Author Topic: What did english sound like in the 1500's? (Read 27311 times)

Caterkiller · « **on:** July 22, 2008, 01:20:20 AM »

Alot of you guys are smart, so I thought i'd ask here.

I'm trying to figure out what english sounded like back in the 1500's. Is there any movie or literature anyone can point me to that can give me a very good example?

Also would anyone know where I could find some examples of say Viking War chants? Not sure if im wording my questions correctly. But something they might have said when they were on the hunt? And not the good vikings, but more the cliche barbaric ones we see all the time in the media.

If anyone could help, that would be greatly appreciated.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #1 on:** July 22, 2008, 01:25:52 AM »

I'm not sure about the 1500s but apparently the English spoke with a more American accent back in the 1600-1700s. Here's an decent explanation at Yahoo answers

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070227131041AADjHhk

Khushrenada · « **Reply #2 on:** July 22, 2008, 01:36:16 AM »

Think Shakespeare but with less english.

UltimatePartyBear · « **Reply #3 on:** July 22, 2008, 11:53:16 AM »

And with less iambic pentameter.

Caterkiller · « **Reply #4 on:** July 22, 2008, 01:23:35 PM »

That helps alot shyguy thanks man!

MegaByte · « **Reply #5 on:** July 22, 2008, 03:20:24 PM »

Quote from: ShyGuy on July 22, 2008, 01:25:52 AM

I'm not sure about the 1500s but apparently the English spoke with a more American accent back in the 1600-1700s. Here's an decent explanation at Yahoo answers

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070227131041AADjHhk

And by American, they mean Appalachian, which is similar, but not as strong as a Southern accent.

Khushrenada · « **Reply #6 on:** July 22, 2008, 04:16:15 PM »

Quote from: Caterkiller on July 22, 2008, 01:23:35 PM

That helps alot shyguy thanks man!

Excuse me. I helped also. What kind of ingratitude is this?

Caterkiller · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2008, 05:13:57 PM »

Excuse me, sorry about that. Thank you Khushrenada, MegaByte, and though im not sure what that means thank you UltimatePartyBear.

DAaaMan64 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2008, 05:15:46 PM »

Quote from: Caterkiller on July 22, 2008, 05:13:57 PM

Excuse me, sorry about that. Thank you Khushrenada, MegaByte, and though im not sure what that means thank you UltimatePartyBear.

Iambic Pentameter is the line represents the spit between the Western and Eastern hemispheres.

vudu · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2008, 05:46:18 PM »

Jeez; I'm not sure which is funnier--Party Bear's response or Daaaman's interpretation of Party Bear's response.

ThePerm · « **Reply #10 on:** July 22, 2008, 05:53:29 PM »

heh, my accent has changed as i've been living from place to place which gives me evidence that accents change rapidly.

I've had a southern accent, but moved over here in Arizona where the accent is more like California's for the most part, and thus changed. When i hear my voise and sound really nasaly/nerdy, but iv been told my voice is actually pretty deep. Guess it depends on who i talk to to.

a typical conversation with my friends goes like this. I have a tendency to slur everything i say into complex contractions.

Ay what Up?
Nah much? You?
nah much, nah much, been workin' goin to school, the usual.
So whayabeen up ta la'ly?
Dude Wii Sucks
yeah it does.
WTF WTF, they din't show ****! Nothin, notta.

I ask whats up twice, but differently. This idnicates the difference between the temporary, and the on going time period.

Caterkiller · « **Reply #11 on:** July 22, 2008, 06:02:51 PM »

Would anyone know where I could find examples of some kind of Barbarian war/hunting chant?

I mean it could be a movie, it could be in a book, any writen document. Im searching like crazy but can't find anything.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #12 on:** July 22, 2008, 06:15:51 PM »

Just to be slighty on topic and yet completely off it I went on a road trip into the Western US lately: Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Northern California. Now even if I travel just half an hour into Washington I can immediately notice the different accent. But everyone is close enough to the border that everyone can tell I'm Canadian and there's virtually no confusion with slighty different terms or anything like that.

As you go further south Canadian accents aren't so common. So I was in California at a liquor store and I wanted to buy some beer and some A&W Cream Soda (as it is not available around these parts). There were no price tags so I asked the cashier "How much are the..." then I stopped and realized that while I would call them 600 ml bottles at home I didn't know what they were in Imperial units. "... the small bottles of pop" and I signalled how tall they were. The guy stared at me for a second and I pointed at the freezer and repeated myself before realizing my mistake and saying "how much is the soda?" He immediately figured out what I was talking about so I bought that and some beer. As I was paying him he said "So are you Irish?" I paused for a sec and thought "I'm of Portuguese decent actually but that's a weird thing to bring up" and then he said "are you from Ireland?" "No, Canada." "Oh."

So this was rather strange since I've never considered my accent to sound Irish at all. I've been mistaken for British and Australian but never Irish before. Any Canadian I share this with gets a kick out of it.

Personally I never notice my accent but apparently American news reporters try to develop a Canadian accent because it sounds neutral. Is it normal to not notice your accent or is it because my accent is supposedly so neutral sounding?

UltimatePartyBear · « **Reply #13 on:** July 22, 2008, 06:36:25 PM »

It's normal to not notice your own accent, I think, but then I've spoken to people in different parts of the country who ask me how long I've lived in Texas (all my life) because they say I don't have much of a drawl, so maybe I'm not the best person to answer that. The accent TV news anchors cultivate is supposed to be from the Midwest, but I suppose Canada has a Midwest, too, so they could be similar.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #14 on:** July 22, 2008, 07:10:24 PM »

Not to derail the thread, but how was your trip through the US Ian? Any observations?

Did Barbarians chant?

ThePerm · « **Reply #15 on:** July 23, 2008, 05:14:15 AM »

Ian its a comon misconception that Americans don't understand the metric system. The truth is we use several systems in a hodgepodgy way.

Usually when I buy alcohol i buy 750 mL bottles, when i buy soda i usually just get the 1 liter bottles. Sometimes i get 2 or 3 liters depending whats on sale. For cans regular cans are 12 ounces but thats not something you usually pay attention, the bigger cans for energy drinks are 16 ounces or a pint, and i think 243mL theres always the extra metric measurement for good measure. When purchasing them in the cup from like circle k it goes 12oz, 16oz,24oz,32oz 64oz. Milk comes in a gallon, orange juice comes in a gallon, and gas comes by the gallon.

Food has some sort of measurement system tats largely unimportant When i worked at wendy's burgers were measured in 1/8 pound and 1/4 pound patties. or 4 oz and 2 oz

when making drinks obviously the best way to measure are in shots, and Guiness comes in a pint

I use c° for cooking, and I use f° for weather.

I live in Tucson which uses both km and miles depending on which part of town you live on which i really don't get. Actually its odd because the speed limit signs are allways in mph, but distance signs will be in km

for taste of what Ian probably sounds like check out the movie MY Bloody Valentine, or They Live. Roddy Piper has a canadian/irish like accent.
I didn't here much of an accent from Ian's Youtube video.

Forfun when I go to drive-throus I speak in odd accent just to **** with peolpe

keyboard sucks! oh and Party Bear, Texas is a very middle accent. Actually in my opinion its the MOST American sounding accent.not because most people sound like it, but because it represents us well. I think of Woody Harrelson, or Matthew Mcconaughey. I have an accent thats somewhere between Kal Penn, Emenem, and Pauly Shore.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #16 on:** July 23, 2008, 12:06:38 PM »

Perm I didn't know you used such a variety. We use inches, feet, miles and pounds a lot in informal usage but everything is officially marked in metric units. The only thing I knew for sure Americans used was 2L bottles.

How was my trip? I had a great time! Though what I observed the most was how cheap junk food is and how you guys have so much more selection. I noticed myself getting fatter halfway through and had to cut back. And the fast food is so BIG. My friends and I frequently went to Jack In The Box, Carl's Jr., and when in California, In-N-Out Burger because those franchises aren't in Canada. What you call a small combo is for us a medium. Your medium is bigger than our large. And your large is, well, insanely huge by our standards. Makes you wonder where the "Americans are fat" stereotype comes from. I've heard rumours that Carl's Jr. is planning on expanding into British Columbia but I figure they have to tweak with the menu. Canadians are just not used to portions that big.

And the booze is so f*cking cheap. My friend's Dad owns a liqour store. At Wal-Mart we found Captain Morgan's for cheaper than what his Dad gets from the SUPPLIER. So this is what I do in the States. I buy cheap snacks, eat big fast food meals and drink my ass off. If it was an open border I'd go there every weekend and die before I'm 40.

vudu · « **Reply #17 on:** July 23, 2008, 01:56:12 PM »

Quote from: Ian Sane on July 23, 2008, 12:06:38 PM

What you call a small combo is for us a medium. Your medium is bigger than our large. And your large is, well, insanely huge by our standards.

You should have seen the "Super Size" when it was still around. You could choke a donkey.

ThePerm · « **Reply #18 on:** July 23, 2008, 04:23:59 PM »

a s fattening, bad, and unhealthy as it sounds i can ALWAYS eat hamburgers. They never dissapoint...even crappy hamburgers are good. When i worked at Wendy's i grew to love the double which is essentially a quarter pounder. You made me so hungry...im trying to loose weight dammit!
In and Out is over-rated, the best place for hamburgers is Fudruckers hands down.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #19 on:** July 23, 2008, 06:15:14 PM »

Quote

a s fattening, bad, and unhealthy as it sounds i can ALWAYS eat hamburgers. They never dissapoint...even crappy hamburgers are good.

Well I agree with this. It would be a rarity for a week to go by without eating one. I get teased at work because every time the office goes out for lunch together I order a burger. Sometimes I don't and everyone acts shocked that I ordered something different.

Fast food burgers are different than "real" burgers though. I enjoy both but they're two different cravings for me. My favourite burger is the Royal Red Robin Burger.

Deguello · « **Reply #20 on:** July 23, 2008, 07:58:18 PM »

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU

It sounds something like this, Caterkiller.

vudu · « **Reply #21 on:** July 23, 2008, 08:33:38 PM »

Stop trying to swap the thread back to the original topic. Threads are organic--let them grow.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #22 on:** July 24, 2008, 03:06:27 AM »

Has anyone found a barbarian chant yet?

UltimatePartyBear · « **Reply #23 on:** July 24, 2008, 12:03:00 PM »

Quote from: Deguello on July 23, 2008, 07:58:18 PM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU

It sounds something like this, Caterkiller.

Actually, The Canterbury Tales were written in the 1300s. Shakespeare was writing almost exactly 200 years after Chaucer, and the differences in the language are obvious. For one thing, the Great Vowel Shift happened mostly in that interim, during which English speakers shifted away from Latin-influenced pronunciations.

Plugabugz · « **Reply #24 on:** July 24, 2008, 04:12:47 PM »

"Whats your name?" i'm asked.
"Phil" i reply
"Phil? F I L?"

If it's anything like how it's degenerated these days, then i bet everything in the english language 500 years ago can be spoken with one word. It's just THAT accurate.

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Author Topic: What did english sound like in the 1500's? (Read 27311 times)