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Why american english pronunciation differs from the Brittish English standard pronunciation ?

Godofredo W - 2008-07-11 11:25:44 - Languages

I would really like to know the reason why americans pronounce so differently the english language when we compare the British pronunciation to theirs. Besides the English pronounciation in UK reminds the german speakers in many aspects.

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American's pronounce it differently because they have adjusted the laungage as their own E.G they say "Candy" instead of "Sweets and Chocolate"

There is no standard British pronunciation. It depends where you come from in Britain. Get everyone in Britain to agree on British pronunciation (that'll cause a few fights) and then ask why the Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans and all other English speakers have a different accent. It's just the way the world is - natural evolution.

its just the way the languages have evolved in different paths for instance different states/county's will have a unique accent cause the language has altered within the confines of that state or county

we say aluminium they say aluminum

Language in England didn't become standardised until the early 17th century. Before that, there were many local dialects, the nobility spoke Norman (they called it French but the French wouldn't agree) and the church spoke Latin. America was around before then. What we recognise as American grew mainly out of the dialect that was spoken in 16th century Devon, although there have been a lot of subsequent influences on it.

Thousands of miles in between. Just listen to American English and Australian English, Spain's Spanish and Mexico's Spanish, France's French and Quebecois French.

Geography. Geography and exposure to people who speak other languages. People in different parts of a country or in different countries pronounce words differently- because they have been separated geographically and their languages have evolved in different ways. In the same way that different languages developed over time in different countries- English in the US and Britain and in Australia have changed and developed over time to become the languages they are today. In fifty or a hundred years all these languages will sound different again. Languages are always evolving- new words are added to the spoken language every year and every year some archaic words fall out of fashion and are no longer used. In the US- the settlers were not just English speakers. There were Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian, French and others as well. All of these languages contributed to the ways in which English is pronounced in the US. The further back you go in the history of the US the closer the British and US pronunciations become until you get to the first British settlers who sounded just like the British citizens back in England. But the longer they are separated the more each language evolves in different directions.

There are many British accents; there are also many American accents. American accents arose out of the accents brought across by British (and Irish) immigrants - many from the East Anglia region. So they are the result of developments based on these accents. Some American accents might have features of Irish accents (eg rhoticity, some of the vowels); some American accents in New England are similar to accents in Southern England.