Shouldn't Shakespeare be read with an American accent?

Question

Aren't American accents "closer" than contemporary British English to the accents of those used in the Shakespeare's day?

Answer 1

US English has evolved less than Home Counties English since Shakespeare's time, so in some ways US English is more primitive (and closer to Shakespearean English) than real English is.



But the modern accent which is closest to sixteenth century Middlesex English is probably modern British west country English (particularly west Dorset); this even keeps many of the Shakespearean vowels (so that 'tea' rimes with 'obey', for example).



The west country pronunciation is best known in the US as 'pirate' English.



So if you want to hear Shakespeare the way he should sound - talk like a pirate.



(Pirate English is aggressively rhotic - few modern US dialects are. Do you perhaps live somewhere in the Carolinas, on a mountain, far away from the nearest town)?

Answer 2

What?



English is a Germanic language. American English came from BRITISH people settling into the New World and that is how American English even first started to exist.



You could say that British English is older than American English but I think that is a stupid question. They both are the same language but with minor differences that have mainly to do with vocabulary and slight differences in culture. Also, accent and pronunciation is a key thing that make them different also.



Also, Shakespeare was British but he didn't even speak the exact same type of English spoken in Britain today. The English language has changed so much.



Here's a link about the English language: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English



It'll tell you about the origins of the English language and hopefully it will enlighten you some.



Also, no were aren't. Stop asking that. I can't believe you actually would ask something that makes such little sense.

Actually, no one is closer to anything about English. The language has changed so much it is beyond astounding.

Answer 3

No.



In Shakespeare's time, there was no "British" accent, only regional accents. Southern England was generally rhotic, Northern England non-rhotic.



Shakespeare, interestingly, was brought up right on the 'isogloss' between the two, and this southern Midlands accent is rather distinctive, with elements of both southern rural and Midlands.



Even though America was largely colonised by rhotic speakers (southern English people initially, then Irish), the US accent has diverged from its sources for centuries.

Answer 4

The speech that Shakespeare would have grown up with was "South Midlands" of his time, not really resembling modern British or American speech. (Anyway - which American? Bronx, Texas, West Coast, etc?) (Anyway - which 'contemporary English'? RP, Estuary, Birmingham, West Country, Liverpool, Geordie, etc?)



Look at the rhymes and sounds in some of Shakespeare's lines - the only one I can think of at the moment is "...unleash the dogs of war", in which 'war' would have sounded as a dog growling: "waarr". But do look for some other rhymes at the end of successive lines, there are many that just don't strike us as rhymes these days, whether we are British or American.

Answer 5

There's a theory that New Englanders and their neighbours speak a dialect more akin to the English of Shakespeare's time, in UK things have moved on somewhat. Personally I don't think it matters what accent he is spoken in as long as his work continues to be studied and read aloud - his themes are still contemporary.

Answer 6

West u . s . a . accents are pirate accents. i do not mean they sound like pirate accents, they're actually a similar accents. The common photo of a pirate is the english version. they got here from the elements of england the position human beings talk with that accent. i might want to say good northern irish accents sound on the point of yankee from time to time. and that i reckon austrailian accents are in route of english than american. They pronounce Os a similar and they don't positioned emphasis on Rs like the american accent.

Answer 7

Yes that is true but however large amounts of people are convinced that the british accent is closer.

Answer 8

Thou shall not speak with accents of the America, wherefore did one get such nonsense