Feb 20, 2008 11:10 pm US/Central
Good Question: Why Are There Different Accents?
(WCCO)
We may not realize it, but all of us speak with an accent. The trademark drawl of an American living in the South. The nasal tone of a fan of "Da Bearz." And the elongated "O" emerging from a lifelong Minnesotan.
"It's largely because … you start speaking the way that your mother speaks," said Dr. William Beeman, a linguistic anthropologist and chair of the anthropology department at the University of Minnesota. "It seems to be young mothers that seem to be the leading edge for linguistic change and they're the ones who establish the accents in their children ... It starts with mom."
However, in the United States the history of accents goes back to the initial colonization of the country, according to Beeman.
"When they established colonies, they brought the accents from the different parts of Europe," he said.
For example, in the Southern part of the United States: "The southerners in the United States come from largely southern England, from Yorkshire and places like that. And if you go to England today, look at the Yorkshire accent, it sounds southern," said Beeman.
People in Boston are famous for the exaggerated pronunciation of "I parked my car in the garage," a phrase that doesn't seem to have any "R" sounds.
"The R's at the end of the words were regularly dropped just like the British gentry would drop them. Even today you can still be an elite in Boston and not have your R's pronounced at the end of a word," he added.
However, in Brooklyn, N.Y., when people don't pronounce the "R" sounds in their words, they are considered to be "lower class," according to Beeman.
The Minnesota accent is heavily influenced by the state's early Norwegian population, "and also the kinds of contours that you find in Swedish and Norwegian and Danish. The language goes up and down," said Beeman.
Historically, accents have been stronger on the Eastern side of the United States.
"West of the Mississippi we had everybody moving across the prairies, and they kind of mixed it up as they went," Beeman said.
However, language and accents are always changing and evolving, and Beeman said that pop culture can have a real influence. Right now, there's a large area of study around the influence of hip-hop culture on language.
When a "leader uses a pronounced accent, it gives the OK to talk like him or her," said Beeman.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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