AHC: Have american and british accents remain relatively similar

[libbrit]

It's a common perception in the US that people speaking with the British RP accent sound more intelligent. It doesns't seem to matter who they are, or where they are from, what they look like; it's the sound. The person speaking can be a complete idiot, but they are perceived otherwise.....

I'm from the American Midwest, and I tend to trust the folks less with the various New York accents, even though I have no rational reason to believe that. It is a cultural bias on my part.

Broadly speaking, this is the British perception of their own accents


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0OFXL0jIMR4

 

[funnyhat]

What do you mean by "British accent"?
The North American accent essentially came from South west England (bit of East Midlands pilgrim counties thrown in) while the Aussie accent is from the south east.
And no, neither were particularly influenced by the Irish!

"North American accent?" Surely you don't think people from Boston, Arkansas, Toronto and Arizona all sound the same…

Back to the original question, my understanding is that it's the English whose accents have evolved more over time than the Americans. The national languages/accents of the Americas (be they English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese) tend to be more conservative than their European counterparts. So maybe the question is, what trends took place in England to change the way people spoke, and how can they be avoided?