Why Do Americans and Brits Have Different Accents？

美國人和英國人口音為什么會不同？

In 1776， whether you were declaring America independent from the crown or swearing your loyalty to King George III， your pronunciation would have been much the same. At that time， American and British accents hadnt yet diverged. Whats surprising， though， is that Hollywood costume dramas get it all wrong： The Patriots and the Redcoats spoke with accents that were much closer to the contemporary American accent than to the Queens English.

1776年，無論你是宣布美國獨(dú)立或是宣誓效忠英王喬治三世，你的發(fā)音都是大致相同的。當(dāng)時，美式和英式口音尚未分化。然而，令人驚訝的是，好萊塢古裝片都搞錯了：愛國者美國兵和英國兵（美國獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭時期英國士兵穿紅色軍上衣）的發(fā)音更接近于當(dāng)代美式口音而不是女王時期的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)英語。

It is the standard British accent that has drastically changed in the past two centuries， while the typical American accent has changed only subtly.

Traditional English， whether spoken in the British Isles or the American colonies， was largely rhotic. Rhotic speakers pronounce the “R” sound in such words as “hard” and “winter”， while non-rhotic speakers do not. Today， however， non-rhotic speech is common throughout most of Britain. For example， most modern Brits would tell you its been a “hahd wintuh”.

It was around the time of the American Revolution that non-rhotic speech came into use among the upper class in southern England， in and around London. According to John Algeo， this shift occurred because people of low birth rank who had become wealthy during the Industrial Revolution were seeking ways to distinguish themselves from other commoners； they cultivated the prestigious non-rhotic pronunciation in order to demonstrate their new upper-class status.

在過去的兩個世紀(jì)，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的英式口音已發(fā)生巨大變化，而典型的美式口音則只有微妙改變。

傳統(tǒng)英語，無論是在英倫三島或美國殖民地，其發(fā)音大部分都帶有卷舌音。帶卷舌音的人在說“hard（艱難）”和“winter（冬季）”這類詞時，總是發(fā)出“R”音，而不帶卷舌音的人則不然。然而今天，在英國大部分地區(qū)，人們說話通常都不帶卷舌音。例如，大部分現(xiàn)代英國人會跟你說，這是一個“hahd wintuh（嚴(yán)冬）”。

大約在美國獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭時期，在英格蘭南部的倫敦及附近地區(qū)，上層階級之間開始用非卷舌音講話。據(jù)約翰·艾爾吉奧的說法，之所以發(fā)生這種轉(zhuǎn)變，是因為出生于低階層的人們在工業(yè)革命時期已發(fā)家致富，他們極力尋求使自己有別于其他平民的方法；他們逐步養(yǎng)成久負(fù)盛名的非卷舌音發(fā)音，以顯示他們的新貴地位。

“London pronunciation became the prerogative of a new breed of specialists—orthoepists and teachers of elocution. The orthoepists decided upon correct pronunciations， compiled pronouncing dictionaries and， in private and expensive tutoring sessions， drilled enterprising citizens in fashionable articulation，” Algeo wrote.

The lofty manner of speech developed by these specialists gradually became standardized—it is officially called “Received Pronunciation” —and it spread across Britain. However， people in the north of England， Scotland and Ireland have largely maintained their traditional rhotic accents.

Most American accents have also remained rhotic， with some exceptions： New York and Boston accents have become non-rhotic. According to Algeo， after the Revolutionary War， these cities were “under the strongest influence by the British elite.”

艾爾吉奧寫道：“倫敦發(fā)音成為專家們——正音學(xué)研究者和朗誦教師——對一種新口音的特權(quán)。正音學(xué)研究者們決定修正發(fā)音，編纂發(fā)音詞典，并在私低下收費(fèi)高昂的輔導(dǎo)課上，用流行的發(fā)音方式對一些努力進(jìn)取的公民進(jìn)行訓(xùn)練”。

由這些專家們開發(fā)的高傲講話方式逐漸變得標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化——被正式稱為“標(biāo)準(zhǔn)發(fā)音”——并在英國各地傳播開來。不過，在英格蘭北部、蘇格蘭和愛爾蘭的人們大部分都還是保持了其傳統(tǒng)帶卷舌音的口音。

大多數(shù)美國人的口音也保持了卷舌音，當(dāng)然也有例外：紐約和波士頓口音已成為非卷舌音。據(jù)艾爾吉奧的說法，獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭以后，這些城市“受英國精英們的影響最大”。