Why did British-English lose the "R" sound?

[Lenny]

As everyone knows, most North-Americans pronounce "r" at the ends of words whereas British-speakers don't.

Example:
FIREPOWER
British: Fiyah-powah
American: Figh-err-pow-err


Supposedly, in the early 1600s, 'standard' English in England had you pronouncing Rs. Shakespeare and King James would have prounounced Rs (so I'm told). [Thus, the old question about how George Washington's, Jefferson's, etc. accents would have sounded -- Would they have "sounded British"? I have been told that it's, ironically, the opposite: The British of the 1600s would've sounded more like Americans of today than Americans of the 1600s-1700s would've sounded like British of today! I don't see how this could be, but several very smart people have told me this]

What I do not understand is:
Why did pronunciation of the letter R drop-away in Britain itself? Why did it not do so among American settlers?

[Murphy]

As everyone knows, most North-Americans pronounce "r" at the ends of words whereas British-speakers don't.

I do.. everyone I know does.. please don't generalise.

[Fortis in Arduis]

The 'rrrrrr' is present in some British accents and dialects.

Perhaps a larger number of Americans derived from those regions.

That could be significant.

The British accent was also deliberately standardised towards the end of the 19th Century, by what came to be known as 'received pronounciation'.

This was deliberately effected through some schools.

It is the business of educated people to speak so that no-one may be able to tell in what county their childhood was passed.
A. Burrell, Recitation. A Handbook for Teachers in Public Elementary School, 1891.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

[Lenny]

I do.. everyone I know does.. please don't generalise.

Not all North-Americans do, actually.

But generalization is possible.
The typical British person will say the word "poor" as "pu-ah" or "po-ah", whereas the typical American will say "pu-err".

(Actually most Americans tend to say the word as more like the word "pore", I find. Not me, though: I say "pu-err". I take after my mother [b.Connecticut] more linguistically, who also says "auhnt" and not "ant" for one's mother's sister...)

[Lenny]

The 'rrrrrr' is present in some British accents and dialects.

Yes, OK, but why did pronunciation of the "heavy"-R sound lose out in Britain and now only "some dialects" retain it? I understand that it was once predominant, and not anymore.


Maybe this is an unanswerable question. Why does any linguistic shift ever happen? Still, it's fascinating to me.

[Electronic God-Man]

The 'rrrrrr' is present in some British accents and dialects.

Perhaps a larger number of Americans derived from those regions.

That could be significant.

Which regions have the dialects that pronounce the R?

The English settlers were from all over really, but a majority in New England came from East Anglia.*

*Though I managed to get a whole lot from Somerset, Dorset, and Devon in my family as well...

[Fortis in Arduis]

Which regions have the dialects that pronounce the R?

The English settlers were from all over really, but a majority in New England came from East Anglia.*

*Though I managed to get a whole lot from Somerset, Dorset, and Devon in my family as well...

Norfolk has 'rrr', South-West England has 'rrr', much of Scotland has 'rrr' and so does Ireland.

RP is often believed to be based on the Southern accents of England, but in fact it has most in common with the Early Modern English dialects of the East Midlands. This was the most populated and most prosperous area of England during the 14th and 15th centuries. By the end of the 15th century, "Standard English" was established in the City of London.[13] A mixture of London speech with elements from East Midlands, Middlesex and Essex, became known as RP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

RP still predominates in the media, but only 2% of the UK population actually uses it.

The 'City of London' refers to a small part of central London.

[Lenny]

I would add that all German accents I've ever heard shy away from pronouncing Rs, too.

"That costs ten Mark"
"Das kostet zehn Mark"
="Dah-ss kohs-tet tzehn Mah-k"


The opposite extreme is Spanish, where R is one of the strongest sounds (the famous "rolling R").

[Wulfhere]

American accents in general appear, to my ear at least, to be largely descended from the English accents of the South-West. Not only do both pronounce their r's quite prominently, but there are other similarities to, such as a tendency to prounce t's as d's, and s's as z's.

Conversely, the accents of Australia and New Zealand are descended from those of the South-East. Since the descent was a lot more recent, they're still a lot closer. I still sometimes have difficulty telling the difference between a Londoner and an Aussie.

[Lenny]

American accents in general appear, to my ear at least, to be largely descended from the English accents of the South-West.

The English settlers were from all over really, but a majority in New England came from East Anglia.

:mmmm: