'American English' based on the pronounciation of Ireland ?

[Sheppey]

I really like the US. I feel an affinity with the US as I have family that went there so have American relatives (I'm not in touch with them but I would have some that would be 2nd cousin, 3rd cousin level). I've read American literature and love American film including some older cinema going back to the 30s. America definitely has a huge influence on the world. Some not so great I'll be honest but a lot of great things as well. You might have reasons for being disillusioned but every country has its good and bad. The US would be the no 1 most influential country in the world. There is no other country that comes close whether people like it or not.

"America is a fake country. As a political state, its beginnings were multicultural, multi-lingual, and built on an economic foundation of feudal exploitation via slavery and indentured servitude."

https://brooklynrail.org/2018/03/mus...For-Fake-Times


England is a real country or nation it is pretty much that simple doll.

[♥ Lily ♥]

That Americans much more emphasisze the 'r' ( for example for 'car park' they would pronounce it like 'carr parrk' ) and 't's' are often made 'd's'.. Like 'sexualiddy' for 'sexuality' . .

Often people realize(d) that American English doesn't really sound like, for example, in England . .

A small correction in the thread title: the correct spelling is "pronunciation" - not "pronounciation." (People often confuse the spelling of this word.)

Rhotic accents (where there is emphasis on the letter R) were widespread across England during the 16th century and during William Shakespeare's era, but nowadays rhotic accents are mostly confined to south-west England (aka "The West Country,") which are the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and also includes Bristol too.

I'm originally from "The West Country" in Dorset in south-west England, but I have a neutral southern English accent (Received Pronunciation) with no strong regional accent or dialect as I'm originally from the eastern region of Dorset where many people (especially amongst the younger generations) don't have a rhotic accent either and use the standard Received Pronunication instead, (and I also spent part of my childhood growing up in Kent in south-east England where my relatives moved to live for 5 years before returning to Dorset,) - but the further west of Dorset one travels, the West Country accents are more frequently heard.

There's still plenty of regions across the West Country where people still have strong rhotic accents, even amongst the younger generation in cities such as Bristol. Some of my aunts and uncles (both maternal and paternal sides) have rhotic West Country accents, but they grew up on farms in western Dorset, and my father was also raised as an orphan on a farm in western Dorset where the people spoke with strong rhotic accents, but he doesn't have a rhotic accent and neither does my mother, although my maternal grandparents had very slight rhotic accents, and some of my teachers in school had stronger rhotic accents. Two of my paternal uncles who now live in Ireland have strong rhotic West Country accents.

Rhotic accents are also widespread in Ireland.

Here's some examples of West Country rhotic accents that are heard across south-west England, which are often stereotyped with farmers:

Cornish accent: (Only a small % of Cornish people actually support separatism.)


A West Country accent from Gloucestershire (which is pronounced as "GLOSS-ter-shire") in south-west England:


The West Country accents have slight variations across the different counties of SW England, but they're all rhotic accents. They're still different to Irish and US and Canadian accents due to the different pronunciations of vowels and other letters.

[Cold Fire]

I appreciate the input of all..

.. even though certain other possibilities were put into the room except for Irish being at the center of American culture..

The idea that North- America was a haven for especially Irish immigrants ( North-America in this case means U. S. A. and Canada ), that American English sounds more like today's Irish pronunciation , that once the confessional balance there ( Irish = mostly catholic... ) was different doesn't sound too off, does it . . ? . .

Yes , many people from European countries moved to America at all times but.. if the theory above is true , that'd mean that despite Germans , Swedish , Italian , Dutch et al somehow an 'Irish mentality ' built the groundwork for America..

After all.. also... since there COULDN'T BE any 'specifically American' culture since AMERICA was settled from the 'Old World' and everything therein would have to originate there I think maybe it was the Irish which mentality laid the ground works ( like I said , especially the 'American West'-cliches, heehee , with 'hillbillies' , dancing reel , whiskey , banjo et al.. )..

The USA did start out as an English colony , it would appear from a certain time on especially Irish took the chance to move into the ' New World ', other European nationalities followed..

Today , of course , one can say , there maybe isn't ANY nationality on Earth which isn't already present as an immigrant- group in USA....

Disclaimer : This post is not intended in any way to portray America as bad and /or to play on American cliches, just historical. And it certainly isn't the case that I couldn't stand the Irish..

[Cold Fire]

I think it's safe to say that..

a ) the english in America sounds like the Irish pronunciation...
b ) the American West cliches like hillbillies , dancing reel ,pourin' lots of whiskey , playing banjo, heehee, etc point to an Irish influence..
c ) religious denominational balance ( cliche : Irish = Catholic ) came and went in America...
d ) the Irish immigration to America from about 1800 on is well documented..
e ) No offense but Ireland has always been some kind of troubled place within Europe.. The conquering attempts of the English rulers etc.. Apart from that Ireland was often plagued by famines , bad harvests etc ...


Yes , I can understand people pointing to linguistic differences even within England , people who would point to the Ulster-Scots rather than the irish themselves because of them being 'irish-ised' but being Protestants as roots of America and so on..


But, my personal belief.. see above..

[Odelia]

People don't realise the English accent was once rhotic like the Irish and American accents. When the English colonised the US they still had a rhotic accent and it is the English accent that has changed to non-rhotic. Irish and Americans retain the earlier rhotic accents.



https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/r...orld-1.3062373

There are still counties in England now that are rhotic such as Somerset and Devon.

Just out of interest for people the Dublin accent evolved from the Bristol accent.



https://artsmatter.blogs.bristol.ac....ol-and-dublin/

I wonder how the rhotic R was used back then in England? Was it the Spanish sounding trilling R or the rolled R that we use now in words like 'rearing'? Too much R sound is annoying, even coming from an American. There's a reason why the R sound is dropped in songs. Too much R is not so pleasing to the ears, considering that english words has a lot of Rs - maybe that's why england become more non-rhotic? And we seem to hit the R very hard here. The Baltimore accent is the worst offender:



I wonder how and why England lost its rhoticity? And was it the londoners who spread the non-rhoticity around? Queen's english sounds very pleasant. Why? Mostly because it's non-rhotic and has a smooth flow.