10 Examples of the Made-Up Transatlantic Accent
From Katharine Hepburn to Frasier Crane
When modern viewers watch certain classic black-and-white films, confusion often creeps in: “wait a minute… are these people American or British?”
The source of this confusion is a deliberate, learned style of speech known as the Transatlantic or Mid-Atlantic accent. It’s characterized by a posh and melodic delivery, along with an extra emphasis on certain t sounds and the favoring of soft vowel sounds.
Another feature of the accent is non-rhoticity, i.e. the dropping of certain r sounds. Want to try it out? Say, “Now hear this, Charles, I’m charmed” without pronouncing the r’s.
While most accents evolve naturally, the Transatlantic accent was more or less invented by linguists and educators, although it was based largely on an upper-class British accent. The goal was to define a “proper” form of speech that was suitable for high society and theatrical performances. Taught in upper-class boarding schools in early 1900s New England, Mid-Atlantic speech eventually became the standard for several generations of Hollywood stars, politicians, and socialites.
Today, the Transatlantic accent lives on in classic films as well as the occasional snooty throwback TV character.
