The English spoken by their descendants is colored by their mother tongues: The word brogue itself to describe an Irish accent originally meant a "stout coarse shoe worn formerly in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands," and insultingly implied that the Irish spoke English so poorly, it sounded like they had a boot in their mouths.
The impact of Italian is heard in the regional tendency to elongate words—turning Acme supermarket into "Ack-a-me. And when locals replace the "th" sound in words with a "t" sound—"three" becoming "tree" or "cathedral" becoming "cateedral"—you're hearing the influence of Polish and other Slavic languages.
Pennsylvania's urban centers such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have their own vernacular. The word "yunz"—a kind of Northern "y'all,"—is quintessential Pittsburghese, whereas Philadelphians favor "yiz" to mean the same thing, a plural of "you" that doesn't exist in standard English. Indeed, until the standardisation of English from the 16th century — when one variety of English came to be used in official situations and by printing presses for the wider publication of books — it was acceptable for speakers of different social classes to speak and write in their own dialects.
Then, Latin and French were regarded as prestigious languages, applied by the elite in education, law and literature. Dialects and accents are changing and will continue to change. After all, language never stands still. Some traditional dialects are disappearing, but new urban and multicultural varieties continue to arise. This can be influenced by music. In addition, people change the language they use depending on who they are talking to, and why they are talking, for example formally in a job interview or casually to friends and family at home.
People also change the way they speak to make themselves understood more easily, a phenomenon called linguistic accommodation. Ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality and age can all affect language usage. And there are also personal reasons for using dialects and accents to identify yourself. A modern speaker from New York probably won't sound like what you hear in movies like "Hey, I'm walking here! I'm walking here! They're more likely to say "Deep dish pizza is not not only better than New York pizza, it's not pizza.
Nowadays, someone from Philly might say "We're a regular family. We watch Philly jawn on TV. We go down to the Jersey Shore. But when we want great hoagies, discount prices on beer, and a great atmosphere we go to Lee's Hoagies in Horsham, PA. The southern coast of the United States has a variety of different accents. One example is Southern coastal white. Other southern dialects preserved some of the original remnants to this day.
They're right in Brunswick or Savannah or Jacksonville. Much later, a wave of African Americans migrated from the American South to urban centers in the North, mixing their accents together. And my aunt — God bless her soul — she used to always take me to The Rockettes — you know, the Easter show and the Christmas show. Someone might be able to trace an accent to a particular part of the world, coming to the conclusion like: "This guy is from Baltimore," or "This lady is from London.
The two biggest factors that influence accent are human nature and isolation. Human nature, vague as it sounds, simply refers to our innate love of being in groups.
When a human is part of a crowd, they identify membership by wearing certain styles of clothing or eating specific foods. That group of people also may speak a certain way — so distinctly so that an accent becomes part of the group's identity. As for isolation, imagine a group of people that speaks the same language but becomes divided onto two islands. This geographical and social divide means that each group will evolve distinct dialects, or accents, over time.
In fact, the language used by these groups may diverge so much to sound like completely different languages. But here's the thing: Humans are remarkably well-traveled, and don't often exist in isolation.
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