Northeastern elite accent

A Northeastern elite accent is any of the related American English prestige accents used by members of the wealthy Northeastern elite born in the 19th century and early 20th century, which share significant features with Eastern New England English and Received Pronunciation (RP), the standard British accent. The late 19th century first produced audio recordings of and general commentary about such accents used by affluent East Coast and Northern Americans, particularly those in New York and New England.

On the one hand, some scholars traditionally describe these accents as prescribed or affected ways of speaking, consciously acquired in elite private preparatory schools of that era. From the 1920s through 1950s specifically, these high-society speaking styles may overlap with a briefly fashionable accent taught in certain American courses on elocution, voice, and acting, including in several public and private secondary schools in the Northeast. Both types of accent are most commonly labeled a Mid-Atlantic accent or Transatlantic accent. On the other hand, linguist Geoff Lindsey argues that many Northern elite accents were not explicitly taught but rather persisted naturally among the upper class; linguist John McWhorter outlines a middle-ground possibility.

No consistent name exists for this class of accents. It has also occasionally been called Northeastern standard or cultivated American speech. Another similar accent, Canadian dainty, resulted from historical processes in Canada and existed for a century before waning in the 1950s.

History

Since as late as the mid-19th century, upper-class Americans, particularly of the Northern and Eastern United States, are noted as adopting several phonetic qualities of Received Pronunciation—the standard accent of the British upper class—as evidenced in recorded public speeches of the time.