Re:When did Americans lose their British accents?
by dragonwriter on Monday February 10, 2020 @09:51AM
(#22289544)
> Not sure if this is true.
It's true to the extent that, as the article notes, the dominant British accent used to be rhotic (probounced-r) like General American, but became non-rhotic as a result of upper class fashion (which was copied in some parts of the US, producing the modern Boston accent, among others.)
But both sets of accents have evolved considerably otherwise, so it's not really true broadly, as best I understand.
It's true to the extent that, as the article notes, the dominant British accent used to be rhotic (probounced-r) like General American, but became non-rhotic as a result of upper class fashion (which was copied in some parts of the US, producing the modern Boston accent, among others.)
But both sets of accents have evolved considerably otherwise, so it's not really true broadly, as best I understand.