Why does Northern English seem to sound closer to American English than Southern English does?

12 comments

1. As the leading UK “ask” subreddit, we welcome questions from all users and countries; sometimes people who ask questions might not appreciate or understand the nuance of British life or culture, and as a result some questions can come across in a different way than intended.

   We understand that when faced with these questions, our users may take the opportunity to demonstrate their wit, dry humour, and sarcasm – unfortunately, this also tends to go over the heads of misunderstood question-askers and can make our subreddit seem hostile to users from other countries who are often just curious about our land.

   **Please can you help prevent our subreddit from becoming an Anti-American echo chamber?** If you disagree with any points raised by OP, or OP discusses common tropes or myths about the UK, please refrain from any brash, aggressive, or sarcastic responses and do your best to engage OP in a civil discussion, with the aim to educate and expand their understanding.

   If you feel this (or any other post) is a troll post, *don’t feed the troll*, just hit report and let the mods deal with it.

   *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*

2. Upper and Middle class people used non rhotic speech as a way to distinguish themselves. This was less popular in the north though.

   [link](https://www.rd.com/article/american-british-accents/#:~:text=But%20after%20the%20Revolutionary%20War,the%20most%20popular%20British%20phrases.)

3. America doesn’t all sound the same, just as all the uk doesn’t.

4. [removed]

5. What you mean t’buddy?

6. Don’t think it does, to be honest. Most northern accents aren’t rhotic and share far fewer characteristics with American English, I’d say. No “cot/caught” merger, very different “oo” sounds, etc.

   Now, there are accents in the US that sound similar to some English accents. There’s an island off the Carolinas called Ocracoke and some of the people there sound very similar to my Grandad and old recordings of Bedfordshire folk that I’ve listened to.

7. I agree with you OP. Not sure why it happened, maybe more emigrants were from northern England

8. Not sure I agree, and there are regional accents with their own vowel sounds, rhythm, word forms and idioms everywhere in the UK. You’ll hear different vowels in Newcastle, Bradford, Morecambe and Carlisle, but they’re all northern.

   What you call ‘Southern English’ is probably RP (aka BBC or Oxford English) which has a neutral accent and uses standard grammar and forms, with no local variations (some would call it posh or educated, but it’s essentially middle class; the true upper classes use longer long vowels and the shorter ones almost disappear).

   The vowel sounds have their origins in the early Hanoverian kings who were raised speaking German, hence the longer ‘a’ sounds, for example. As this bit of evolution happened as the US was moving towards independence from Britain, the language was on separate paths by then. There’s parallel with French and Canadian French.

9. You’d have to be more specific about what you mean by a “Northern” and “Southern” accent.

   You’re not entirely wrong though, and there is a reason for it.

   A big part of the answer is: *the Irish*

   With Irish migration in the 19th century being what it was, seeds of the predominant Irish accents of the time were planted in northern England. Particularly in Liverpool and the surrounding areas.

   At the same time, there was mass Irish migration to the northeastern United States, particularly Boston and New York.

   It’s possible that what you’re hearing is the similarities between those accents and their descendants, given that all accents evolve over time. In a way, the accents of Boston and Liverpool are cousins, with the effects tailing off the further you move from those cities.

   Boston’s accent, Scouse and the New York Irish accent each share similarities such as using a non-rhotic ‘R’ sound. That’s unusual in the US, just as it’s unusual in large parts of England, but it’s also very much part of the scouse accent. Neighbouring West Lancashire, however, uses a *very* rhotic R sound.

   I studied this phenomenon 15-or-so years ago as I find geolinguistics absolutely fascinating.

10. Yorkshire and Geordie sound NOTHING like American.

11. Well I’m Northern English (Darlington) and living in the US.

    Americans almost always assume I’m Australian.

    My wife is Southern English (Oxford) and Americans assume she is English.

    So Americans hear a difference North to South.

    But they certainly don’t think I sound like them.

12. 300 years ago, Southern English didn’t have long vowels either. The Pilgrim Fathers left the UK when vowels were short and took them with them.

    Bill Bryson wrote a fascinating book called Mother Tongue that explains how and why the English language changed both here and in the US.