Guys, i finally found it! "Do You Speak American? - featuring celebrated journalist and writer Robert MacNeil in his first public television documentary since 1995 - is a celebration of Americans as seen - and heard - through the way we speak." Copy and paste those as keywords in Google, as TH-cam wouldn't let me post links in comments! ;) Hope that helps anyone who is still interested in seeing it!
I consciously maintain my non-rhotic accent, even though everyone else practically in my generation has abandoned it. Most consider the rhotic pronunciations to sound more educated, but I always found it harsh and grating. Non-rhotic accents can sound even MORE upperclass depending on your inflections. People say I sound like I'm from the 40s and 50s and I take that as a compliment. Too bad this kind of accent is dying out everywhere. I hear the very Northeast still has it, however.
Good, the non-r accent sounds as good as the rhotic one, in formal speech. But it's interesting how accents can change so much, especially what is perceived as "correct".
People sometimes change their accents for lots of reasons but this is about being changed not necessarily copying. TV, movies and increasingly other forms of mass communication change/influence people's accents just as they were influenced before talkies, i.e state education to the extent that they become more similar to each other, forming a group of recognisable accents, i.e. American/Canadian and regional variations become less pronounced. This can be indirect too.
yes, listen to some James T. Kirk. Although I don't know how to do the older American r-less voice, I can do both the american rhotic one and the full British RP one.
Standard American English primarily was influenced by the Midwest, specifically the region that includes most of Iowa, Western Illinois, Northern Missouri, and Southern Minnesota. This was where was the main center of the American population and so where broadcast antennas could reach the the most people. That is why famous early broadcasters, like Ronald Reagan, grew up and began their careers in this area. And those people became man of the early Hollywood movie stars. When you hear Ronald Reagan speak, you are hearing a specific accent of American Midlands dialect. It was what became normalized and was taught to generations of English speakers at this point. One thing that stands out about the Midwest was that it initially developed from the culture of Pennsylvania as immigrants headed West. Many early Pennsylvanians were a mix of English Midlands, Germans, and Scandinavians. The English Midlands, settled by Scandinavians, are distant and distinct from the Greater London area where the French Normans ruled.
The US has also seen some divergence - originally the two main groups were New England and Chesapeake, with mid-atlantic and deep south later offshoots but also original blends, the first western wave blended these and due to some isolation developed differently. If rhotic speech hadn't declined in the UK and flattened accents had instead disappeared the group of accents of the UK would be no more different to each other than to the north american accents.
Those who point out the classic film era are correct. The actors of that period were taught to speak in the non-rhotic, Mid-Atlantic style. One can also hear it in songs and broadcast announcer voices from the period. It's a fast-disappearing feature (sadly to me). Even on the coast of Georgia where I travel a lot, the younger generation sound like their contemporaries across the country. We're becoming homogenized.
@MiamiPush2theLimit ...FDR's accent, and that of Kennedy is called the" Trans-Atlantic Accent" and it was a "taught" way of speaking during the middle of the 20th century for upper class easterners. Also, many actors of that era were also taught to speak it, such as Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, etc. Can't think of any male actors who spoke that way but there must have been some
The army grew during the Napoleonic Wars and saw mixing all across the UK, hence start of the 19th c. in the video, but not necessarily anything to do with RP. There was an influx of Dutch and German aristo's in the UK from the 1680's to the 1830's affecting the accent heavily, also a mixing in the elite private schools during the 19th c. where RP thrived. 2 Questions. Should US TV push more UK-origin programming? Will we end up with a transatlantic accent spoken by all English speakers?
@NewYorkFlavour I think both petal and pedal both have alveolar taps, but our perception is that they're different. For most Americans pedal definitely does not have a hard D. In New York City (where I'm from) with many immigrants from different places in might be different for some speakers.
We are not becoming homogenized. Actually our accents are becoming more distinct, hence the northern city vowel shift. All accents change, and this change is not towards a uniform accent.
One can still hear non-rhotic pronunciation among native Charlestonians, Savannans. Their speech is the higher-end version of the Tidewater accent, native to area roughly equating with Chesapeake Bay and considerably more southerly than that. Bostonians (though not western Massachusetts) is non-rhotic in pronunciation. The Transatlantic accent was considered the "standard" American English until after WW2. Audrey Hepburn was half-British and educated in RP English, not Transatlantic.
I think local and standardised accents are bring confused here. Local accents in the US are blends from the early settlers and pioneers, plus particular immigrant groups in places. They have also moved towards the standard particularly since WWII. US RP is of course influenced greatly by the development of British RP but also from middle class especially New England and the tidewater areas. Local British English was affected by the education system, the army, industrialisation.
i actualy have gotton into english linguistics. in minnesota, there's definitly a D. maybe in other places it's not so, but on professional newscasts, it's D. not a full D with a flat palet tongue strike as you said, but kind of a lighter more subtle D. i just know for sure that it isn't dropped completly.
Kennedy does not have a mid-atlantic accent. He is from Boston and sounds like it. FDR had a mid-atlantic accent however. I don't know why people think those two men sound alike.
Moionfire lol , same reason some folks confuse Australians with the English although I think it happens less and less these days; or even I suppose some English who live closer to Scotland and their accent sounds like a cross between the two for certain words.
Bitter/bidder badder/batter mettle/meddle/middle/metal Matter/madder odder/otter ratter/redder(also palindrome)English is spoken correctly if the other person understands you and can reciprocate in English.Here is and example of an Ohio accent: "So I git my truk outta th shop and th brake still don work" or "Ar yo goen oer lair?" So I get my truck out of the shop and the brake still doesn't work..Are you going over there? "I lie cat" I like that. That's what I hear then, hearin Ahia.OHIO
It's why everyone west of the Rockies speaks "unaccented" English. Not New England, not Southern, not Central US, not Great Lakes English, not Texas English. We all speak Broadcast English out here,
Really? Even the ones who have mastered grammar? Dem experts eh. Well let them have their say. Even then a convincing argument is one based on facts and logic, not safety in numbers. The same processes of divergence and convergence have been going on since people from one village got together with people from the next.
Guys, i finally found it!
"Do You Speak American? - featuring celebrated journalist and writer Robert MacNeil in his first public television documentary since 1995 - is a celebration of Americans as seen - and heard - through the way we speak."
Copy and paste those as keywords in Google, as TH-cam wouldn't let me post links in comments!
;) Hope that helps anyone who is still interested in seeing it!
This video is awesome, we need the continuation. Thanks for sharing!
I consciously maintain my non-rhotic accent, even though everyone else practically in my generation has abandoned it. Most consider the rhotic pronunciations to sound more educated, but I always found it harsh and grating. Non-rhotic accents can sound even MORE upperclass depending on your inflections. People say I sound like I'm from the 40s and 50s and I take that as a compliment. Too bad this kind of accent is dying out everywhere. I hear the very Northeast still has it, however.
Good, the non-r accent sounds as good as the rhotic one, in formal speech. But it's interesting how accents can change so much, especially what is perceived as "correct".
People sometimes change their accents for lots of reasons but this is about being changed not necessarily copying. TV, movies and increasingly other forms of mass communication change/influence people's accents just as they were influenced before talkies, i.e state education to the extent that they become more similar to each other, forming a group of recognisable accents, i.e. American/Canadian and regional variations become less pronounced. This can be indirect too.
woah, FDR's accent was really cool. Very British sounding for an American. Like half British, half Boston.
i kinda like the british-like 'theatre' accent. it was real cool.
yes, listen to some James T. Kirk. Although I don't know how to do the older American r-less voice, I can do both the american rhotic one and the full British RP one.
Standard American English primarily was influenced by the Midwest, specifically the region that includes most of Iowa, Western Illinois, Northern Missouri, and Southern Minnesota. This was where was the main center of the American population and so where broadcast antennas could reach the the most people.
That is why famous early broadcasters, like Ronald Reagan, grew up and began their careers in this area. And those people became man of the early Hollywood movie stars. When you hear Ronald Reagan speak, you are hearing a specific accent of American Midlands dialect. It was what became normalized and was taught to generations of English speakers at this point.
One thing that stands out about the Midwest was that it initially developed from the culture of Pennsylvania as immigrants headed West. Many early Pennsylvanians were a mix of English Midlands, Germans, and Scandinavians. The English Midlands, settled by Scandinavians, are distant and distinct from the Greater London area where the French Normans ruled.
The US has also seen some divergence - originally the two main groups were New England and Chesapeake, with mid-atlantic and deep south later offshoots but also original blends, the first western wave blended these and due to some isolation developed differently. If rhotic speech hadn't declined in the UK and flattened accents had instead disappeared the group of accents of the UK would be no more different to each other than to the north american accents.
Those who point out the classic film era are correct. The actors of that period were taught to speak in the non-rhotic, Mid-Atlantic style. One can also hear it in songs and broadcast announcer voices from the period. It's a fast-disappearing feature (sadly to me). Even on the coast of Georgia where I travel a lot, the younger generation sound like their contemporaries across the country. We're becoming homogenized.
Man I'd like to see the whole thing about this program, could you one day show everything?
@MiamiPush2theLimit ...FDR's accent, and that of Kennedy is called the" Trans-Atlantic Accent" and it was a "taught" way of speaking during the middle of the 20th century for upper class easterners. Also, many actors of that era were also taught to speak it, such as Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, etc. Can't think of any male actors who spoke that way but there must have been some
Cary Grant
Non-rhotic in Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah sounds very different from non-Rhotic Boston, and New York.
The film is "Do You Speak American" by Robert MacNeil. There is a copy on a TH-cam competitor, easily found with Google. Please thumb up.
The army grew during the Napoleonic Wars and saw mixing all across the UK, hence start of the 19th c. in the video, but not necessarily anything to do with RP. There was an influx of Dutch and German aristo's in the UK from the 1680's to the 1830's affecting the accent heavily, also a mixing in the elite private schools during the 19th c. where RP thrived.
2 Questions. Should US TV push more UK-origin programming? Will we end up with a transatlantic accent spoken by all English speakers?
@NewYorkFlavour I think both petal and pedal both have alveolar taps, but our perception is that they're different. For most Americans pedal definitely does not have a hard D. In New York City (where I'm from) with many immigrants from different places in might be different for some speakers.
hey, does the interview continue? Looks like it.
We are not becoming homogenized. Actually our accents are becoming more distinct, hence the northern city vowel shift. All accents change, and this change is not towards a uniform accent.
One can still hear non-rhotic pronunciation among native Charlestonians, Savannans. Their speech is the higher-end version of the Tidewater accent, native to area roughly equating with Chesapeake Bay and considerably more southerly than that. Bostonians (though not western Massachusetts) is non-rhotic in pronunciation.
The Transatlantic accent was considered the "standard" American English until after WW2. Audrey Hepburn was half-British and educated in RP English, not Transatlantic.
I love British English also pronunciation!!
I think local and standardised accents are bring confused here. Local accents in the US are blends from the early settlers and pioneers, plus particular immigrant groups in places. They have also moved towards the standard particularly since WWII. US RP is of course influenced greatly by the development of British RP but also from middle class especially New England and the tidewater areas. Local British English was affected by the education system, the army, industrialisation.
@gloopey1 we do too say wader. if you drop the T entirely,,it's just wa-er. nobody says wa-er. there's definitly a mild D sound in there.
i actualy have gotton into english linguistics. in minnesota, there's definitly a D. maybe in other places it's not so, but on professional newscasts, it's D. not a full D with a flat palet tongue strike as you said, but kind of a lighter more subtle D. i just know for sure that it isn't dropped completly.
Kennedy does not have a mid-atlantic accent. He is from Boston and sounds like it. FDR had a mid-atlantic accent however. I don't know why people think those two men sound alike.
Moionfire lol , same reason some folks confuse Australians with the English although I think it happens less and less these days; or even I suppose some English who live closer to Scotland and their accent sounds like a cross between the two for certain words.
Is there any way I can watch the rest of this? What is the name of this program?
@ijsmale I know one, Tony Randall from '7 Faces of Dr Loa'. The man say the words as it is spell. That plus his voice. Beautiful :)
This is very interesting. However one has to wonder how the rhoticity of Canadian English came about.
It evolved alongside American english. American and Canadian english are closely related.
@mujahid01 sure. that's a lovely way to put it.
People do not change their accent due to tv or movies. Afterall, if that was the case everyone in the US would be talking the same.
weres the black ops and mw3 gameplay dude
yeah man where is it?
Bitter/bidder badder/batter mettle/meddle/middle/metal
Matter/madder odder/otter ratter/redder(also palindrome)English is spoken correctly if the other person understands you and can reciprocate in English.Here is and example of an Ohio accent: "So I git my truk outta th shop and th brake still don work" or "Ar yo goen oer lair?" So I get my truck out of the shop and the brake still doesn't work..Are you going over there? "I lie cat" I like that. That's what I hear then, hearin Ahia.OHIO
It's why everyone west of the Rockies speaks "unaccented" English. Not New England, not Southern, not Central US, not Great Lakes English, not Texas English. We all speak Broadcast English out here,
but in the uk rhoticity is the less prestigious variant, interestingly enough.
yeah, like west country farmers, or Scottish or Irish people. Because Standard RP is considered prestiigous.
He doesn't explain the shift after WW2.
why after ww2
The American accent is gonna change again, im starting to hear people sound a little mexican
i live in central california
@Handsomeguy87 Has t sound absolutly great ..and a bit confusing :-)
I'll take Oxfords history of the language over this video.
do you live in LA...never hear that shit in NORCAL
Almost all linguist disagree @ quarkwrok.
no, like, i hear white pl saying mexican words and say some words in mexican ways
Really? Even the ones who have mastered grammar? Dem experts eh. Well let them have their say. Even then a convincing argument is one based on facts and logic, not safety in numbers.
The same processes of divergence and convergence have been going on since people from one village got together with people from the next.
Yes. And now Americans try to speak like africans
triest