The public stopped using the Transatlantic Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries after the dwindling of sporadic Viking trade with Markland, a regular and lasting transatlantic trade route was established in 1566 with the Spanish …Transatlantic crossing
When did people stop using a Transatlantic accent?
The Trans-Atlantic Accent (or the Mid-Atlantic Accent) was a style of speech taught in affluent schools along the East Coast and in Hollywood Film Studios from the late nineteen tens until the mid-forties.
Does Transatlantic accent still exist?
Yes. Something similar: Many native English speakers who spend a lot of time in both the UK and US develop something similar to it, with features of both some American variety and some British variety.
What was the point of the Transatlantic accent?
The accent comes from American boarding schools in New England where students were taught to speak English in more of an RP or high-class British way. In the 1930s and 1940s it was seen as a good accent to use in film and theatresince it sounded universal and not from any particular part of the world.
When did Americans lose their English accent?
Most scholars have roughly located “split off” point between American and British English as the mid-18th-Century. There are some clear exceptions.
Which US accent is closest to British?
While the accent of the American South might be difficult to comprehend for many students of the English language, its original form was actually much closer to British English, albeit with a playful inflection.
Why did people talk weird in old movies?
It's not just actors from the time period, but also anyone from higher class society at the time: This type of pronunciation is called the Transatlantic, or Mid-Atlantic, accent. And it isn't like most other accents – instead of naturally evolving, the Transatlantic accent was acquired.
Why did voices sound different in the 50s?
I'd guess that the "50's accent" you hear had much to do with the technology of AM and shortwave radio. Precise diction and a somewhat clipped style for words and phrases helped to overcome the crackle and hiss of static in radio reception.
Did George Washington have a British accent?
Considering all of this and his farmer upbringing, it is safe to speculate that Washington's natural accent was, as Morse portrays it, predominantly American with a detectable English influence.
Do New Englanders have an accent?
The New England accent isn't just one accent: it's actually several accents. Common traits of New England accents are non-rhotic or “r-dropping” pronunciation and a nasal-a sound. The “r-dropping” such as father /fa tha/ may come from the influence of English colonists.
Why do people in the 50s sound different?
Age-related voice changes vary widely, and people can begin to “sound old” in their 50s, while others retain a resonant voice well into their 80s. The normal aging process can affect the larynx and vocal cords in several ways: Atrophy (shrinkage) of muscle.
Why do they talk weird in old movies?
It's not just actors from the time period, but also anyone from higher class society at the time: This type of pronunciation is called the Transatlantic, or Mid-Atlantic, accent. And it isn't like most other accents – instead of naturally evolving, the Transatlantic accent was acquired.
Is there a Philly accent?
The Philadelphia accent stands out from other accents or dialects on the East Coast of the United States. It pronounces the r's, has unique vowel sounds and shortens a lot of words. The Philly accent continues to evolve, changing pronunciation and slang with each passing generation.
What makes the Mid Atlantic accent stand out from the rest?
So, what makes this accent stand out from the rest? The Mid-Atlantic accent is a cultivated way of speaking. In other words, the accent didn’t derive from a specific location, nor did it arise naturally. It features a conscious blend of American and British English and favors neither. What, then, caused the accent to gain popularity and become so widely used? Take a look with Creative Media Design in New York City.
What is the CMD accent?
CMD. Often referred to as a “strange” or “odd-sounding” way of speaking, many people seem to be unaware of the Mid-Atlantic accent. However, this classic accent played a large role in early American Cinema, and its use goes much further.
What is the midatlantic accent?
The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent, is an accent of English, fashionably used by the early 20th-century American upper class and entertainment industry , which blended together features regarded as the most prestigious from both American and British English (specifically Received Pronunciation ).
Who was the first person to use the Mid Atlantic accent?
The codification of a Mid-Atlantic accent in writing, particularly for theatrical training, is often credited to Edith Warman Skinner in the 1930s, a student of Tilly best known for her 1942 instructional text on the accent: Speak with Distinction.
What is Marianne Williamson's accent?
Self-help author and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has a unique accent that, following her participation in the first 2020 presidential debate in June 2019, was widely discussed and sometimes described as a Mid-Atlantic accent.
What episode of The Guiding Light is about the accent?
Early radio episodes of The Guiding Light featuring Mid-Atlantic English. "Puhfect Together", an episode of The Brian Lehrer Show in which William Labov is interviewed about the accent.
What is the world accent?
World English, then, was a creation of speech teachers, and boldly labeled as a class-based accent: the speech of persons variously described as "educated," "cultivated," or "cultured"; the speech of persons who moved in rarefied social or intellectual circles and of those who might aspire to do so .
Who used a non-rhotic accent?
President William Howard Taft, who attended public school in Ohio, and inventor Thomas Edison, who grew up in Ohio and Michigan of modest means, both used natural rhotic accents. Yet presidents William McKinley of Ohio and Grover Cleveland of Central New York, who attended private schools, clearly employed a non-rhotic, upper-class, Mid-Atlantic quality in their speeches; both even use the distinctive and especially archaic affectation of a " trilled " or " flapped r " at times whenever r is pronounced. This trill is less consistently heard in recordings of Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley's successor from an affluent district of New York City, who also used a cultivated non-rhotic accent but with the addition of the coil-curl merger once notably associated with New York accents, as did his non-trilling distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Is the Mid Atlantic accent still taught?
It is still taught to actors for use in playing historical characters.
Overview
The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent, is a consciously learned accent of English, fashionably used by the early 20th-century American upper class and entertainment industry, which blended together features regarded as the most prestigious from both American and British English (specifically Received Pronunciation). It is not a native or regional accent; rather, according to voice and drama professor Dudley Knight, "its earliest advocates bragged that its chief quality w…
Elite use
Early recordings of prominent Americans born in the middle of the 19th century provide some insight into their adoption or not of a carefully employed non-rhotic (sometimes called "r-less") speaking style. President William Howard Taft, who attended public school in Ohio, and inventor Thomas Edison, who grew up in Ohio and Michigan of modest means, both used natural rhotic accents. Yet presidents William McKinley of Ohio and Grover Cleveland of Central New York, who a…
Theatrical and cinematic use
When the 20th century began, classical training for actors in the United States explicitly focused on imitating upper-class British accents onstage. From the 1920s to 1940s, the "World English" of William Tilly, and his followers' slight variations of it taught in classes of theater and oratory, became popular affectations onstage and in other forms of high culture in North America. The codification of a Mid-Atlantic accent in writing, particularly for theatrical training, is often credite…
Phonology
The Mid-Atlantic accent was carefully taught as a model of "correct" English in American elocution classes, and it was also taught for use in the American theater prior to the 1960s (after which it fell out of vogue). It is still taught to actors for use in playing historical characters.
A version codified by voice coach Edith Skinner was once widely taught in acting schools of the earlier 20th century. Her code is listed below:
Pronunciation patterns
• The -day suffix (e.g. Monday; yesterday) can either be pronounced as [deɪ] or as [dɪ] ("i" as in "did").
• Instead of the STRUT vowel, the rounded LOT vowel (listen) vowel is used in everybody, nobody, somebody, and anybody; and when stressed, was, of, from, what. At times, the vowels in the latter words can be reduced to a schwa. However, "because" uses the THOUGHT vowel.
See also
• American English
• Atlas of North American English
• Elocution
• General American English
• Linguistic prescription
General bibliography
• Fletcher, Patricia (2005). Classically Speaking: Dialects for Actors : Neutral American, Classical American, Standard British (RP). Trafford. ISBN 9781412041218.
• Gimson, Alfred C. (1962). An introduction to the pronunciation of English. Foreign Language Study.
• Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006), The Atlas of North American English, Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-016746-8
Further reading
• Robert MacNeil and William Cran, Do You Speak American? (Talese, 2004). ISBN 0-385-51198-1.
• Nosowitz, Dan (27 October 2016). "How a Fake British Accent Took Old Hollywood by Storm". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 26 November 2016.