Recently I've started to notice that, in my area atleast, quite alot of people have started talking with a slightly 'americanised' accent. It's most obviously recognisable at the end of sentences, when their voice goes up like they're asking a question.

I live in Edinburgh, but has anyone else noticed this where they live, or a similar thing near them? I've started doing it personally too, although I make a conscious effort to stick to Aberdeenshire Doric or as close to it as the person will understand.

I know language evolves naturally over time but I still don't like it. What position does everyone else take? Should we let things happen naturally or protect our (obsolete) dialects?

One last question, what accent would you say you spoke in? I find that kinda thing interesting. >.>

Edit: I come from Aberdeenshire originally, and I understand the Edinburgh accent is more anglicised than elsewhere. So I'm not imagining it.

I don't have an accent (hehe). Midwestern American accent I believe it's known as, but obviously we all know I have no accent. :) heh I'm going to go ask the UK people online so they'll post. Sounds funny though. Maybe it's all the US TV.

*begins working on the tower of babel*

About an hour ago I was flipping around the tv and landed on the CSPAN replay of BBC Parliament. An MP was at the table talking about some issue that I don't recall and I was surprised by how American his accent sounded. I don't recall his name. It wasn't PM's Questions. They might have been discussing Parliament's budget. At any rate, the timing of your observation is striking, at least to me.

As far as preserving dialects goes, there's nothing you can do about it. You can record voices to preserve the sounds, but as far as everyday speech is concerned, change is inevitable. Be glad that the underlying language remains the same.

I suppose I speak with a California accent, whatever that is. Jeff Spicoli surfer. I dunno. I recall a web site I visited a few years back that tracked the various regional dialects spoken in the USA (I'm not sure that dialects is the right word, but oh well). The site noted the different words used in different parts of the country to refer to the same thing. Tennis shoes versus sneakers. Coke versus Soda Pop. Differences like that.

Regional Dialects in the United States

Linguistic Geography of the Mainland United States

International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of the United States of America

This last link might be the one I recall. The founding date seems about right.

I'm not entirely sure. Northwesters American accent for me? Whatever accent a Pennsylvanian would have.

In my opinion, accent is directly affected by topographical features surrounding you. Example: People from the Scottish Highlands speak with a clipped, rugged voice. The Scottish Highlands is a very rugged area of Scotland. People from Mid-America speak with a very flat accent. Mid-America is a very flat area with a lot of deserts and such (methinks). There are lots of examples of this. Too many to make it a coincidence...

Quote: Original post by soitsthateasy
In my opinion, accent is directly affected by topographical features surrounding you. Example: People from the Scottish Highlands speak with a clipped, rugged voice. The Scottish Highlands is a very rugged area of Scotland. People from Mid-America speak with a very flat accent. Mid-America is a very flat area with a lot of deserts and such (methinks). There are lots of examples of this. Too many to make it a coincidence...

I do remember reading something similar to this somewhere, it may have been in 'a short introduction to linguistics' or some book like that, I can't really remember anymore. Anyway, I think there are some linguists out there that would agree with you, well that the surrounding environment has an influence on how a dialect develops - I just can't find the source anymore.

Quote: Original post by LessBread
Be glad that the underlying language remains the same

This is also constantly changing, and I would say that modern UK english has been heavily influenced by US english, and this is perhaps even more evident in modern Dutch.

My accent is a mild form of Black Country when speaking English, and Amsterdams with an english twang when speaking Dutch.

I remember, from many years ago, that my French teacher at school said that radio stations in France have to play 2 French songs for every song in english, because it was changing the way people spoke (like saying computer instead of ordinateur.

According to Wikipedia and my location, I probably speak with the north midland American English accent. Judging by the description I think it's right. Except I still pronounce "cot" and "caught" differently. And that's how it should be!

My boss says he doesn't have an accent because he sounds like the people on TV!

Lots of people here occasionally slip an American pronunciation into a sentence by accident, like that horrible nasal 'a' on 'and', etc... Or 'zee' instead of 'zed', or even 'al-oo-min-um' instead of 'al-you-min-ee-um'.

When singing, it's completely natural to 'speak American' in a lot of songs, otherwise they don't rhyme properly any more ;)

Hodgman brings up an interesting phenomenon. Accents fade away when singing. I wonder if that holds true in other languages. Although I don't speak Spanish, I can hear some of the different accents in Spanish. The Spanish spoken in Spain has a different accent than the Spanish spoken in Mexico. So too with Cuba, Chile and Argentina. And Spanglish is a different beast all together.