Learn English – n American English dialect that sounds as “distingushed” as British English

accentamerican-englishbritish-englishdialectsprestige-dialect

Obviously there are a lot of subjective words in the question. There are dialects of British English that don't sound distinguished at all (Cockney). Also, what sounds distinguished is somewhat (though not entirely) subjective.

However, I don't know how else to ask this. Sometimes I have heard an American speak and thought, "wow, he sounds just as distinguished as a British speaker". But I don't know where that dialect would come from. More often than not, though, I hear an American speak and think, "wow, why don't we sound as distinguished as our British counterparts?"

For what it's worth, I think what makes a dialect sound distinguished is that it sounds "educated, upper class, articulate". At least that's my guess.

Ignoring the subjectivity of the words composing the question, where would you find American dialects that sounded distinguished?

Best Answer

You may be thinking of a Mid-Atlantic accent; it's a blend between an American accent and an English accent. As the Wikipedia article notes, film stars like Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn used it, and more recently Cheers and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer.

You can hear it with Grant and Hepburn in 1940's The Philadelphia Story (clip on YouTube). Interestingly, Grant was born British and Hepburn American, both affecting the accent by drifting towards the mid-Atlantic (it was taught in acting schools at the time).

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