My story's primarily about the son of a Loyalist from teh Revolutionary War that decided to go back to England at the war's end. His son was born in the United States and, since he's only about five or so at the time he leaves, has no choice but to go with him back to Merry Old England.
Now, the year is 1799, and the British are mobilising against Napoleon. The kid, now about 21 or so, decides to join up with a line regiment. My question, I suppose is this: Woudl the various "native" soldiers in the regiment look down upon this American boy (even if he hasn't been in America for almost 17 years).
From here, I've got another question: What were the chances of his Regiment going to the Continent instead of garrisoning parts of northern Maine, as the British did till amost 1860 (with the Trent Affair and the finalisation of the New England/Canada border in that part)? And second of all, if he was in Maine doing the garrison work, just how would the various encroaching Americans in the area look to him? WOuld they see him as "just another Redcoat" or as a Loyalist essentially, giving him an unnecessarily hard time because of his father's choices over twenty years back?
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That brings up a final question though, about dialogue: If you grew up with one dialogue for the years you were learning how to speak (in this case in Revolutionary New York), would you keep your accent through you're whole life? Even after 15+ years of inundation with another accent?
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7,147 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 09 42
The only one of these questions which I can answer is that pertaining to the accent.
The answer is really yes and no. For the most part, 15 years of living and breathing a different dialect, especially when the person knows that the dialect in question belongs to a group which that person desires/needs to belong to, will erase nearly every trace of an accent they previously had, even if it was learned during the early developmental years.
HOWEVER there will most likely be certain words or phrases, or perhaps even just a different syllable stress on a particular word, which can give the speaker away as a "non-native".
Take me, for example. I was born and raised (until 9 years old) in Houston, Texas. The dialect there is primarily Midwestern (at least in the areas I lived in), with a lot of Hispanic influence on pronunciation and fairly good grammar because of the educational standards of the school there.
At the age of 9, I moved to a rural area of Tennessee. The dialect is entirely different...to the point that there were many words I didn't recognize and vice-versa. I underwent a lot of teasing because of the difference in the way I spoke, and I couldn't stand the awful drawl that everyone used.
Fast forward nearly 12 years...all traces of my old accent are gone, to the point where most people I meet here have no idea that I'm not a native, until they try to talk to me about something that happened long before I moved here. I have learned the the finer "catch-points" that separate a pretender...such as the fact that "Y'all" is actually singular, and "All Y'all" is the correct plural form. Family members from Texas comment on my "Southern drawl", and outsiders from other areas assume I've lived in the South my entire life. The only times I get tripped up are in Mexican restaurants, where I pronounce menu items correctly, or on certain words like "eggs"...but that's becoming less and less frequent as well.
I know that the dialects I used as an example are from the same country, but a true Southern dialect has more in common with Elizabethan English and Cockney than it does with, for example, typical "American English", so I hope that helps.
----------0 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 10 07
The soldiers might joke about him being a 'colonial', but I doubt they'd look down on him. I'm not sure his accent would be that distinctive, as I doubt the American accent was as different from British then as it is now, and the time spent living In Britain will moderate it even if it is very different. As mentioned, certain inflections or words might be different, but I don't think it would be something that would make him really stand out.
Although 1799 was fairly early in the Napoleonic Wars, his regiment would probably be sent there, war is often a priority.
----------Favourite gun myths.
1) Bullets knock people down. No, really.
2) .45 ACP is the only pistol round worth using. No question.
3) .50 BMG is illegal for use in warfare against people, but not materiel. Truth.
35,349 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 12 14
If when he lived in Maine he was surrounded by british and did interact regularly with american society (very probable, btw) then I doubt his accent would be different than from a boy born and raised in england.
He might listen to some teasing, but i doubt he would be looked down on
35,349 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 12 14
If when he lived in Maine he was surrounded by british and did interact regularly with american society (very probable, btw) then I doubt his accent would be different than from a boy born and raised in england.
He might listen to some teasing, but i doubt he would be looked down on
0 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 13 31
Alrigh then. Thank you everyone for your help, and I'll keep that all in mind soon as November 1st rolls around. I can't wait.