[DuFresne]

I saw a documentary on racial differences in speech, once. It concluded that there is very little, if anything, genetic about it. It comes mostly from culture and, more importantly, from parents.

Seth mentioned blacks in england even having a certain inflection. What is known as the "black voice" of english can be traced to Gullah, an english dialect used in... some carribean island. I can't remember which one. Anyway, whitey apparently got lots of slaves there, and the inflections dissipated throughout the generations. It may be here to stay in America, since the accent is part of African-American culture, but, given a couple more generations in England, it could very well totally blend into the norm.