Opening of Romeo and Juliet Recited in the Accent of Shakespeare’s Time [video]
I remember reading on some listicle website that the original English accent used by the commoners in that time period was much closer to the modern American accent. Something about how the accents of colonies tend to become fixed in time. And a quick google for "original english accent american" turns up a few links supporting that idea. I'm trying to reconcile that with this here. Is this performance based on newer, more nuanced evidence? Or maybe this is more specifically the accent of Londoners, while the average rural Englishman would be closer to the American accent? Or perhaps what he was speaking really is very close to the modern American accent and I just have a tin ear (definitely shouldn't rule that out!)?Moreover, I'm curious how one finds evidence to support what historic accents were like. It's not like it shows up in writing, after all. Is it by studying all the accents of the neighbors and trying to extrapolate? Maybe someone stumbled across a 17th century pronunciation guide? robotmay on here commented that some of the puns and rhymes only work in this sort of accent, which is a particularly clever way of gathering evidence.