Posted by Owen Roberts on August 31, 2011 at 14:20:41 user OwenRoberts.
In Reply to: Re: Pronunciation posted by Roger Wardale on August 31, 2011 at 12:37:46:
Not sure that I can agree about American being a reflection of spoken English about the time of QE1.
Even the protected pockets, Ed mentions, the English spoken there will reflect the diverse accents of that particular group of people.
There was a wide regional variation of accents in QE1's time, perhaps just as much as to any time up to the 1960's - when accents started to merge. Therefore the colonists will also have spoken with a variety of accents that will probably have merged in their enclave.
My mother came from Liverpool and I used to spend some holidays there in the 1940/50’s. Woe betides me if I started to speak with a Scouse accent. It was made plain to me that anyone who wanted to get on in life should avoid the local phraseology and style of speech.