Why Do People Have Accents?

Some people are very good at picking up on accents. When speaking to someone else in English, I can usually tell that they're from Australia, or Germany, or Ireland, or even places like Boston or the Southern US. But why am I able to tell where a person is from just by hearing the way they speak in my language?

I'm going to use America and England as an example. Back in 1776, the British and American accents were nearly indistinguishable. However, back in England, the wealthy social classes developed what is called non-rhotic speaking in an attempt to be different and thus, "better" than lower classes. Non-rhotic speakers seem to ditch "R" sounds. Example: Rhotic speakers (such as Americans) would say "hard winter," while non-rhotic speakers (such as present day English) would say "hahd wintuh." This new way of speaking eventually spread and over the next 200+ years, led to what we now know as the English accent.

Different countries however, and even regions within a country can be influenced by different languages. For example, the southern US has parts of the French language along with the English language, while the northeast mainly has English influence. So after taking from one or more languages and developing over several hundred years, the result is an accent!

As of to why people can pick up on them and others can't, that will remain a mystery.... FOR NOW. (I haven't looked into it.)

JT Surge

Bibliography:

http://www.livescience.com/33652-americans-brits-accents.html
http://sciencefocus.com/qa/why-do-people-have-accents