Accents

Another thing I ponder on is accents.

We're apparently related to apes. Did they communicate using accents?

If not, what started accents when man first became man?

Re: Accents

Do you mean accents or dialects ?

Re: Accents

Oh hec...I think I mean accents. Liverpool, North East, Scottish, Irish...whatever. Those are accents aren't they, not dialects?

Edited.

Re: Accents

You don't need to now do you ?
I think accents arose from foreign languages and the way their words are pronounced...eg. French people speaking English speak with a French accent.
Dialects are due to regional communities being isolated, and contained over centuries due to no general transport being available and continue today although somewhat diluted.
So Apes and early man in other countries would have spoken in regional dialects but not necessarily with an accent !

Re: Accents

Oh dear Malcolm I wish I'd never started this.

Trying to read up on the difference between accents and dialects and reading Wiki Regional accents of England.

It's times like this I wish I'd had my lunch

Re: Accents

I'm with you Pesta - both the same to me - so all accents
I don't believe we descend from apes either

Re: Accents

I suppose if one group of apes went, "Oo oo oo" and the next group went, "Ee ee ee" they'd have their own accents!

Re: Accents

Or dialects .........

Re: Accents

The answer is simple.
People speaking a foreign language which is not their own speak it with a foreign accent.
Individual countries have within them people speaking with regional dialects.
Now what could be simpler than that ?

Re: Accents

Precisely!
...or lingo if the fancy took them!