1 00:00:00,330 --> 00:00:03,680 - [Narrator] The United States has countless accents. 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:05,490 But where did they all come from? 3 00:00:05,490 --> 00:00:09,350 American accents have been evolving for hundreds of years. 4 00:00:09,350 --> 00:00:12,210 While Americans sound very different today, 5 00:00:12,210 --> 00:00:15,170 here's where some of those iconic accents got their start. 6 00:00:15,170 --> 00:00:17,000 Let's start with New England, 7 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,700 which was one of the first US regions to develop 8 00:00:19,700 --> 00:00:21,853 its own American-English accent. 9 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,059 Today, a speaker from New England might say, 10 00:00:25,059 --> 00:00:27,230 - Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? 11 00:00:27,230 --> 00:00:30,180 Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? 12 00:00:30,180 --> 00:00:31,013 Is that your thing? 13 00:00:31,013 --> 00:00:32,900 You come into a bar, you read some obscure passage 14 00:00:32,900 --> 00:00:35,352 and you pretend, pawn it off as your own? 15 00:00:35,352 --> 00:00:38,560 - [Narrator] For such a geographically small area, 16 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,483 New York City certainly has a bunch of distinctive accents. 17 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,430 But in general, its accents evolve from a mixture 18 00:00:48,430 --> 00:00:50,960 of its Dutch and English roots, 19 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:53,253 and numerous waves of immigration. 20 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:03,620 A modern speaker from New York probably won't sound 21 00:01:03,620 --> 00:01:05,280 like what you hear in the movies. 22 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,565 - Hey, I'm walkin' here! 23 00:01:07,565 --> 00:01:09,229 I'm walking' here! 24 00:01:09,229 --> 00:01:11,440 - [Narrator] They're more likely to say, 25 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,750 - Deep dish pizza is not only not better 26 00:01:13,750 --> 00:01:14,750 than New York Pizza, 27 00:01:16,170 --> 00:01:17,093 it's not pizza. 28 00:01:19,724 --> 00:01:22,890 - [Narrator] New York's New Jerseyan and Pennsylvanian 29 00:01:22,890 --> 00:01:25,600 neighbors sounded quite different. 30 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,740 Nowadays, someone from Philly might say, 31 00:01:28,740 --> 00:01:29,990 - We're your regular family. 32 00:01:29,990 --> 00:01:31,680 We watch the Phillies on TV, 33 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,110 we go down to the Jersey shore. 34 00:01:34,110 --> 00:01:35,400 But when we want great hoagies, 35 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,150 discount prices on beer, 36 00:01:37,150 --> 00:01:38,540 and a great atmosphere, 37 00:01:38,540 --> 00:01:40,680 we go to Lee's Hoagies in Horsham, PA. 38 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:41,513 (laughing) 39 00:01:41,513 --> 00:01:44,040 - [Narrator] Let's take a look at what went on down south. 40 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:45,650 The southern coast of the United States 41 00:01:45,650 --> 00:01:47,850 has a variety of different accents. 42 00:01:47,850 --> 00:01:50,690 One for example is Southern Coastal White. 43 00:01:50,690 --> 00:01:52,870 - What concerns me about the American Press 44 00:01:52,870 --> 00:01:57,010 is this endless, endless attempt to label 45 00:01:57,010 --> 00:01:58,793 the guy some kind of kook. 46 00:02:01,270 --> 00:02:03,170 - [Narrator] Other southern dialects preserve some 47 00:02:03,170 --> 00:02:06,250 of the original remnants to this day. 48 00:02:06,250 --> 00:02:08,480 - They come over here and get the oysters 49 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:10,740 and clam and go fishin' because they right down the road, 50 00:02:10,740 --> 00:02:13,220 they right in Brunswick, or Savannah, or Jacksonville. 51 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:15,810 - [Narrator] Much later, a wave of African Americans 52 00:02:15,810 --> 00:02:18,930 migrated from the American South to urban centers 53 00:02:18,930 --> 00:02:22,020 in the North, mixing their accents together. 54 00:02:22,020 --> 00:02:23,140 - Being a kid from New York City, 55 00:02:23,140 --> 00:02:25,140 I mean from Brooklyn and my aunt, 56 00:02:25,140 --> 00:02:26,050 God bless her soul, 57 00:02:26,050 --> 00:02:29,129 she used to always take me to the Rockettes. 58 00:02:29,129 --> 00:02:31,493 You know, the Easter show and the Christmas show. 59 00:02:33,078 --> 00:02:34,830 - [Narrator] The Ulster Scots had a significant influence 60 00:02:34,830 --> 00:02:38,090 on many American dialects in the South and the West. 61 00:02:38,090 --> 00:02:40,570 Most of the original accent has disappeared, 62 00:02:40,570 --> 00:02:42,770 and today an American from Tennessee 63 00:02:42,770 --> 00:02:44,230 might sound like this. 64 00:02:44,230 --> 00:02:45,970 - Now I just who I am. 65 00:02:45,970 --> 00:02:47,190 I'm not always nice. 66 00:02:47,190 --> 00:02:48,250 I choose to be good. 67 00:02:48,250 --> 00:02:49,570 I choose to have a good attitude 68 00:02:49,570 --> 00:02:50,910 because I want people to know. 69 00:02:50,910 --> 00:02:52,852 I am a girl of many colors. 70 00:02:52,852 --> 00:02:56,130 - [Narrator] The Midwest has many diverse accents. 71 00:02:56,130 --> 00:02:58,440 As the Appalachian settlers headed west, 72 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:00,670 their accents joined with speech patterns 73 00:03:00,670 --> 00:03:02,130 from the North. 74 00:03:02,130 --> 00:03:04,810 Today, a speaker from the Great Lakes might say, 75 00:03:04,810 --> 00:03:06,640 - I was born in the middle of the century 76 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:08,010 in the middle of the country. 77 00:03:08,010 --> 00:03:09,210 A classic baby boomer. 78 00:03:09,210 --> 00:03:10,660 - [Narrator] Or more famously, 79 00:03:10,660 --> 00:03:12,140 - We got a full tank of gas, 80 00:03:12,140 --> 00:03:13,490 half a pack of cigarettes, 81 00:03:13,490 --> 00:03:16,009 it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. 82 00:03:16,009 --> 00:03:18,280 - [Narrator] While another from Wisconsin, 83 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,118 Minnesota, the Dakotas might say, 84 00:03:21,118 --> 00:03:23,529 - If either of these men draw, 85 00:03:23,529 --> 00:03:25,350 I'm gonna be forced to shoot some people 86 00:03:25,350 --> 00:03:26,840 and I don't wanna to do that. 87 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,190 - [Narrator] Down in Texas, 88 00:03:28,190 --> 00:03:30,940 a very distinct accent developed. 89 00:03:30,940 --> 00:03:35,290 The famous Texan accent that we all know from the movies, 90 00:03:35,290 --> 00:03:36,740 - He shot and killed a state senator 91 00:03:36,740 --> 00:03:38,430 named Bibbs in Waco, Texas. 92 00:03:38,430 --> 00:03:40,830 - [Narrator] Has started to level out. 93 00:03:40,830 --> 00:03:42,900 Visitors to big cities like Houston 94 00:03:42,900 --> 00:03:45,470 might be surprised to hear something more like, 95 00:03:45,470 --> 00:03:47,517 - Thank you to everyone who worked so hard 96 00:03:47,517 --> 00:03:49,748 to beautifully capture the profundity 97 00:03:49,748 --> 00:03:51,800 of Deep Southern culture. 98 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,150 - [Narrator] Last but not least is the West Coast. 99 00:03:55,150 --> 00:03:56,810 Which had a very different mix 100 00:03:56,810 --> 00:03:59,690 of immigrants compared to the East Coast. 101 00:03:59,690 --> 00:04:01,170 California doesn't come close 102 00:04:01,170 --> 00:04:03,680 to having one distinct accent. 103 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:05,840 A modern day speaker might sound like, 104 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,960 - We woke up the next morning on his actual birthday 105 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:09,830 and I told him I wanted to take him somewhere 106 00:04:09,830 --> 00:04:10,967 to lunch for his birthday. 107 00:04:10,967 --> 00:04:12,060 - [Narrator} Or 108 00:04:12,060 --> 00:04:13,780 - What's so powerful about this novel 109 00:04:13,780 --> 00:04:15,800 is everyone has their own interpretation 110 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:16,933 of these characters. 111 00:04:18,210 --> 00:04:20,330 - [Narrator] These are just a handful 112 00:04:20,330 --> 00:04:22,040 of American accents. 113 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,080 And they're all still evolving as we speak. 114 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,760 We'll have to check back in a century or so 115 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,233 and see what happens next.