Did Shakespeare have an American accent?
A: The short answer is that Shakespeare didn’t sound just like an American, but his accent was probably more NBC than BBC. This was around 1600, Shakespeare’s time, and it’s appropriate that this new interest in period speech was inspired by a project at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.
What is the closest accent to English?
The Canadian accent is closest to the Western and Midland accents in the US which are the closest living accents to General American.
Is American English closer to Shakespeare?
Americans today pronounce some words more like Shakespeare than Brits do… but it’s in 18th-Century England where they’d really feel at home. As a result, the theory goes, some Americans speak English with an accent more akin to Shakespeare’s than to modern-day Brits.
Which is the best accent of English?
British accent has been rated as the most attractive English accent in the world, according to a new survey by the CEOWORLD magazine….These Are The Most Attractive English Accents In The World:
| Rank | English Accent | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | British | 68 |
| 2 | Irish | 57 |
| 3 | Australian | 53 |
| 4 | American | 51 |
Why do Americans speak English with an accent similar to Shakespeare’s?
As a result, the theory goes, some Americans speak English with an accent more akin to Shakespeare’s than to modern-day Brits. That’s not entirely right. The real picture is more complicated. One feature of most American English is what linguists call ‘rhoticity’, or the pronunciation of ‘r’ in words like ‘card’ and ‘water’.
Why is American English so different from British English?
As well, in most cases where Americans “dropped” the U, the American spelling predates the British one. ‘Favor’ is centuries older than ‘favour,’ for instance. So American English is closer to early forms of Early Modern English (the language of Shakespeare, Spenser, and Chaucer).
Is there such a thing as a classic British accent?
So what’s popularly believed to be the classic British English accent isn’t actually so classic. In fact, British accents have undergone more change in the last few centuries than American accents have – partly because London, and its orbit of influence, was historically at the forefront of linguistic change in English.
Why do Americans pronounce ‘r’s’ like ‘water’ so differently?
One feature of most American English is what linguists call ‘rhoticity’, or the pronunciation of ‘r’ in words like ‘card’ and ‘water’. It turns out that Brits in the 1600s, like modern-day Americans, largely pronounced all their Rs. Marisa Brook researches language variation at Canada’s University of Victoria.