Mid-Atlantic accent

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The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent,^[1][2][3] is an accent of English, fashionably used by the American upper class and entertainment industry of the late 19th century to mid-20th century, that blended elements from both American and British English. Specifically, it blended features from both upper-class Northeastern American English and Received Pronunciation,^[3] the prestige variety of British English. The late 19th century first produced recordings and commentary about an accent associated with the Northeastern elite and their private preparatory school education.^[4] Then, in the earlier half of the 20th century, a related accent was taught at schools of acting and performed onstage for classical plays,^[5] such as Shakespeare plays,^[6] eventually also becoming associated with certain Hollywood actors.^[7] The Mid-Atlantic accent is not a native or regional accent; rather, according to voice and drama professor Dudley Knight, "its earliest advocates bragged that its chief quality was that no Americans actually spoke it unless educated to do so".^[8]

A similar accent that resulted from different historical processes, Canadian dainty, was also known in Canada, existing for a century before waning in the 1950s.^[9] More broadly, the term "mid-Atlantic accent" can also refer to any accent with a perceived mixture of American and British characteristics.^[10][11][12]