Old West Accent(s)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 22 апр 2022
- An investigation into how people talked in Leadville and other Old West boomtowns in the 1870s and 1880s.
These accents are presented as "Western" because, according to 1880 United States Census data, most people in Leadville came from Missouri, New York, Germany, Ireland, Pennsylvania, Canada, UK. Many boomtowns during this time period were similarly diverse, and no native accent had yet developed. This is an interesting and surprising fact.
The clips presented are of people from these places who were young adults during the 1870s-1880s and I analyzed- as a layman- some patterns I heard.
Leadville is a classic and well-preserved period boomtown in the central mountains of Colorado. Doc Holiday had his last "fight" and subsequent trial here in 1885-1886 shortly before his death.
Interviews:
William Henry Jackson: • Video
Various Old People: • 1929 - Interviews With...
Wilford Woodruff: • The 1897 Audio Record ...
Leadville photos generously sourced from the collection of Mr. W.A. Korn and scanned at marvelous resolution by Mr. F.E. Mark.
I am 70 now but I remember well speaking with my grandparents who were born in the late 1800’s and ranched in far West Texas. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. When I would visit them, I would be fascinated with their cadence and slow, measured speech. Even their vocabulary was foreign to me. I treasure my memories of them.
Those are priceless memories. It’s too bad, their verbal voices weren’t able to be recorded for posterity 😢
Do tell!
My great grandfather was born in the early 1890s he fought in ww1 and served during ww2. He loved long horns and never had an urge to own them.
My grandparents also lived in West Texas and both of them were born there. Grandpa was born in 1873 and Grandma in 1875. I remember well my grandpa’s manner of speaking as it seemed distinctive even though we lived only a couple of hundred miles from them. Grandma’s speech didn’t seem all that different to me. I don’t know what caused the peculiarities in Grandpa’s speech.
70 born in '03? Fascinating.
Wow, I'm in my 60s, and I'm old enough to remember some older folks speaking in these accents when I was a kid. You can also hear these accents in older movies, especially ones from the 1930s. American English has definitely changed quite noticeably even in my lifetime.
I think people swear a lot more. When Hollywood started to swear, i guess people thought it was OK.
I wondered about this. Just as I see people posing in a stilted way for early 20th century photos. The exposures were longer so people look stiff and often pretentious.
@@daniellarson3068 they swore more in the past. The dialogue in the series deadwood is supposed to be historically accurate.
I'm inclined to agree with you. My first thought when watching this video was that you can still appreciate these accents in films from the '40s and '50s.
so these old guys sounded like the three stooges
As a direct descendent of Wilford Woodruff, this is the first time I've heard a recording of his voice. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing and letting me directly hear the voice of my ancestors.
🧢
@@mintfloss15 why would he lie about being the descendant of a horrible cult leader.
@@mintfloss15 🤓
@@solodrow4004 they’re not really a cult, even though i don’t like them
@@ThePhrog714 yah, it's not like they shun non-conforming members and encourage you to cut ties with people that don't align with the leaders' ideology, or make them wear secret religious garments or marry children to adults or something wacky like that (this is a joke, they do these things)
My grandmother was born 1895 on the prairie in South Dakota. She would pronounce wash like "warsh" and program like "progrum" and had a softer way of speaking. She got interviewed in her later years because of her work as a suffragette. So grateful we have the recording of her voice online so I can remember.
Your comment caught my attention because Laura Ingalls Wilder was living on the S Dakota prairie not long before you grandmother was born. Among other places, she lived in De Smet, SD.
There's an local area near to where I grew up that put the same 'r' in words like wash or water.
I had a friend from Nebraska who would say "warsh" and instead of pillow, would say "pellow."
My older relatives were born in Nebraska in the late 1920's and 30's, moved to the coast very soon after, and still say 'warsh'.
I wonder what the origin of "warsh" is. My dad pronounced it that way too. Lots of different pronunciations were not picked up be me from my parents, because I took the pronunciations I heard on TV instead. I wonder if accents might go away completely as we become more connected.
Keep in mind with those old recordings that people had to speak loudly with a higher pitch because the recording equipment didn't handle bass and low tones very well. While doing so and thinking about how they sound, they may consciously change their pronunciation.
My father was born in 1912. I noticed when hearing him on videos we did late in his life he spoke differently when recorded. Kind of a stilted "stentorian" deliberate voice unlike his normal voice.
Just like media can be colorized, perhaps a vocalization . I think the colorization. And vocalization should be split screen.
Thanks for explaining why the men sounded so high pitch when speaking. I started to think that maybe there were no men who spoke in a lower voice.
I've listened to the 1890s recordings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Buffalo Bill Cody and they sound the same. This complies with your observations.
@@elizabethlinsay9193 Unquestionably our voices change with age. We have very good recordings of a very young Frank Sinatra,early in his career. And throughout the rest of his life. The Sinatra of the middle 1950s, the middle 60s and so forth is recognizably his,but always a little different. Towards the end he could not hit the high notes but a lifetime career meant superb control of what he did have. And a life of whiskey and cigarettes made their own impact on his voice. I mention him for his long career plus the best recording technology available was used on him,making it as technologically transparent as any can be. We have early 1950s wire recordings Earnest Hemingway did plus that movie he did during the Spanish Civil War,late 1930s. Hard to believe made by the same man. Wire lost deep tones.
This was very interesting to watch.
Val Kilmer had a dialect coach.
"I started with my secret weapon, the dialect and speech coach Tim Monich who works with the best people on earth, 24/7 for 30 years now. I told him I needed a dialect that didn't exist anymore and within days, there was a tape at my doorstep of a true Southern aristocrat who spoke so slowly and precisely about the theater he had restored."
Doc Holliday was from Georgia, so that would’ve been an appropriate accent for him to have
One of my favorite movies up there with grand torino
Tombstone fans represent, glad I'm not alone
@@jackspurlock9201 Some areas still pronounce it “Jawja”. I’m Southern, but I was even taken aback when I heard a young girl speaking that way.
So proud to have attended college with Tim Monich, widely regarded as best in the business.
I love old timey accents and recordings… it’s fascinating because they were people just like us with all the same emotions and struggles, just in different circumstances.
Insane to me, these accents are a lot like the funny stereotypes in Loony Toons characters. So much old world charm had been passed down even back then. Even as a little child watching these cartoons felt like a glimpse into a past era I'd never know. Thank you for the video
I was just going to comment on the same. Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam sound closer than almost any recent Hollywood western.
I was just going to comment on the same. Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam sound closer than almost any recent Hollywood western
This accent is still present in lots of films from the 30s into the 40s, especially with actors not trying to sound erudite. The 3 Stooges had tons of characters using or mocking the old accents.
Yes, the transatlantic accent.
SOITANLY!!!
That's what I was thinking an example of a movie from the 40s with a similar accent is Sergeant York. When I was listening to these voice clippings these people sound really similar to the lady who plays Yorks mom and sometimes the guy who plays York. And if I'm not mistaken a little bit also sounds similar to some characters in the Andy Griffith show and Beverly Hillbillies- (shows from the 60s) even though parts of those shows are poking fun of the old accents as well. Although I could be wrong it's been a while since I've watched these shows and movies.
Bingo. That's where I loined it!
@@jessicanichols153 Griffith sounds like normal folk here in NC.
I regret not recording my great grandmother's voice. She had a east Georgia accent that was very charming. And a unique way of pronouncing some words. Very soft drawl that often almost sounded like a question at the end of a sentence. Miss Effie lived to be almost 90 and was convinced that the little Clam Shell on the local tv weather news in Savannah that open up to give the tides each day waa a real little creature. She'd say, "What a smart little animal". Bless her heart she was amazed at modern things like tv and I don't think really believed in the moon landing.
@Peter Engert 😉😝
@Peter Engert she wasn't, but it's charming in-context
@Peter Engert men definitely landed on the moon.
@Star I mean she did live to see it...
My grandma is 78 and from Camilla Georgia and I know exactly what you mean by the soft drawl and the question at the end of sentences kind of like a higher pitched thing hard to describe but I do think Georgia has some of the coolest accents there so subtle yet in your face
As a philosophical point, I was born in West London, but grew up 25 miles North of London. I am now 70 years old, but have lived for the last 36 years in Germany. When I visit my family still in England, I realize I am still speaking a 1980's English. This would suggest that those recorded in late life, are still speaking in their original accents.
Incidentally, the accents of my youth in West London have disappeared. The way my uncles, aunts and grandparents spoke, have disappeared. I do still very occasionally hear it in WW2 interviews, and somehow, I miss it.
That's really interesting.
I bet. Very few British in London these days.
It can go either way, it depends on who people talk to every day
Me, similar, 72, but grew up in Battersea. Nobody nowadays speaks the way Londoners used to. The way the English talk now sounds weird to me, as if everyone has hidden their real accent behind a fake Thames Valley accent dreamt up by tv executives to avoid giving offense.
Great comment
My grandmother was born in 1881 and died in 1981 at 100 years of age. She had a Central Texas accent that is never heard anymore. She sounded almost as if she had come from Virginia. Something that stands out in my memory is when I heard her telling my father about a troublesome light switch:
"I have to flickit own, then flickit owff, then flickit own agayn." Listening to an interview with the late Roy Orbison I realized that he spoke this way, too.
Many pioneer settlers moved to Texas from other states and brought their accents with them. You can still here some of them. At least until recently sometimes you'd meet someone from Ft. Worth who might sound just like someone from Tennessee.
As a fellow Texan, this comment is interesting to me. Thank you.
Completely agree. The Texas drawl is dying out. Even in old news clips of local Texans from the 1970’s still spoke with a pronounced drawl. Today it’s completely neutral, and colorless bland cadence. It’s sad to me, but too many find the Texas drawl as ignorant, but I find it as expression of a culture.
The way they pronounce "first" and "certainly" is exactly how Curly from the Three Stooges pronounced it.
That's always been a pet peeve of mine - how everyone in Western movies speaks with a Southern accent. As mentioned, people came from all over the US and from other countries so a wide range of accents would have been heard back then.
Tombstone does get one thing halfway right in the inclusion of a black/afro-am main character. Many newly free young men of color chose to go west and worked on ranches and cattle drives.
The Southern accent came from upper class Englanders of the 15th century. This accent deteriorated to "redneck speech" among many. This happened in Britain as well. That was a reason to develop the "Received Pronounciation" which made it difficult to lapse into "undesirable" language sounds. I have a Websters Dictionary which explains this. It is a rare edition. The "Southern accent" is badly misunderstood. Washington and Jefferson did not have a British accent. They spoke with a refined Southern accent that you will never hear. Instead you will hear crude versions of the Southern accent.
The west was settled by a majority of Southerners. Yes many others from many other places but still, majority of western settlers were from South.
Kind of like immigrants? Like Irish, German, English, Scot, Spain/Mex, Norwiegen, Swede, and French (Canada)? Yes the United States was a country of immigrants and they brought their pronunciation and slang with them.
Does this remind anyone of Bugs Bunny when he’s doing a bit?
I’m a Missourian. If I’d heard the Missouri man’s testimony without context I’d have thought it may have been someone alive in the state today. I know many folks who speak like this, including myself on occasion. Interesting to see how similar the accent has remained.
You hear this a lot in northwestern Arkansas too, but in central Arkansas our accents have kind melted with the traditional southern and Midwestern with a little bit of Texas influence in there too. A great example of this is to listen to folks like Johnny Cash, Billie Bob Thornton, or Justin Moore.
It's like a frontier kind of accent. I don't live too far from you and even I talk like this sometimes lol
It's really only slightly different than the typical "small town speech" I've heard in parts of Missouri. No surprise that you hear less of it in the cities.
Fellow Missourian, can confirm.
I’m not a Missourian, but I’ve spoken to some and definitely heard enough to know that I can’t tell the difference.
Fascinating video. As a Scot, I'm often reminded that I speak in a particular way - even by other Scots who speak other dialects. I've always had a fascination with accents, they have deep histories and reveal lots of hidden details about a person. American regional accents interest me and I wish there was some sort of revival movement as it seems a lot of them are dying out and being replaced by "general American"
you should try out different accents in your day-to-day dealings. makes it interesting
it's really unfortunate to say the least, especially since i don't find the general american accent to be all that pleasing whatsoever
In the last century the increased ease of traveling and the rise of broadcast entertainment probably dulled regional accents somewhat. I don't even know what my own accent would be because I've moved a few times.
Nowadays I think there's a blur of accents and even cultures occurring at the global level.
I often hear Americans use UK phrases like "have a go" or "should do", etc. I presume accents are also watering down in the same way.
From the 1990s to today the internet has had a lot of effects on society. I believe that this is among them.
Before youtube I had rare exposure to English dialects from outside my own region, and basically no exposure to non-American dialects. Now I hear them all the time. I think the same has been true for millions of people.
@@yorgle11 There's been a noticeable acceptance of more American terms in Scotland, yes, more marked among the middle classes (richer people, not used in the American sense - small business owners, professionals, white collar etc) and university students. Most working-class people still speak broad Scots and Scots slang. There's definitely been a development of a "general Scottish" accent, though. News presenters and politicians often display it.
In regards to exposure to other dialects, I'd say the opposite is true in Scotland. Accents change quite rapidly within the country. Glasgow and Edinburgh are the classic example - only an hour away on the train and completely different from each other. Much of our media, unless watching or listening to the specifically Scottish channels. is dominated by English and American voices. It leads to the weird situation where we can understand Americans, even those with a non-standard accent, perfectly fine but they struggle quite badly to understand us. I've had many one-sided conversations when visiting
the states!
as an american i agree. but we actually still do have regional accents, they’re just more subtle and you don’t notice unless you physically go visit from one region to another. for example, i’m from upstate NY (far north of the city, very rural) and have visited NYC. Same state, but some distinct changes in accent. it’s very interesting.
Daniel Day Lewis is the best at early American accents. The Gangs of New York as well as The Last of the Mohicans are perfect examples. Also the HBO series John Adams features some of the best accents of that era.
Pacino in "Revolution" nails the New York accent of the colonial period.
"Daniel Plainview"
@@BoydsofParadise oh yes I forgot about that one. He is the master of accents.
I need a movie with Pittsburgh accents.
@@ronfroehlich4697 Oh, yes, the “Yinzer” accent. I worked with a woman from there, and she had it. Erie, PA has a similar one. I knew a guy from there.
I've noticed that people that live in big cities tend to talk faster and always move like they have better places to be. I remember Virginian accents, Alabama, West Texas, East Texas and a lot of southern accents all had a different sound when I was young.
West Texas accents are alive and well! Indeed, I have an old friend who lives there, and his accent has gotten thicker over time. 😆
lol The radio DJs, and the difference when moving from north East Coast to Colorado! Very noticeable right away. Although, to be fair, those in media and advertising do literally get paid more for talking faster.
you are definitely correct! I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area and we are known for talking fast and are always in a rush to get somewhere 😂
It's ROOOOOF not RUFF. 😆
You’ve noticed? I’m sure nobody else has ever noticed or discussed this brand new observation of human nature
Missour-uh is a common rural pronunciation down to the present in Missouri. It is somewhat amusing to watch state politicians who are from St. Louis and KC fall all over themselves to use this pronunciation during election season.
My grandfather was born in 1921 in the upper Ozarks and pronounced Iowa as I-O-way.
He also pronounced California as Californee. I am unsure if this was because of his French ancestry or his Appalachian ancestry. Either way, he got it honest.
I’ve heard Californy before too
I lived in Missouri for several years, and definitely picked up on the "Missoura". To me, he didn't sound very different from the people I knew there.
Great work. If nothing else curating these sources, providing context, and then releasing to the general public in such a readily accessible format = immeasurable value.
Best value-added content I have seen on youtube this month.
My great-great grandfather was born in 1818 in Steuben County New York and grew up there. Now I have an idea of what kind of accent he may have had! Thanks for this bit of time travel!
That’s so cool. 😊
New Yorkers sounded just like Texaens yes
I'm 77. What I find interesting is the pronounciation of things like foist for first still existed in the 1960s in parts of New York City. There wasn't much change in accents until after the 1960s due to mass communication.
Of course it still does. Foidy-foist street.
This is the foist time I've learned these things!
Not mass communication, but more transportation movements.
Archie Bunker.
🙂
Im from Louisiana. My grandma used those pronunciations. Foist. Choich. Corch (coach)....
I knew my great grandparents, who were alive in the 19th century, in the west coast. They had a slow but musical inflection that was careful to pronounce each word correctly and softly. It was almost like hearing a choir when they were just shooting the breeze. They were more similar to our current accent than to the east coast accents you've put in here. They boomed and wailed in private and spoke softly in public but only dropped a g or r to mimic someone else.
Great to read so many anecdotes of people and their parents, grandparents and great grandparents here in the comments. Thank you for your thoughts and your interest in the video.
@@lostleadville Just had to mention, enjoyed the 1854 "Hard Times" playing in the background!
By complete coincidence, I found the most ancient person ever and he is a millionth generation cowboy and he said "that's all we've done my whole life" and I've never ever come across anyone who sounds like him. I've met plenty of old people but he seems to me like a very unique time capsule all by himself. I hope I meet him again soon so I can get a recording. I'd love for you all to hear him. 🤞
Does he live where you live somewhere?
Cause that's really strange he must have not had much contact with the rest of the world
@@RandomPerson-ob1hk alot of cowboys work 7 days a week all year so I guess so
well, did you ever see him again?
@@NotOnDrugs I did swing by but he wasn't home. I'll drop in again soon.
What are you on about??
To be fair, Doc Holliday was a Southern gentleman and not really meant to typify how a typical person out West would sound. Val Kilmer based his performance on a tape he was given by his dialect coach of an old Georgia aristocrat.
One thing I've heard as a native San Franciscan is that the most typical accent in the early days was a New York-ish one, since so many 49ers came from the Northeast. This persisted even into the early 20th century in the Mission District among the Irish community.
Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holiday was a performance for the ages.
Its very true. Pat Morita, who grew up between Sacramento and The Bay Area (Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid) used to do stand up comedy. There's recordings of him in the 1960s doing his stand up. Listen to his accent. He sounds like he's from Brooklyn practically.
@@EV-wp1fj It's really funny hearing Pat Morita talk in his real voice if you're used to him from Happy Days and Karate Kid.
To my ear it sounds like what's called a "Yankee" accent, as you noted from around New York, Connecticut and the rest of New England. The term Yankee is a pejorative doble-entendre invented by the original Dutch settlers of New York as a put-down to the English, whom they called "Jan Kase", the J pronounced as our Y, meaning John Cheese, for their habit if eating lots of cheese. In the pejorative it also meant "wanker" and refers as well to the body odor of anyone consuming large amounts of cheese. Something the Dutch considered offensive.
Many of those people were immigrants or one generation removed from immigrants and if you recall, back then a great deal of immigrants came through new York at Ellis island, especially those arriving from Europe, so a new York style accent of some variety would have likely my been their first exposure to American accents, possible even the English language, and I'm sure a lot of them spent at least a little time there, so it stands to reason that you would have heard a whole lot of that. It's awfully cool how even a little exposure to a regional accent for a short time can change ones way of speaking, even more so if they do not really notice it. It can be rather obvious to others.
Something to keep in mind; old audio recording equipment usually would raise the octaves of the voice about 1/2 to 1. These men and women didn't have as high-pitched a voice as heard.
I suspected that was the case but never saw or heard of data to back it up. Thank you for your insights.
@@lostleadville There's a very good reason you've never found data to back up that old myth. There isn't any. Listen to the deep rich tones of Rose Coghlan's reading of The Charge of the Light Brigade (Library of Congress). An octave lower and she would have sounded like a talking tuba.
@@lostleadville The only reason it would raise a voice an octave would be if someone was speeding up the playback. The equipment wasn't as sensitive to the full range as they are now. I think this is a malapropism based on Film choices of the early 20th century, where they would record slower and playback faster for a humor. I've seen recreations of old time recording with old time equipment at modern times. It might lack the richness of bass...but it's not an octave difference.
@@SlavicCelery there was more to film than that. The 32 frames per second wasn't standard for many years. But before VCRs, in 50s, 60s, 70s older films (10s, 20s, 30s) would be put into 32 fps projectors and come out ridiculously fast. Not just comedies. Just about all of them, especially silent films, to various degrees. There literally wasn't a set standard for film speed, and 32fps was faster than most from earlier. I'm not sure to what degree this effected sound. I remember such things as a Brady Bunch episode where the family was spoofing 1920's flappers. They did a bit with choppy, speeded up b&w and too fast piano music in the background. Because practically all film from the 20s looked like that on projectors of that time (late 60s and 70s)
@@squirlmy Film has been projected at 24 frames per second since the talkies were invented in 1927. That is when 24 fps were standardized pretty much. Before that a camera operator would record at pretty much any speed; 16fps, 20fps etc. That’s why it looks funny when silent movies are played back at 24.
I’m a lifelong middle-Georgian, & my accent is different from northern or southern Georgians. Middle Georgians sound a bit British. It’s easy to spot if you know what to listen for. We tend to clip words & not pronounce “t’s”. We sound similar to the old woman (at about 8:53) I’ve been asked many times by non-Georgians if I was British. Accents from different places & countries are extremely interesting to me.
Do you say ‘year’ like ‘yearn’ with the final ‘n’ missing like the woman on this video? Me and many other Brits say it in a similar way but with the non-rhotic version of ‘yur’, though in the West Country (South West England) some people do say yurrrrr like pirates.
Funny enough, that's where the southern drawl came from! Landowners in the early south wanted to sound wealthy and fancy by taking up british-ish accents of the time, which became slightly modified and spoken more and more slowly and drawn out until they became the modern southern accent.
@@micahphilson it would explain how people like Strom Thormund spoke certainly, though saying that all American Southern accents arose that way seems rather too general a statement.
As a North Georgian, it's always been pointed out that you'll know where the divide is when you don't hear a hard R in everything. Us North Georgians use that hard R and South Georgians have a soft r. TiRe, fiRe, beaR, geORgia instead of jawga. That's how you know you've transitioned.
@@micahphilsondid you get that from a legitimate source?
Despite being on youtube for a very long time I've not written comments very much. But I wanted to let you know that this video has re-sparked my interests in the old west and accents over the USA. It was well spoken, wonderful clips, and wonderful love put into this. Thank you very much for sharing this!
There's a confederate soldier who explained why he fought for. The way he spoke sounded very much like my great grandparents especially my great grandfather who was born in 1911 in Aniston Alabama (or very close to that location) but migrated to Louisville Ky. My great great grandfather was a train mechanic.
Aniston is really pretty
Where is that available? I'd like to listen to that as well if you wouldn't mind providing a link.
@@valeskavictoria1278 here it is, m.ruclips.net/video/swifvJEOF6s/видео.html
@@valeskavictoria1278 It's this video ruclips.net/video/IBMcYCb9NDA/видео.html
@@19ICXC93 how about no
My Grandfather on my Dad’s side was born in 1880 in Nebraska and lived to be 92. I was 16 when he died. He was a rancher. I loved listening to his stories. Amazing people.
Nebraska!
I have relatives on my mother's side who settled in south-west Nebraska near the turn of last century. They were all of German, Irish, and English descent and lived in the states of the lower Middle West before the promise of plentiful fertile land on the Plains spurred them to move further west. Most of their descendants have migrated from the now economically-blighted area to the larger towns and cities of Nebraska, but a few older kin still remain living in the dead farm towns their great-grandparents had helped people over a hundred years ago. I fear what's in store for those one-horse towns as increasingly more people from the rural counties forfeit a livelihood of farming and pack up their bags for greater economic opportunity in the big city.
@@lucass174 Nebraska!
@@Ryan-on5on I agree that has been the trend. My Dad was a timber faller. We grew up in logging towns in Northern California. That industry has come under attack by governments and the industry is dying resulting in out of control forest fires. We are entering a new age. Globalism is dead and we will experience shortages or food and basic resources. White collar workers no longer need to live in a city. My office is in my home in rural Georgia and my clients are in DC, Mississippi , Durham, NC, Oakland, CA, etc. I think you will see a return to rural areas.
My maternal grandfather was first cousin to the Chrisman Sisters, known for homesteading in sod houses in Custer County. The photograph of the four sisters is used frequently in Nebraska history.
Thank you for researching and sharing your findings, your observations are fascinating!
Love this video. Brilliantly made. Surely earned my subscription. This is history that deserves to be remembered.
Delighted you enjoyed it, thanks very much for watching. Looking forward to hopefully continuing to entertain you.
In the mid and late 1800's many Americans were immigrants, or 1st to 3rd generation and people didn't "move" about as much, other than to migrate from say the East to the West durning the Gold Rush's and the Post Civil War period. English, Irish, Germans, Dutch, Scots and Scandnavians made up the biggest group of emigrants at this time, and their natve languages still to this day play a part of American spoken English.
My paternal grandparents moved from southern Iowa to Weskan, Kansas in 1918 and my dad and his siblings were all born and raised there. They all had what I call the "flat Western/Midwesten" accent. Words like "time" are drawn out a little to sound like "tiiime". "Good" is "guood" etc.
Good content. Cheers.
The old farmer you discussed, reminded me of Walter Brennan. I mimic his accent, and it sounds just like him. The southern Georgia is something I heard as a boy. Very rare to hear it still, I know of some still living, who have that distinct accent. This is fascinating to me. My father is from Alabama. My mother is from New Zealand. I was born in New Zealand and moved to Alabama at 7. My accent has changed over my lifetime. My son was born in Scotland. There are so many similarities across the globe. Just fascinating.
Walter Brennen came from Swampscott, MA. His accent, to my New England ears at least, is very much Bostonian.
a lot of irish immigrants in 19th century
Wow, that’s in interesting mix. What would you say you sound like today? Do you have any Kiwi left in your voice?
A fascinating little glimpse into history! Thanks for uploading this :)
now THIS is great RUclips content. Simon is a great hole to dive into as well! Thank you for this!
In 1940 a lot of elderly peoples story's about early new Zealand were recorded , these people had learnt to speak in the 1850s and 60s their accent is fascinating
Do you know where that could be found? Cheers mate, good on ya.
I well remember watching an old American documentary about 'The Boston Strangler', which, needless to say, interviewed Bostonians from the early 1960's. I couldn't get over the fact that some of them sounded SO like a well-spoken New Zealander of the same era.
Do you know what documentary that was? I would like to listen to the accents.
@@georgea.567 It was c. 30 years ago, so I can't be too specific as to the name of the doco', but I'm sure if you look at any documentaries covering this subject of that vintage or older, you'll find what you are looking for.
I grew up in Boston. As a kid in the 1960s and 70s the Boston accents were pervasive and un-self conscious. As a social worker in the 90s I visited clients at home in different neighborhoods, and the dialect was still common. Think of Ted Kennedy's accent. For example of Boston Irish American accent see the Maysles brothers film documentary "Salesman" from around 1969--70, a brilliant portrait of a place and time before so many dialects lost their value to newer generations.
Fantastic treatment of the subject matter. You had me when you mentioned being inspired by Simon Roper and the video did not disappoint.
Blessing of the RUclips algorithms be upon you. May I thank you for such a video, for it is well made and well played.
This is so cool, I'm glad I came across it! Current accents from different parts of LA are noticeably different, but this deep dive into history hits the spot.
I'm impressed that you were able to find so many recordings with their speakers' data. Even though I couldn't have placed the accents, I could tell they were western and from an earlier time. Enlightening and fun, thank you!
I'm nearly 70 and when I was a kid heard some old timers who talked in the really nasal Cornbelt accent. The last time I heard it was from my high school shop teacher, and his older brother whom I worked with several years later. None of my elderly relatives had the accent. I don't know how it broke down in my state.
The only way to truly tell would be to time travel back as a fly on the wall. People's voices and Cadence definitely change with age. a 99 year old man does not sound as he did at 20. The pressure to perform for a recording, or any audience, definitively changes the way somebody speaks as well. Great video and amazing recordings.
It is true we will never know for sure, but the curiosity is most of the fun for me anyway. Delighted you enjoyed the video, and thanks for sharing your thoughts.
This is profoundly true, that most people would have tried to sound “good” for a recording. So they may be speaking in a way that isn’t fully natural
Thank you for this video. What a great way to bring our history to life.
You should check out Carole O'Connor's accent in the sitcom All In the Family, especially the first two seasons. His character is a WWII vet now a dock worker in NY, NY in the early 1970s. The accent is spot on to what you were talking about.
You really should check out Archie's accent. It's very distinctive.
He also did a very accurate Mississippi accent in “In the Heat of the Night” series. He looked and sounded like my grandfather!
Stifle yourself, huh??
This is fascinating! Thank you for sharing.
Fascinating. I hear many of my grandparents ways of pronouncing words in these audio clips. I get called out for saying things differently sometimes and it is directly related to hearing my family’s east coast dialect growing up.
I really enjoyed this. The veteran from Missouri speaks like my grandmother used to. Her people immigrated from what's now Germany to central Missouri before the Civil War. My grandfather immigrated from Sweden in the early twenties, so their children grew up with a solid MIssouri/Illinois accent with Scandinavian consonants (s=z, th=t). I'm interested to see how the Italian immigrants in Colorado mining towns had their English accents develop.
I love every bit of this. Lots of things I've been investigating on my own. Especially the rotic coil. Wonderful video!
Delighted you enjoyed the video, thank you very much- rotic coil is indeed fascinating. I- and I think many others- are familiar with it, but it is great to hear it actually used and what it is called.
An excellent video! Thank you so much!
Even the comments are great! At 69, I remember these accents out in the country around my country family.
This is a treasure trove. Thank you so much.
Very interesting! When I was in Philadelphia, a woman said : “ You must cross the “wooder.” I was confused. 😂 I then realized she said, you must cross the ‘water.’ So there, people do have different pronunciation throughout our nation. 😅 Thanks for your docuvideo.
A game to play is to try to get people by Baltimore to say the word, "home". They really emphasize the O in the word. They've no idea they're doing it either.
My family is from New Castle, DE. My grandmother and aunts pronounced water the same way. It was an interesting pronunciation. New Castle is close to Philadelphia. My cousins pronounced dog as "dawg" and ball as "bawl". Very close to the Jersey accent. The Delaware accent can be heard on the Delmarva peninsula. We lived in Cape Charles when we were kids in the early 60's. By the time you get to the tip of the peninsula the southern "you'all" was heard. Not pronounced as y'all. The "u" was in there but went right to the "all". When we were asked where we from and said New Castle the reply was "well you'all are Yankees" I had to ask my mother what a Yankee was. When we moved to California our east coast cousins would say we talked funny when were back east visiting. Sadly many regional accents are fading away. Loved the video
“You’all” is a very Virginia term. The VA/NC/WV area has an accent different than the Deep South, especially in the Piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina.
My mother in law was raised in New Jersey until seven years old and lived in Florida since then. Still says 'wooder'! It's interesting how early development in speech can stick.
Oh yes! I live in the New Jersey suburbs of Philly. You cross the wooder to get from Philly to New Jersey
this is super interesting and really well put together. you did a great job.
Delighted you find it interesting, thank you very much!
This was a very neat video. Thanks for this, I’ve always wondered what we sounded like back in the good ole days.
A couple of the people in the recordings you showed actually spoke in a way I found extremely familiar; I was only born in 2003, but a lot of the cadence and grammar they use is exactly what the entire Book of Mormon is written in! As I kid reading it with my family, I always thought it was written strange and old timey on purpose; but it makes a lot more sense that at the time it was written that was simply how people talked. I'm not Mormon anymore, but I'd recommend skimming it if you want to try and understand a strange little language time capsule. Obviously though, it probably won't help much if you wanna learn accents.
I love Simon Roeper! That must be why this video was in my reccomendeds. Couldn't be happier that I found out about your cool project. Love what you're doing here.
Delighted to hear you got to my videos via Simon, and delighted you enjoyed the video!
@@lostleadville quite a few people here from Simon, I'd suspect.
Great work, and glad to see Simon Roper inspired work in American English. It was quite uncanny listening to the Rhode Island accent of the train Engineer in the last clip, his tone and demeanor remind me greatly of my grandfather who is now in his 80s, born and raised in the same area.
Comparing the regional accents to the proportion of immigrants in any given area, particularly as you did with Missouri and Leadville, really helps put things in context, as I think it's easy for people to forget how greatly accents would vary depending on the origin of the people who immigrated to a particular city or region.
My grandparents were also from Rhode Island and maintained the accent after moving to Phoenix in the late 40s/early 50s. My uncle was agoraphobic and rarely left the house and ended up spending so much time with them and so little time with anyone else that he held onto it his whole life too, despite being born in Phoenix. They are long gone now but it makes me smile to hear a genuine Rhode Island accent.
You can hear Irish influence and more interest/ personality put in their speech. 🥰
This is lovely. Thank you for this.
I had parent born in Colorado and Utah. My family in Moab had a very western accents. My daughter thought is was southern.
WWII cartoonist Bill Mauldin talks in his book "The Brass Ring" about himself and his fellow recruits having "Western and Southwestern twangs" and there's an oldy-old accent or way of talking around the Western end of the country that's pretty twangy. One funny aspect of this is, calling for instance, Santa Cruz, "Santy Cruz". Decades ago, I talked with a guy on the phone about a motorcycle; he was in Anaheim and I was in Costa Mesa. Yep, the guy, in his surprise that I wasn't more local to him, slipped and called it "Coast-ey mays-ey".
Yes there’s definitely a difference. It’s wonderful. I’ve been in GA for about 36 years now & after a few years here I could tell if someone was from the coastal regions of South Carolina, South Georgia, middle Georgia, or more from East GA nearer to Alabama. But back when I was growing up in Michigan, I thought all Southern & Western accents were about the same.
@@alexcarter8807 This is a great observation. Another example of this "a" to "y" merger a the end of some words in the west and southwest (there is probably a more technical term for it, but as I said I am not a linguist) is "Santy Claus or "Coky Cola" or "Sody Pop". My father is one of the only people I heard to use this pronunciation regularly but wasn't sure how widespread it was. Thanks for your interest!
@@lostleadville My grandfather, who grew up in Arkansas and Mississippi during the Depression, called it “sody pop”! Coca-Cola was “Co-Cola”.
@@DVD927 The “low country” SC/GA accent is a lot different than the West GA/AL accent! The former says “pee-can”, while the latter says “puh-kahn”!
As a Brit, I find it fascinating how American English evolved from European and regional dialects. We've so many accents on our small island, and its the same across the pond on a far larger scale!
It is indeed, thank you for watching.
As an American thanks for Pink Floyd
I was only talking to my daughter about this the other day. England has such a diverse range of accents for such an old compact island that you can tell straight away what part they’re from, whereas here in Australia there are 2 language groups that I tell. City folk, who lean towards more Americanisms, and us country folk who laugh at them lol
My favorite old Western movie accent is Tom Hardy's in The Revenant. He plays the son of an Irish immigrant whose family settled the Texas territory, and it allowed you to hear how the rustic Texan accent evolved from the Irish accent (or at least was influenced by it).
I'm irish, Tom Hardy does not have any discernable irish accent in that movie at all. I don't think you're right about the texas accent either
@@tomh2572 Tom hardy character is suppose to be an Irishman or of Irish decent John Fitzgerald who is based on a real person, it's not impossible he could have had an Irish lit to him a little bit, but as far as I know it was never stated in the movie or by Tom hardy.
Beautiful wondrous music accompanying this fascinating video. Thank you for your service to history.
Thank you very much for your interest, delighted you enjoyed it.
We don't have to go back to the 1800s to hear these voice inflections. Listen to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Katherine Hepburn. Or even some mid-century newscasters. They were upper crust and that was the "proper English" of the day. And many were still being educated in Great Britain back then. Thanks for this flash back in time. Very fascinating!
A lot of those speakers were speaking specifically in a transatlantic accent which is artificial and sadly not terribly useful for how normal people spoke
That's exactly what I was thinking as I listened to those recordings.
Yes I'm aware of the whole Transatlantic accent thing.
It may not be perfect but it sounds close enough to get an idea of what they may have sounded like.
As other have noted, that's a "constructed" accent that was taught in elite boarding schools. It was trained into people and didn't really come about naturally. The originator was Australian if I remember correctly and he hoped it would be adopted by the upper class in every Anglophone country.
My mother remembered an elementary school teacher of hers who affected the "Mid-Atlantic" accent with amusing results. To agree with something, the teacher would say, "Oh my, ahhss, meaning, of course, "Oh my! Yes!
@@paulbradford6475 Even as late as 2003, my 8th grade history teacher sort of talked like that. We enjoyed doing imitations of her :P "Mmmm, yes, I'd raaaaaather like that."
I think sadly we are starting to lose distinct accents today. Some linguists call the accents of the late 1800s and into the early 1920s and well into the 40s as mid Atlantic accents. Throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood, stars including Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, and Orson Welles employed what's known as a “Mid-Atlantic accent,” a sort of American-British hybrid of speaking that relies on tricks like dropping “R” sounds and softening vowels. You can hear examples of this in what you have shared and in older movies like film noir from the late 30s and through the 40s
It was a fake accent to be fair. It was to help close the gap between the UK and the USA. Thus the name Mid-Atlantic.
You're so right about the loss of distinct accents and dialects in this country. Even in the relative isolation of my home county in the Kentucky Cumberland Plateau younger people, especially the girls, are beginning to talk like someone on a bad TV commercial. It is, indeed, sad to lose the distinct accents of old.
Yes. Television and film are washing out many regional and local accents. This is most egregious in Southern accents, where according to Southern friends of mine, a lot of younger folks will feel a sense of both regional shame and classism-related shame to sound Southern at all, let alone to have their own state/area specific accents. Look up a list of what are considered to be “the ugliest or weirdest American accents” and you’ll see places encouraged to lose them to the modern, US version of what the UK calls “Received Pronunciation”. It’s depressing but hopefully some stand their ground and retain an accent, even pass it on. I know a few people who do.
@@paulallen3557I would talk openly about it when you can - start a conversation! It might affect some folks, especially if they have their own kids or grandkids. I’m youngish and talking about this with a couple of friends who understand. Maybe we’ll pass local accents to our kids.
I always talk in my native Philly accent and dialect for this exact reason.
What an interesting video I’ve stumbled upon. Thank you
I just turned 20 today I find this super fascinating, great video 🔥
Bugs Bunny has the coil - curl merger… ! Bugs has a Flatbush - Brooklyn NY accent.
Listening to these recordings, Dustin Hoffman did a very credible job portraying the character Jack Crabb in the movie Little Big Man.
I agree. In fact, I don't think movie actors got the "old west" accents terribly wrong, necessarily. I imagine the actors in westerns of the 30s - 70s would have modeled their speech on elders they had known, perhaps even their own grandparents, etc. Actors of subsequent generations have then probably used those older movies as a reference, so I really don't think they're far from the mark, despite the vlogger's opinion on that.
He’s a deep and dedicated method actor. It doesn’t surprise me.
Totally interesting. I just stumbled on this. Right on!
It would fascinating to go back and listen.
Always think of the pioneers as old men. But they were young.
Great clip!
I have familial ties to Leadville, and Deadwood. Also, I have lived 1 1/4 hours from Tombstone for many years. That information helps absolutely nobody, but it dawned on me when you listed those three towns, plus a couple of others.
The reason I have those ties is because the previous generation of my extended family were largely miners.
I always imagined that accent, as the way Teddy Roosevelt spoke. BULLY!
its amazing how much most of them sound like a mix between modern american hillbilly accents, and english farmer accents, especially of my home county of gloucestershire and oxfordshire
oxfordshire is generally known for its more upper class accents, but the countryside accent is more what i mean.
additionally, many americans do not realise how diverse the british people is in terms of acent despite our country being a fraction of the size of america
Thank you, really fascinating. I wish I had more recording of my grandfather born in Eastern Europe on 1903 whose family relocated to St. Louis soon after and has a old Missouri accent.
When I was in the Army, I noticed that with all the various accents started to blend together the longer we interacted. We called it "the Army accent". I imagine that the same thing happened in the west as people from various locations around the world came together in one place. At some point they developed their own accent.
BTW, I live in Springfield, Missouri which that man from Missouri mentioned. 😁
Hello mate , ex British soldier here . The same happens in our Armed Forces , we all pick up little sayings and pronounce things in the army accent you mention (But The Brit version) take care and a salute from a Brit 🇬🇧🤝 🇺🇸
@@ste2442 🫡
I noticed this too. It didn't matter whether you were born in Tallahassee or Boston, everyone started using "y'all" after a while.
@@Majima_Nowhere exactly. 😂
it's amazing that even the way that an older person speaks can be a window into the past.
I found this fascinating. Thank you!
This was fascinating. Thank you.
At 70 years old, I can still vividly recall conversing with my grandparents who were born in the late 1800s and lived on a ranch in far West Texas. My upbringing, however, was in the Pacific Northwest, so when I visited them, I was intrigued by their deliberate, unhurried way of speaking and their unique vocabulary that was unfamiliar to me. The memories of these moments spent with my grandparents are truly precious to me.
Bro...
You left the same comment 2 months ago under the name of Shannon??😟😟
I'm surprised at how English these accents sound. Many of them sound like rural accents from the south and south west "plain" - "ple an" which many old people had from my grandparents' time and there are one or two that are almost RP. This is really fascinating. Thank you for sharing.
Author Bill Bryson speculated that the accent you'd have originally heard during Shakespeare's time was similar to Yosemite Sam!
I truly enjoyed this! I am a lover of the old ways, and was born 100 years late. Thanks so much!
Happy you enjoyed it! We have a love of the old ways in common.
THANKS FOR YOUR VIDEO. (I'm researching accents in the old west 1830s for a radio drama set on the california coast called SALTY SPURS.) I'll be mentioning you in the CREDITS.
He said “certainly” the same way Curly Howard used to.
Choich=Church same way as James Brown used to pronounce the word
See my similar remark above. Great minds think alike, or is it, "aloike"?
If you haven't checked it out, check out the history of the Appalachia Brough. My family is from Va/WV and I always got joked about my "southern" accent as a kid (Being from Virginia Beach) and it's just that I picked up my grandparents accents more than my parents (Daddy was from same area but visited WV often, mother was from Conn.) It's kind of a blend between the TransAtlantic and some usage of Scottish/Irish, Older Victorian English and Dutch. My paternal grandmothers family was melungeon (Tri-racial) so somehow she also spoke Cherokee/Shawnee and I supposedly sounded like her according to my grandparents, IDK. Thanks for sharing!
When we moved to Ohio from Charleston,SC my cousin's friend asked her why I talked funny. Lol! When I was a kid you could tell where in the South someone came from by their accents. Sadly with tv and moving around we are losing our regional dialects. My grandfather spoke Geechee which is the Georgia version of Gullah. My uncle from Detroit had no clue what grandpa was saying and I had to interpret.
@@janetprice85 there was times I’d have to “translate” at my husbands family reunion in deep NC, those from the coast couldn’t catch it, plus it was fast lol! I adore accents/dialects and currently run across a bunch at work. I love guessing them and have a 17/21 score currently lol
Native WVian here and I've definitely come across people whose accents are almost too thick to understand. The unique thing about WV accents is the "I ungliding," where instead of using the dipthong "ah-ee" in words like "bike" or "kite," it kind of comes out like it's the middle, like a nasally "ah." Other parts of the south do this depending on what consonant precedes the vowel, but WV and parts of Texas are the only places that use this pronunciation in every instance. My grandpa also does this with dipthongs like the "ah-oh" in "howdy" - it comes out "heidy" or "hahdy." My mom frequently drops the th in "there" to make "nere" or "dere," and my grandma had a lot of fun expressions when she was still alive - my favorite was "my swan!" when something was surprising, and she'd say things were "as sweet as your eye" or something was "slicker 'n snot" when something was easy or simple. I hope I don't ever forget these things.
@@suckedintothevoid I def have similar, saying “ha-dee” for howdy, n for and, and the fast pace mumble draw 😂 I also picked up the older phrases, slicker-n-snot being well used during Ohio winters 😂 my friends make fun of me, southerners can’t place my accent and I am right at home with UK, southern and Easter accents 😆 it’s fun.
Cool video man, i really find this stuff fascinating. just subbed!
Fascinating video. Thank you!
Fantastic video! Something to keep in mind about Wilford Woodruff is that he was born in Connecticut and was over 40 when he moved to the Salt Lake region.
The way I've always imagined him is how he is portrayed in the 90s church film, "Mountain of the Lord" about the construction of the Salt Lake Temple. It's one of the few earlier church films that is not cringe inducing, and it's mostly due I'd say to the quite good performance of the man portraying Wilford Woodruff.
ONE thing to keep in mind: Sound recording was a new thing. I don't suppose any regular person would embark on recording his voice just casually. It probably involved a LOT of performing, and a LOT of awareness that one is being recorded and that one's voice will endure for a long while for others to hear later. Not to mention all the preparation for this equipment to be ready and for the person to speak in front of it. It's as if someone was just doing some talking, and then suddenly a big curtain is raised and there's an audience out there in front -- and then you're asked to talk once again. Will it come out "natural"?? Plus people are bound to also speak way louder into a gadget, so that it'll be heard as clearly and distinct as possible. The 2nd recording sounds more natural. But then again, I wasn't there then. Just putting it out there.
I would also imagine they were asked to speak loudly and clearly. So they did.
So there’s a wide variety of time periods here…. Many of them it would have been as easy as clicking a button.
Pretty fascinating stuff! Well done!
Good stuff! Who would’ve thought a video on accents would be interesting
Delighted you enjoyed it, thanks for watching.
Very interesting. Glad to get context around the Archie Bunker accent. It reminds me of another accent variation I've noticed watching the moonshiners reality TV series on Discovery. Some Southerners in Kentucky pronounce here as heeyah. Interesting to trace accent origins to British Isles, etc.
Keep in mind, being recorded back then was rare.
I have a video of my grandfather (born in 1928) from just after World War II, and he in that video he doesn’t sound anything like himself. His commander ordered him to speak with a trans-Atlantic accent. And it sounds like he’s trying to sound like someone on the radio from back then. But in actuality, he has a Philadelphia accent. Which sounds similar to a modern New York accent.
There's a funny standup bit by Norm Macdonald (RIP) on Letterman's finale where he talks about having only 1 picture of his grandfather, who wasn't particularly flattering in it. Then he follows up saying in 100 years kids will say "do you wanna see a picture of my grandpa? And everything he ever ate?" Lmao.
Very interesting video, thanks for making this :)
Leadville is a great historical place. About an 2.5 hrs from my city in the foothills :) Thanks for this video.
this is the only video i can find breaking it down like this. fascinating stuff!
Hi Raven, I am very pleased you found the video and topic fascinating. It is a rarely discussed topic indeed. Take care, and stay curious! -Trevor
My entire family has essentially the same accent, I'm from south Georgia and my family has lived in the area since 1927 when they came from east Texas on a horse and buggy. When I remember how my grandparents spoke compared to my youngest cousins, it hasn't changed much. We talk with slow drawn out words with the end of every sentence rising in volume. We generally get louder the longer we speak. It's relatively close to what people imagine as the stereotype southern accent. The only major difference is my older folks gave a much more limited vocabulary considering we were all born and raised in a small rural town.
Great video!
My grandfather had such a peculiar way saying certain words. Like 'Warsh' instead of 'wash'.
I became well observant and well traveled, noticing the differences in constant tongues, due to geography.
Pretty surprised I recognized the opening song because I don't know a lot of music, but it's "Hard Times Come Again No More", an American tinpan alley song from 1905. RUclips said it's Five Minutes to Spare by the Barr Brothers which I don't know and couldn't find. Loved the linguistic contents of the video as well. Well done!