Pre-World War English accents

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quendidil
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Pre-World War English accents

Post by quendidil »

Does anyone have any resource on pre-war English accents? (English English) In particular, I've always heard that vowels were a bit closer pre-war ("lend" for land) and the trilled R was used more often but Google hasn't provided much nor can I find anything on Amazon; most research on English pronunciation seems to concern the GVS and even that seems somewhat scanty.

Also, was a non-rhotic accent the prestige accent in the USA even during WWII? Roosevelt was quite clearly non-rhotic and he came from some rich public school AFAIK.

I've also read about this "trans-Atlantic" accent, but have never been able to find any recordings of it, besides some vague descriptions that it was common in theatre. I believe they said somewhere that Christopher Plummer (Colonel von Trapp) performed in it? So I imagine the consonants are on the whole RP while the vowels are pre-shift General American (without the cot-caught merger)? Is Roosevelt's speech an example of this?

quendidil
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Post by quendidil »

For something not quite completely different, I've also heard that John Keats was stigmatized for having a non-rhotic accent. Does anyone know when the rhotic-accent came into popular English speech?

metrodorus
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national library

Post by metrodorus »

Try the British Library sound archives, you can listen to lots of old recordings, some as early as the late 1800's, online.

Evan.

quendidil
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Post by quendidil »

Ah, thanks my droogy!

Arvid
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Post by Arvid »

Up until the end of World War II, I think the prestige dialect was non-rhotic: the New England dialect of old-money Ivy League types like the Roosevelts. America being America, though, I don't think Prestige Dialects mean the same as in Britain or especially in other languages like French. I think they put the speaker in line for as much ridicule as imitation, especially in the 20th Century. Then with the general cultural democratization that came with the war, Rhotic dialects came into their own. Fortunately this is one feature of Northeastern speech that hasn't spread everywhere in recent decades. (People pronouncing "cot" and "caught" the same is bad enough!)

πετ?ης
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Post by πετ?ης »

Arvid wrote:Fortunately this is one feature of Northeastern speech that hasn't spread everywhere in recent decades. (People pronouncing "cot" and "caught" the same is bad enough!)
Easy dere, us Joisy guys are easily offended!

Arvid
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Post by Arvid »



Bert
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Re: Pre-World War English accents

Post by Bert »

quendidil wrote: ...Christopher Plummer (Colonel von Trapp) ...
Did the captain get promoted?

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Post by Bert »



Arvid
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Post by Arvid »

By the way, that's all it was meant to be, was funny: I love listening to a New York/New Jersey accent! No hard feelings, Okay?

πετ?ης
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Post by πετ?ης »

Lol...no hard feelings! I live in the tri-state NY area and speak with a decidedly neutral sort of American accent. But I love the sound of Brooklyn-eze and Long Island patois!

All in good fun! :D

quendidil
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Re: Pre-World War English accents

Post by quendidil »

Bert wrote:
quendidil wrote: ...Christopher Plummer (Colonel von Trapp) ...
Did the captain get promoted?
Lol my bad. Captain von Trapp

Arvid
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Post by Arvid »

Actually, he was a Navy Captain, so it's the same thing.

quendidil
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Post by quendidil »

Also, Mr Burns from the Simpsons speaks in a non-rhotic accent and he is American.

πετ?ης
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Post by πετ?ης »

quendidil wrote:Also, Mr Burns from the Simpsons speaks in a non-rhotic accent and he is American.
So does Homestar Runner. I hate cartoons, but I love HS.

http://homestarrunner.com/

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