Surely, most of the English speakers in the world are aware that two of the most prevalent dialects in the English language are American English and British English; The British and Americans speak fairly differently from each other, but if English originated from England, how did America come to speak differently from the inventors of the language?
A general rule of thumb is that Americans pronounce the letter R in all instances, and the British pronounce the letter in prevocalic positions only, meaning only when occurring immediately before a vowel. This is potentially the most prominent difference between American and British English.
This phenomenon is caused by a difference in rhoticity. Generally, rhotic English pronounces every occurrence of the letter R, whereas nonrhotic English pronounces the letter in prevocalic positions and when necessary for ease of pronunciation and clarity, therefore American English is mostly rhotic and British English is mostly nonrhotic, though there are some exceptions.
The biggest rhotic English speaking countries are the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland; the biggest nonrhotic English speaking countries are England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The most notable exceptions to these generalizations are that small portions of the East Coast of the United States are somewhat nonrhotic, and that southeastern England is still mostly rhotic.
Where did the United States get its rhoticity?
Believe it or not, the Untied States did not invent rhoticity, American English derives that quality from British English! That’s correct, England is the first country to speak rhotic English!
During some time, nonrhotic English did not exist; every English speaker spoke rhotic English. The author of the article which is my first linked source makes a convincing statement: “Historically speaking, all varieties of English were at one point rhotic. This seems obvious when we look at English spelling. For instance, why would the word car have an R in it unless, at some point in history, there was an R sound pronounced there?”
Rhotic English is a historical dialect, and nonrhotic English is a newer dialect.
Apparently, the split between rhotic and nonrhotic English began in London approximately 200 years ago; the new, nonrhotic pronunciation was regarded as lazy, vulgar, and undesirable, but it eventually spread throughout England and Wales, and it was even adopted by a number of the British Colonies. The United States has never relinquished its rhoticity, and likely will not. As previously stated, the only portions of the United States that are partially nonrhotic are on the East Coast, such as Boston and New York City.
Unlike I previously thought, the United States did not create and adopt rhoticity, contrarily, England created and spread this new style of speaking; America simply maintained the traditional ways.
What are your thoughts on rhoticity, and are you a rhotic or nonrhotic speaker?
Onward American 