re: Colonial American English Pronunciation (For Linguist Nerds)

quote:

---

The cities of Boston,New York and other port cities had close ties with England after they stopped pronouncing the r and is why people from those cities have a much softer r pronunciation than the rest of america.

---

You find that also in the, now dying, historical Charleston accent. Great examples of that accent floating around on YouTube.

You can still get froid shramp in south Louisiana

quote:

---

The real old-timers in Richmond, VA will pronounce about and house like a-boot and hoose. The accent is dying but it can be heard in the rare occasion.

---

Exactly how my grandma pronounces those words. And she is definitely a Richmond old timer.

What a great post. Answers a lot of my own questions about how the colonials really sounded. And I enjoyed listening to the narrator.

It's all very well thought-out indeed, but, upon listening to it, it sounds so very much like the modern Irish accent that I wonder if there is some mistake. I wonder because I have a difficult time accepting that our Colonial ancestors in the Boston area spoke with what sounds like a modern Irish accent.

It makes sense, however. Also, I must keep in mind that Boston Colonials certainly sounded different from the Colonials in Savannah, GA, and other points South.

Nice post

Folks on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake still sound much like this. Even on the other side of the bay in Maryland, among the country natives you will hear "aboat" and "loin."

quote:

---

No the Transatlantic accent didn’t come about until the invention of the radio

---

I think something similar happened with RP (Received Pronunciation) in Britain. It was the BBC accent