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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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This is a question that has long intrigued me. I've heard some of say Teddy Roosevelt's speeches, from the 10s, or even Thomas Edison reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb in the 1880s I believe, and they do have peculiar, sort of English accents. But I also know that educated folks on the East coast do not represent all Americans. Also in a lot of old films they sound more British, but then you had more rural characters who sound much like Americans today, and gangsters in films speaking the old style New York 'toidy toid' accent.
What was the linguistic situation in 1900? Did most say, Midwesterners and Westerners speak pretty much how they do today? I imagine there'd be more diversity in the South, with more people speaking that old GWTW style non-rhotic accent, and the current Southern accent confined to the Upland South. I also imagine most people in Maryland, Northern Virginia and DC would have Southern accents. I imagine the NY accent would be recogniseable, same with New England, Philly etc. I think the Northern Cities Vowel Shift did not exist then, so did people in the Great Lakes sound like the Great Plains? Was the extent of the 'Southern accent' greater or less than it is now? For instance, wasn't Oklahoma and West Texas populated by a lot of folk from Tennessee, Kentucky.etc?
Are there any old words, phrases, accent features present in America in 1900 that have since died off?
I'm certainly not an expert amateur or otherwise on this subject but within my life time I've discerned a homogenization of American speech patterns. In fact I've noticed a global shift amongst english speakers which I account to the TV and movies. Just listen/watch BBC "presenters" its hard to find the classic stereotypical British accent that dominated the silver screen of the 40's and 50's. Or look closer to home. When I was growing up local news casters sounded local. Not anymore, no matter where you go the Brokawization of TV news is ubiquitous. It has to have an affect on local speech patterns. If that is the case then extrapolating backwards one has to think that there was great diversity of speech. Just my semi-educated guess.
The accent you are referring to in your first paragraph is known as transatlantic English, and was basically the non-rhotic accent of upper-educated whites in the Northeast, who still had very strong ties to England. Since the Northeast was the locus of American power and culture in the late 19th/early 20th century (much more than it is today), it was only natural that Hollywood films and radio would adopt their accents and mannerisms.
I imagine most midwesterns and Southerners still spoke in the same accent they speak today. Just listen to an FDR speech (our last president to have a true transatlantic accent) and compare it to the voice of his successor, Harry Truman, who spoke in a deep rhotic drawl.
If you listen to the newscasts and tv shows of the 50's,60's and 70'd compared to those of today, you will hear a different accent and style of delivery. Yes, the diversity was greater at that time. Nowadays you will hear a non-accent. Now, for some reason regional differences in speech are frownd upon. I don't know why, as I personally love accents. The Southerner and Applachian dweller may try to hide their accent, buying into the idea that it is a thing of shame, but some of us see our accent as a part of who we are, a part of who we are proud to be, and we do not intend to put on airs, Thank you very much. I am who I am. I am proud of my ancesters and I don't intend to change for you or anybody eles who doesn't like it. I feel sorry for anybody who doesn't have this outlook on life.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,029,399 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by ovcatto
I'm certainly not an expert amateur or otherwise on this subject but within my life time I've discerned a homogenization of American speech patterns. In fact I've noticed a global shift amongst english speakers which I account to the TV and movies. Just listen/watch BBC "presenters" its hard to find the classic stereotypical British accent that dominated the silver screen of the 40's and 50's. Or look closer to home. When I was growing up local news casters sounded local. Not anymore, no matter where you go the Brokawization of TV news is ubiquitous. It has to have an affect on local speech patterns. If that is the case then extrapolating backwards one has to think that there was great diversity of speech. Just my semi-educated guess.
Oh I know, Wells in his 'Accents of English' talks about it. Now instead of saying Africa as 'Efrica' (As the Queen still does, well not as much as she used to) it sounds more like 'Ufrica.'
I see a homogenization into 'Newcaster/Hollywood English', and 'Country Music Southern', as well as AAVE which is actually diverging from Country Southern, although you'll hear blacks in states like TN or KY or have that 'country' drawl, or heck even Texas. Some things have actually strengthened since the late 20th century, like the NCVS and the California Vowel Shift.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,029,399 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by evan83
The accent you are referring to in your first paragraph is known as transatlantic English, and was basically the non-rhotic accent of upper-educated whites in the Northeast, who still had very strong ties to England. Since the Northeast was the locus of American power and culture in the late 19th/early 20th century (much more than it is today), it was only natural that Hollywood films and radio would adopt their accents and mannerisms.
I imagine most midwesterns and Southerners still spoke in the same accent they speak today. Just listen to an FDR speech (our last president to have a true transatlantic accent) and compare it to the voice of his successor, Harry Truman, who spoke in a deep rhotic drawl.
Truman was a Midwesterner, which was never non-rhotic. Ironically, the first Pilgrims were actually rhotic speakers, but LATER influence from Britain made the East coast accent less or non-rhotic. A good example is the Disney film Dumbo (yes strange example lol). The group of female elephants display widely different accents. One has a very nasal, rhotic accent (probably typical of Middle America), one a posh, almost British but still American accent, and one something in between.
I've been told on one of the other forums that only Southern Californians (myself included) pronounce "bank" with a long "a" (baynk). Apparently everyone else pronounces it like "ban" with a k stuck on the end. Not sure if anyone pronounced it that way in 1900 though and don't know where it came from.
What I want to know is when every girl in America, my daughter included, adopted what used to be referred to as a Valley Girl (San Fernando Valley) manner of speaking.
This is a question that has long intrigued me. I've heard some of say Teddy Roosevelt's speeches, from the 10s, or even Thomas Edison reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb in the 1880s I believe, and they do have peculiar, sort of English accents. But I also know that educated folks on the East coast do not represent all Americans. Also in a lot of old films they sound more British, but then you had more rural characters who sound much like Americans today, and gangsters in films speaking the old style New York 'toidy toid' accent.
What was the linguistic situation in 1900? Did most say, Midwesterners and Westerners speak pretty much how they do today? I imagine there'd be more diversity in the South, with more people speaking that old GWTW style non-rhotic accent, and the current Southern accent confined to the Upland South. I also imagine most people in Maryland, Northern Virginia and DC would have Southern accents. I imagine the NY accent would be recogniseable, same with New England, Philly etc. I think the Northern Cities Vowel Shift did not exist then, so did people in the Great Lakes sound like the Great Plains? Was the extent of the 'Southern accent' greater or less than it is now? For instance, wasn't Oklahoma and West Texas populated by a lot of folk from Tennessee, Kentucky.etc?
Are there any old words, phrases, accent features present in America in 1900 that have since died off?
Interesting topic. American regional dialects were very strong in the early 20th century. I have wondered the same myself as to when strong regional dialects started disappearing in the US. I think with mass media and television and having a very mobile population, the regional dialects have been dying out in the US for a few decades already. I love to look into the past and read about history and learning about how languages have evolved over the years is very fascinating to me.
I think this is worth noting for this thread: NPR had a recent segment about someone who had gone through a huge personal collection of American records from the 1920s and 1930s to find specific recordings which were never reissued in later years. This music enthusiast had painstakingly archived old recordings to a digital format to share with others on a compilation CD. Some of the 1920s recordings had mimicked radio by having conversations on them before playing the songs as this was the age of radio. The American southern accents on the bluegrass recordings, for example were very pronounced. The only song I recognized that they played was "Old McDonald." If I could find the link on NPR, I would share it here, but cannot find it right now. I heard the broadcast earlier this week (around 12/19). It was truly fascinating to listen to old popular music from that era.
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