How english, welsh and Irish am I?

[Nick29]

Some people reckon the Australian accent is similar to the London accent. Call me blind but I cannot see a similarity.

The only people who ever said that to me were Americans, just after Crocodile Dundee was a hit in America 

[Blue70]

That nasal sound in accents has disappeared over the years you can imagine how it developed amongst people in industrialised cities. If you listen to old clips of The Beatles talking they sometimes sound like they have colds. The best example of this English industrialised nasal effected accent are some of the West Midlands/Birmingham accents. 

C

[coombs]

I dont think the Australian accent resembles a London accent or a South England accent but the American accent does sound slightly Irish. I know millions of Irish went to America.

[aghadowey]

I dont think the Australian accent resembles a London accent or a South England accent but the American accent does sound slightly Irish. I know millions of Irish went to America.

America is a vast country and there is no such thing as an 'American accent.'

[Erato]

America is a vast country and there is no such thing as an 'American accent.'

American and other accents:

http://accent.gmu.edu/howto.php

[Jeuel]

I'm 100% English as far back as I've been able to go on both sides of my family.  In fact, not just English - you can draw a line from Cornwall, going through Glos, Oxfordshire, Warks, Oxfordshire again, Bucks, nip through Surrey, up to Essex, Cambridge and Norfolk and that's my ancestry covered.

My ex is slightly more exotic - Irish, Jewish and Welsh roots, so our children have a more mixed heritage than I have.

[netgrrl79]

I think regarding accents this is influenced by how your parents speak.

Very true... I am a Northerner, but my mother is a Southerner - she worked part time when I was in school so I would pick up her well-spoken tones during the holidays and spend a few weeks at the beginning of every term trying to shed them again (the area of NE Wales I grew up in is very Scouse!).

Katie

[nickgc]

Jorose - thanks for the great link.  I have just spent way too much time clicking around the world to listen to many speech patterns.  But aghadowey is right that there is no "American accent"; one might also say there is no "English accent", or no "Australian (Strilian) accent".  There are simply regional speech variations.  Here is a link that includes a map (as well as other interesting points) about that US variation:  http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/standardamerican/#

Nick

[Nick29]

I dont think the Australian accent resembles a London accent or a South England accent but the American accent does sound slightly Irish. I know millions of Irish went to America.

There are more people of direct Irish descent in New York  than there are in Ireland 

British accents have been mixed with both native and European accents over the last 300 years due to immigration and population movement, but the sheer size of America has meant that there are still small pockets of communities using language which would have been familiar to British people 300 years ago.  The American accent still varies widely from state to state.