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All of this talk about accents on the board has me thinking, what about states without a distinct accent? What, in your opinion, is the 'accent' that TV reporters are forced to speak with?
The first two that come to mind right off the bat are Connecticut and California. What do you think?
Every single state has an accent. The people I know from CT have a very noticeable accent. Most people, even from states like that, don't speak the "reporter accent". However, even the way newscasters/reporters speak is an accent. There is no such thing as no accent unless you're a robot.
Every single state has an accent. The people I know from CT have a very noticeable accent. Most people, even from states like that, don't speak the "reporter accent". However, even the way newscasters/reporters speak is an accent. There is no such thing as no accent unless you're a robot.
EXACTLY. Everyone speaks with an accent. The notion that someone speaks without an accent is absurd. Accents are relative.
Now, there IS such a thing as a "standard" American accent, the kind spoken by the national media. But it's still an accent, and the majority of Americans don't speak that way.
All of this talk about accents on the board has me thinking, what about states without a distinct accent? What, in your opinion, is the 'accent' that TV reporters are forced to speak with?
The first two that come to mind right off the bat are Connecticut and California. What do you think?
I think some people have "no accent". I consider standard american, like news reporters, to be "no accent." I suppose you could call it an "American accent", which means the same thing to me.
My neighbor is from Connecticut, and his whole family sounds like they're from Boston. I think he's got a strong accent. I talked to a guy from Manhattan yesterday, and he definitely had an accent. New York is anything but neutral.
The folks I've met from Iowa and Kansas didn't seem to have an accent. California doesn't seem to either, but I've noticed a tendency for Californians to draw out their words, valley-girl style. Liiiike yeaaahh.. duuuuuude.
Actually I heard that TV anchors are usually picked from the midwest because they have a very neutral accent(read no accent). So in other words, to an outsider they sound like an American but with a clear pronouciation. If you notice, there are lots of Canadian news anchors working on American TV too because of their somewhat neutral accent similar to the midwest.(not all Canadians say eh at the end of each sentence).
I lived in SoCal and noticed no difference whatsoever between there and Northern CA.
I would agree with the OP about CA...we dont really have an accent. At least none I can think of.
If you're from a place, it's tough to tell. My favorite hobby in IL is showing people that they DO have an accent.
Them: "You heve a sahthern eccent! We don't heve eccents"
Me: "Yeah? Say the word "both".
Them: "Bolth"
Me: "Why the "l" sound?"
Them: "Oh my Gahd! We DO have Eccents!"
Endless fun.
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