assure you I speak Italian they way mr. Dante did

 

[Twilight Hue]

Languages evolve.

Ordeal Volve ....or de-evolve.

Which brings me to Steve Harvey *grin* luv da spheel......

 

[Estro Felino]

This thread makes me wonder how unusual Brazil may be regarding language and specifically accents.

For instance, one of the most easily noticeable occurrences here is the arising of a very characteristic Northeastern accent. While there are some internal variations, Northeasterners tend to speak with far more open vowels than most other Brazilians, and often a bit faster as well. There is even a bit of a social stigma associated with that accent, and for that reason many people of higher income and/or social status try to change it towards a more neutral accent.

Yet that accent is not very difficult to find in any major city, far as I can tell. Brazilians tend to travel a lot and to split apart from their own origin families fairly often, perhaps significantly more so than people of other origins (I am not sure). It is entirely too common for Brazilian people to apply for educational and work opportunities from a wide variety of cities, with a perhaps archetypical example being the Northeastern young adult who attempts to be a governmental worker and spends a couple of years participating on admission contests for that purpose. The end result are comparably well educated Northeasterners (with typical accents) existing as a noticeable and reasonably well integrated minority pretty much everywhere in Brazil, often with varied degrees of craving to return to the Northeast if the proper conditions arise.

It feels like such a situation may have made us somewhat more accepting and expecting of significant accent variation than people of other origins tend to be.

wow...interessanci...

 

[ChristineM]

I have noticed that Brits have very little problem pronouncing French words, .

Not so when you have a Lancashire accent. The results are often hilarious

 

[ChristineM]

This thread is about phonology\pronunciation.
I assure you I speak Italian they way mr. Dante did

Nope this thread is about general difference in american and british english no matter where or why that difference was adopted. You are the one who introduced Italian to the thread

You use words that have insinuated (evolved) themselves into your language, some of which i listed. Words that Dante had never heard or spoken

 

[LuisDantas]

wow...interessanci...

So it is not much like Italy's situation?

 

[Estro Felino]

So it is not much like Italy's situation?

Uhm...Brazil is a gigantic nation...quite different situation.
Italy has still regional differences and dialects. I speak Romanesque with my friends and colleagues...but in Milan they look down on Romans...not to mention Sicilians

 

[Jainarayan]

Not all of them.
Italy was full of dialects\languages during the Renaissance...but we decided the Italian language had to be the language used by Dante in his Divine Comedy...(1300 ca.)
Italian hasn't evolved much since then.

This makes me think of Classical (liturgical) Sanskrit, how it has not changed in several millennia, and attempts to revive it as a spoken everyday language. I think that would be great. There is a town in southern India in the state of Kerala that is doing just that. Great care is taken with Classical Sanskrit because it is the liturgical and mystical language of Hinduism. However, human speech being what it is, unless some type of official body is set up to govern it, it will surely change and morph into a new regional Indian language. Another issue is whether Classical Sanskrit was ever an everyday spoken language. The ancient Indian grammarian Pāṇini and those he taught, and other contemporaries worked with the local Indian prakrit languages to codify (I read as 'construct') Classical Sanskrit (saṃskṛta... the name does mean "well-formed" or "put together") from those prakrit (local vernacular) languages.

 

[Jainarayan]

not to mention Sicilians

Hey, watch that! I'm half Sicilian (and half Maddalonese).



I don't know who's more happy about the differences between Italians and Sicilians... the Italians or the Sicilians.

 

[Rival]

I don't know who's more happy about the differences between Italians and Sicilians... the Italians or the Sicilians.

The British. Makes it easier to divide and conquer.

 

[Estro Felino]

Hey, watch that! I'm half Sicilian (and half Maddalonese).



I don't know who's more happy about the differences between Italians and Sicilians... the Italians or the Sicilians.

...lol...
btw...Sicily's got the biggest number of Miss Italy winners (more than Lombardy..the most peopled region in the boot)
so Sicilians are definitely Italians

 

[Stevicus]

This thread is about phonology\pronunciation.
I assure you I speak Italian they way mr. Dante did

How about these guys? Are they speaking Italian that way, too?

 

[Estro Felino]

How about these guys? Are they speaking Italian that way, too?

lol...they speak Sicilian of course...
so no...Dante was Tuscan

 

[Jainarayan]

so Sicilians are definitely Italians

Oh for sure... but they don't like to think so. Stubborn people... capotosto.

 

[Estro Felino]

Wow...yesterday a tourist told me I speak English like Monica...
That is so flattering...
I identify with her. Definitely

 

[Tambourine]

This thread is about phonology\pronunciation.
I assure you I speak Italian they way mr. Dante did

How would you know?

 

[Jainarayan]

How would you know?

Because Modern Standard Italian is based on Dante’s use. Or rather, what he “created” it to be. As he wrote and used it so it became. Then it was codified by grammarians. Not unlike what Pāṇini and ancient Indians did with Sanskrit.

 

[Tambourine]

Because Modern Standard Italian is based on Dante’s use. Or rather, what he “created” it to be. As he wrote and used it so it became. Then it was codified by grammarians. Not unlike what Pāṇini and ancient Indians did with Sanskrit.

@Estro Felino made it clear that they were speaking of modern phonology/pronunciation, not grammar.

You would be very hard pressed to find evidence of ancient Indian pronunciation.

 

[Jainarayan]

@Estro Felino made it clear that they were speaking of modern phonology/pronunciation, not grammar.

You would be very hard pressed to find evidence of ancient Indian pronunciation.

Grammar and phonology are inextricably linked. You would not be very hard pressed or hard pressed in any way for any such thing. There are grammars from the time that define pronunciation. Not to mention that Sanskrit was taught for millennia by direct oral transmission from guru to disciple without deviation. If you want to know why I’ll tell you. But we do know how it sounded. There are also Roman grammars that describe Latin pronunciation, Classical Greek as well.

 

[Stevicus]

Grammar and phonology are inextricably linked. You would not be very hard pressed or hard pressed in any way for any such thing. There are grammars from the time that define pronunciation. Not to mention that Sanskrit was taught for millennia by direct oral transmission from guru to disciple without deviation. If you want to know why I’ll tell you. But we do know how it sounded. There are also Roman grammars that describe Latin pronunciation, Classical Greek as well.

Sanskrit.