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This dialect of American English has evolved over a period of four hundred years from the English that was spoken by those who initially settled the area. Given that language is an entity that is constantly changing , it is accurate to say that the English of the colonists was much different than any variety of English being spoken today. The colonists who initially settled the Tidewater area spoke a variety of English known as Early Modern English. (This is not to be confused with the form of English spoken today known as Modern English or Present-Day English or with that English of Chaucer which was that of Middle English.) Even within Early Modern English, there was immense variation among its speakers. It is completely unrealistic to assume that everyone at the time spoke the same. That would be like saying that everyone who speaks American English speaks the same. We all know how inaccurate this is based solely on some distinct dialect groupings within our own nation. Take for example an urban speaker from New York and a rural speaker from Alabama. In comparing these two speakers, we would notice some distinct differences in their speech. This same concept of regional variation can be applied to the English spoken in England during the Early Modern English period .
This accent was 'inherited' from the early English settlers, and has evolved for 400 years in most of the region. A notable exception of interest to linguists is tiny isolated Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay because its people speak a totally unique dialect of American English, hypothesized to be nearly unchanged since the days of its first occupation by English colonists. Each of the original surnames and several of the present surnames on the island originated in the British Isles particularly Cornwall.
House is pronounced houes,
Out is pronounced ouet,
A Thousand is pronounced ah thoesend,
Wipe is pronounced wahp,
Wash is pronounced warsh,
Store is pronounced stow,
Water is pronounced wuter,
Down is pronounced Douhn
Pencil is pronounced Puncil
