What would likely happen accent-wise if you set up a colony of a hundred odd people from distinctly different areas?

[T & P]

I don’t quite get why accents in close areas don’t blend in over time, particularly in our present era of widespread travel and multicultural mixing. The difference that remains between nearby Liverpool and Manchester is particularly puzzling to me.

So I can’t help but wonder what would happen if you were sent to colonise a new planet with a crew of a hundred consisting of people from places as distinct as Australia Deep South US, Northern Ireland. Ireland, South Africa etc in equal numbers. Would their offspring two or three generations down the line speak in a blended accent? And if not, why?

 

[ouirdeaux]

Probably. But nothing about language is set in stone. Maybe some of those people would be particularly charismatic and talked a lot, so influenced others, and more features of their would catch on. Maybe they'd all kill each other in the first couple of months over a misunderstanding that blossomed.

 

[T & P]

Probably. But nothing about language is set in stone. Maybe some of those people would be particularly charismatic and talked a lot, so influenced others, and more features of their would catch on. Maybe they'd all kill each other in the first couple of months over a misunderstanding that blossomed.

Well, assuming they prosper and multiply, assuming they were all living under the same space dome a la Total Recall, I can’t imagine how a couple of centuries down the line it could be anything but a homogeneous accent. But then that’s not what life on Earth up until now would suggest.

 

[Aladdin]

Are they all theoretically speaking English?

 

[Artaxerxes]

I don’t quite get why accents in close areas don’t blend in over time, particularly in our present era of widespread travel and multicultural mixing. The difference that remains between nearby Liverpool and Manchester is particularly puzzling to me.

So I can’t help but wonder what would happen if you were sent to colonise a new planet with a crew of a hundred consisting of people from places as distinct as Australia Deep South US, Northern Ireland. Ireland, South Africa etc in equal numbers. Would their offspring two or three generations down the line speak in a blended accent? And if not, why?

Who is educating the kids and how many of the kids are of the same culture?

But yes its probable a mixed slang occurs.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Well, assuming they prosper and multiply, assuming they were all living under the same space dome a la Total Recall, I can’t imagine how a couple of centuries down the line it could be anything but a homogeneous accent. But then that’s not what life on Earth up until now would suggest.

Earth isn't a big dome though, for our entire evolution we've gone over the horizon to explore and get away from those ones back there. We've also seen so many languages lost due to nation-states and centralised education forming and radio/tv broadcasting, even Britain is now much more unified accent wise after the last century.

 

[T & P]

Who is educating the kids and how many of the kids are of the same culture?

But yes it’s probable a mixed slang occurs.

Initially twenty-five sets of parents,each with two kids, and each from distinctly different area of the world accent-wise. Until they are told to get to the rocket to escape Earth, they’d been living in their own separate regions across the Earth until they suddenly find themselves in the same Mars base for the rest of their lives.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I don’t quite get why accents in close areas don’t blend in over time, particularly in our present era of widespread travel and multicultural mixing. The difference that remains between nearby Liverpool and Manchester is particularly puzzling to me.

I'm not an academic in this (or any) field, but I've seen a few articles about this.

I think that accents have blended over time.

I've read that in Victorian times, you could place a Londoner to within a few streets by their accent.

In the 80s, I could tell the difference (for example) between Woolwich, Lewisham, Bermondsey and Croydon with a fair degree of accuracy. Now, there's more of a widespread 'estuary english'

People move about a lot more now, and you hear regional accents on the telly more than you did in the 70s - you heard the local accent at school and at home, and RP on the telly.

So I can’t help but wonder what would happen if you were sent to colonise a new planet with a crew of a hundred consisting of people from places as distinct as Australia Deep South US, Northern Ireland. Ireland, South Africa etc in equal numbers. Would their offspring two or three generations down the line speak in a blended accent? And if not, why?

Probably - the Australian accent* must have developed from somewhere, and kids in south london (for example) tend to speak with similar accents after a generation or two, irrespective of whether they are of english, jamaican, asian ancestry.

* - it's probably more complex than that - it may be different in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne in the same way there isn't a 'British' accent.

 

[spring-peeper]

They would blend dialects until it sounds like the world's most beautiful language -> Canadian.

We are a big country with many languages, but all have the same accent when speaking English, Not many countries can claim that!!!

 

[PTK]

People in Manchester and Liverpool are not mixing with each other every day, so there is not pressure on them to blend their accents.
What I find interesting is that in a small town, people can have different accents depending on their economic position and background.

 

[Gromit]

I don’t quite get why accents in close areas don’t blend in over time, particularly in our present era of widespread travel and multicultural mixing. The difference that remains between nearby Liverpool and Manchester is particularly puzzling to me.

So I can’t help but wonder what would happen if you were sent to colonise a new planet with a crew of a hundred consisting of people from places as distinct as Australia Deep South US, Northern Ireland. Ireland, South Africa etc in equal numbers. Would their offspring two or three generations down the line speak in a blended accent? And if not, why?

Answer;
You get Multicultural London English (MLE)

Or something like it.

 

[PTK]

It could be that God ensures that accents persist, to ensure that humans do not end up speaking a common language, and then rebuilding a Tower of Babylon.

 

[Yossarian]

They would blend dialects until it sounds like the world's most beautiful language -> Canadian.

We are a big country with many languages, but all have the same accent when speaking English, Not many countries can claim that!!!

I think most people could tell a Newfoundlander from an Albertan or a Quebecer easily enough

 

[spring-peeper]

I think most people could tell a Newfoundlander from an Albertan or a Quebecer easily enough

Alberta is only a slight difference, and Anglophones from Quebec sound the same as Anglophones from other provinces.

There is a larger difference in accents from other countries. Take for example, the number of dialects in England or the States - big regional difference.

As for the Newfoundlanders, one could make the argument that they are a unique culture. A unique culture with a unique accent.

 

[spring-peeper]

People in Manchester and Liverpool are not mixing with each other every day, so there is not pressure on them to blend their accents.
What I find interesting is that in a small town, people can have different accents depending on their economic position and background.

I remember seeing a documentary about a town that was half in the States and half in Canada.
Although they lived together, both sides kept their distinct accents.

 

[Yossarian]

As for the Newfoundlanders, one could make the argument that they are a unique culture. A unique culture with a unique accent.

Plenty of other accents across the Maritimes as well - I don't know how many people in BC or wherever could tell Haligonians, Cape Bretoners, New Brunswickers, and Prince Edward Islanders apart by their accents but I bet the locals don't have any trouble

 

[spring-peeper]

Plenty of other accents across the Maritimes as well - I don't know how many people in BC or wherever could tell Haligonians, Cape Bretoners, New Brunswickers, and Prince Edward Islanders apart by their accents but I bet the locals don't have any trouble

meh

 

[Fez909]

I think most people could tell a Newfoundlander from an Albertan or a Quebecer easily enough

Love this video. Didn't know that there were Canadians that sounds like that.

Really interesting

 

[krtek a houby]

It could be that God ensures that accents persist, to ensure that humans do not end up speaking a common language, and then rebuilding a Tower of Babylon.

Babel

 

[petee]

Love this video. Didn't know that there were Canadians that sounds like that.

Really interesting

and there are southerners that sound like this

 

[krtek a houby]

Irish accents have a big influence on Newfoundland speech. Fascinating old documentary here:



Also, to a lesser extent, in Australia.

 

[spring-peeper]

Plenty of other accents across the Maritimes as well - I don't know how many people in BC or wherever could tell Haligonians, Cape Bretoners, New Brunswickers, and Prince Edward Islanders apart by their accents but I bet the locals don't have any trouble

Those difference are minor compared to the differences are minor compared to other countries local accents.

The difference between PEI and Ontario English is a lot less accents from a New Yorker compared to Alabama. I really don't have a base for this, but I would hazard a guess that northern cities in England is very different an accent in an area such as Cornwall.

I've found that French-Canadian really varies from region to region. Long story from personal experience , but I have found that the English- Canadian accent is very similar when compared to other countries variants.

 

[spring-peeper]

Irish accents have a big influence on Newfoundland speech. Fascinating old documentary here:



Also, to a lesser extent, in Australia.

Irish, eh?

Often wondered but always thought it was Scottish.

Either way, Newfoundland is unique.

 

[tim]

If you're interested in language change in society do some research into sociolinguistics in particular the work of William Labov in the USA and Peter Trudgill in the USA. What I have found interesting is the way we unconsciously choose to speak often reflects political and social attitudes and the need to establish identity. We tend to speak like those we have an affinity with and differently from those we dislike, so language shift can involve both convergence and divergence.

This link looks at some theorists and the patterns they identified:

4.4 – The Basic Variation Theorists – Labov, Trudgill, Cheshire, Millroy & Bernstein

1. William Labov – 1966 New York Study – individual speech patterns are “part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification” – Labov studied how often t…

aggslanguage.wordpress.com

This is a lecture with Labov talking about language change in the inland Northeast of the USA and the nonlinguistic sociocultural features that he concludes may be driving it:

 

[nogojones]

Irish accents have a big influence on Newfoundland speech. Fascinating old documentary here:



Also, to a lesser extent, in Australia.

Yeah, I was picking up a fair bit of Ireland in that first vid

 

[danski]

They would blend dialects until it sounds like the world's most beautiful language -> Canadian.

We are a big country with many languages, but all have the same accent when speaking English, Not many countries can claim that!!!

No doot aboot it!

 

[Pickman's model]

Alberta is only a slight difference, and Anglophones from Quebec sound the same as Anglophones from other provinces.

So you've abandoned your claim all Canadians have the same accent when they speak english

 

[klang]

Gf and I went to a 5ts / honkytonk / saloon style bar in germany. Everybody dressed like John Wayne, country band on stage, tex mex menu etc.
Gf found it funny that all the cowboys who spoke to her in english had german accents, but i thoughf it was very authentic.
A fair percentage of American cowboys in the 1800s would have had german accents....

 

[Favelado]

UK accents are homogenising - regional differences in the North are gradually fading away and nationally there is more of a Southern influence on Northern accents and especially intonation now.

There is some homogenisation of English speech internationally too - but perhaps not accents specifically.

 

[yield]

Isolated for six months, scientists in Antarctica began to develop their own accent
23rd February 2024

Antarctica is a bleak, remote and dark place during the winter, but a handful of people each year brave the conditions to live in almost totally cut off from the rest of the world. The experience can change how they speak.