----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Also, it's fascinating to hear the actual
voices of both historic figures and ordinary people of those days. To my
ears, the regional accents of America were more pronounced back then, and
the average person had a more refined and clearer way of speaking.
Probably because this was well before the ubiquity of television
reduced North American speech to a "lowest common denominator!"
Remember that children are often "Baby-sat" by the TV, and learning
how to speak from the audio rather than from their family...