The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have noticed after listening to many old recordings over the years that the standard American accent has changed a bit over the past one hundred years. It seems to me that many more people back in the turn of the last century pronounced their "r" as non-rhotic, that is an "r" which is pronounced like "ah." Take this example of a recording of Teddy Roosevelt speaking, you can hear clearly the non-rhoticity in his speech. Has anybody else noticed any examples of the difference between the American accent in the early 20th century vs. today?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhlzdjPGxrs[/youtube]

-Steve

It would be a mistake to presume that Teddy Roosevelt's articulation was representative of American speech at the time. I recently read an article that opined a change in speech patterns based upon what the writer had heard in "old movies."

A century ago, as today, there were/are regional speech variations in the U.S. (to say nothing of Canada!) which make it risky to paint with a broad brush.

George P.

phonogfp wrote:It would be a mistake to presume that Teddy Roosevelt's articulation was representative of American speech at the time. I recently read an article that opined a change in speech patterns based upon what the writer had heard in "old movies."

A century ago, as today, there were/are regional speech variations in the U.S. (to say nothing of Canada!) which make it risky to paint with a broad brush.

George P.

I apologize as I should have been more specific. I was referring to the general American accent, aka the one which is most commonly heard throughout the United States; the one that News broadcasters speak with. As for the change in speech patterns from "old movies," I believe the accent they used was the "Trans-Atlantic" accent was affected by actors and was not the common pattern of speech at the time. The accent Roosevelt had was probably more representative of upper class Americans.

-Steve

Not pronouncing "R" as ARR is more like trying to sound 'high-toned' than anything else. My American ancestors from the early 1600s passed along their Hearty RRRs right up to my Granny's family, inserting R where it didn't even belong : waRsh your face, Oh My GaRsh, etc etc.

The current Mid-Western American accent sounds more like Shakespeare (think: Long John Silver) than the Queen of England does.

ps - Granny was descended from American settlers including Mary Barret Dyer (a founder of Rhode Island and a Quaker Martyr, hanged by the evil Puritans) , and Anne Hutchinson (also a hated Quaker and finally murdered by the Indians)

Roosevelt's "r" pronunciation was northeast regional upper class. There were, and still are to some extent, many U.S. dialects influenced by the origins of settlers in different regions. This has for some time been melding into a "standard" Midwest speech pattern because of radio, television, and films so that differences will most likely disappear over time. A bit sad in my view as a certain richness in variety will be lost.

Clay

As the people in Georgia said when Jimmy Carter was elected president, "At last we have a president with no accent."

oldphonographsteve wrote: Has anybody else noticed any examples of the difference between the American accent in the early 20th century vs. today?

A very interesting (and contentious !) question and one which has often been discussed in this household, especially when watching American film and TV productions. We notice three things:

1. Often, older American speech accents seem to be more akin to their English equivalents as articulated by the BBC and The Establishment of the same era. It is, however, not really possible to generalise due to the great numbers of regional dialects in both countries. The perception lingers, however.

2. American accents appear to have become more extreme or pronounced (excuse the pun) and can now appear to be almost caricatures of themselves, on occasion. Whether this has to do with the huge increase of communication in the world generally, and therefore the apparent incidence of heavily accented speech, is perhaps a little uncertain.

3. Diction has certainly suffered greatly and the "drawl", often produced from mouths hardly opened, is frequently difficult to understand in today's world. This, of course, is not unique to the USA but also occurs in the UK, and probably other countries too, as standards fall. One of the pleasures of listening to older American recordings is the clarity of speech.

Let's not all forget that Old Teddy was a New Yawka from birth. He got around alot, but he was from Sag Harbor, New York. His home "Sagamore Hill" is still a museum there until this day. Teddy also got around the world a lot as well!

I agree with George. If you were going to use an example, Teddy Roosevelt is probably not the best example to use.

You want to see a stark difference in 100 years time? Just look at the handwriting 100 years ago. It was beautiful! Way more proper than today...It all flowed like water. Hell, in today's schools, They don't even teach Cursive Script anymore. What a shame! Time change I guess.. Not always for the better.

)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

In retrospect I do agree with you all that Roosevelt was a poor choice to demonstrate the general American accent of the time. Instead I would like to offer this recording of William Jennings Bryan, another prominent politician of the era. Bryan was a Midwesterner and I feel that his accent was probably more representative of many Americans in the early twentieth century. However, for fear of generalizing, I would like to point out that I do recognize that many Americans do not in fact have this accent. To me his pattern of speech is far more similar to the way many Americans speak today, or at least it is similar to the way people speak in my neck of the woods.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf9DjAkuHBI[/youtube]

-Steve

Yes, closer. The pattern of speech (rather than the pronunciation) used is more reflective of public speaking of the day, though, than normal conversation.

Clay