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[lprkn]

I think that the high level of mobility in this country probably contributes to the blandness. Many people don't settle where they were born, and often move many times in their lives.

[KeithHernandez]

Yeah, I have the bland Midwestern accent.  The good news though, is that if I would have been born 45 miles in any direction I would sound like a huge hick.

[littlefallsmets]

Well, there is also the simple fact that we sort of had widespread radio and television earlier and stronger than basically anywhere else and... that's the great accent homogenizer, you know.

More and more, we learn our accents and dialects from the teevee, you understand.

Hell, many Brits for a long stretch of time learned to sing with American accents, despite speaking with heavy British-type accents, because of the popularity of American music over there.

And also... uhm... no offense to my Southern friends here but...

A heavy Southern accent DOES sound like the speaker is trying to talk with a mouthful of the Michelin Tire Man's dick to anyone not from the South and... uhm... so that is why a lot less people are either eliminating their accents from their entirely or lightening them up significantly.

Fellating a commerical mascot is not a great sound.

[theinevitable]

A heavy Southern accent DOES sound like the speaker is trying to talk with a mouthful of the Michelin Tire Man's dick to anyone not from the South and... uhm... so that is why a lot less people are either eliminating their accents from their entirely or lightening them up significantly.

yeah, because New York and Boston accents sound like the song of angels.

[Doc]

I like boston accents. At least the version in 'The Departed', after watching that movie I wander around for days pronouncing 'cop' with at least 2 more letters than I spell it.

[AugustWest]

yeah, because New York and Boston accents sound like the song of angels.

QFT.

A better question is why an Iowa/Kansas/Nebraska accent was adopted as the official "accentless" version of US-Speak.  We have accents.  The difference between a Bostonian, a Milwaukeeite and a Georgian are obvious, but I think I could distinguish between an southern accents from Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Kentucky (actually, from several different regions in KY).

I'm not trying to brag about my accent-distinguishing abilities here.  I think local accents, in their original forms, can be pretty easy to tell apart.  My point is that region American accents certainly existed during my lifetime.  Also, they are in decline in favor of a middle-midwestern accent.

But what is it about that particular accent makes us perceive it as "accentless"?  How and why did Iowan become Received American?

Wombat?

[KeithHernandez]

 Because it is plain and easiest to understand for people throughout the country?

[littlefallsmets]

A light Southern accent is fine, even pleasant. Just as a light NYC accent can be kinda cute in a crass sorta way.

But if you're going into Paula Deen territory... I'm sorry... I can't get behind that.

I'm sorry but someone's gotta smack the giant rubber dick out of that woman's mouth.

I don't CARE if she's married to Santa Claus or not. The smacking must occur.

[Lister]

It happens everywhere.  90 percent of mexican voice-over work is done with the "Mexico City" accent, which has been determined to be the least reigional dialect and therefore the easiest to broadcast everywhere.  I've heard mexican anime fans wail and gnash heartily over this fact.  I imagine The Beverly Hillbilliies would be very dull when dubbed with all cast members having the same accent.

Wasn't there someone here with an accent story regarding call centers (centres) and Canada?

And as I've said before, though I grew up in Alabama and spent my first 25 years there, I never had a very pronounced southern accent and eliminated it completely from my speech by age 20 or so.  Part of the reason came to me when I listened to a lecture by a brilliant architect with really groundbreaking ideas, but didn't take him seriously for the first half of it because he had a thick Kentucky accent and was nicknamed Sambo.

Reigional accents, like regional delicacies, customs, music, and architecture, require insular communities to foster them.  A mere century ago, people rarely traveled more than twenty miles in their lifetime.  Physical and class barriers tended to reinforce accents.  Even the large cities had, by necessity, subdivided into smaller self-sufficent communities with regional accents of their own.  Bronx accents still exist, and they're different from Long Island or Manhattan.

Cars, relocation, and mass media all break down accents.  Our children are exposed to nationally-televised voices (with that 'generic' midwest accent) just as much as their friends from around the neighborhood, if they're lucky enough to have any.  More and more often we have to drive to wherever our kids can play for as long as we have 'free' time, then back in the car with its national radio show and DVD player.

My oldest sister, 11 years my senior, still has some very Alabama pronunciations, especially in O sounds.  Her husband does too, though neither of them match their parents.  I started with far less of an accent than she had and have none now.  Her children, aged five to fourteen, have very little southern accent in their speech at all.

I'm not sure how I feel, though I guess I can't really lament the loss of something when I actively stamped it out at home, so to speak.

[theinevitable]

a professor I might take a class from next semester is kind of Known in linguistics circles, apparently, because of research he did on Linguistic Profiling, where you make assumptions about people based on their accents. The specific example was calling up to inquire about an apartment for rent-- first he let himself go wild with the "Urban" (black) way he used to speak, then he called again with a "white" sounding voice. There was a pretty big difference of reaction, apparently.

It is cool because I had read about this in the newspaper in Charlotte, and thought it was awesome, and now I am probably taking a class with the guy.
However, his class meets only 1 day a week, for 3 hours in a row. That is not really a good idea, I feel.

[wombat]

Well, I am not in the business anymore but... my recollection of the state of things is that there's really no evidence that regional accents are disappearing in this country. Many people may learn to minimize them with education and so on, but it's not hard to go and find someone who speaks any regional accent that you are interested in hearing.

I am not sure how Midwestern became standard. In most countries, the standard accent is that spoken in whatever city is the center of economic and/or political power, often the capital, but not always - for example the New York City accent was prestigious at one time - if you listen to movies in the 40s or so, fancy people in New York settings drop their Rs, something which is now stigmatized about that accent (although Americans think it's fine when Brits do exactly the same thing.)

[CortJstr]

It happens everywhere.  90 percent of mexican voice-over work is done with the "Mexico City" accent, which has been determined to be the least reigional dialect and therefore the easiest to broadcast everywhere.  I've heard mexican anime fans wail and gnash heartily over this fact.  I imagine The Beverly Hillbilliies would be very dull when dubbed with all cast members having the same accent.

I remember reading about Univision training all its on-air talent to speak with Mexico City accent back in 2000. Apparently there are also dialect/slang issues. Venezuelans speak differently than Puerto Ricans and might have communication problems, but everybody understands somebody from Mexico City. Or at least the article said. The two spanish-speakers who sit next to me confirm this, but they are both Mexican and might be biased.

As for anime-dubbing, I think all one accent might actually be the way to go. If you've seen Princess Mononoke in English you know what I mean. There's this monk who speaks with low-class hick accent that makes the character appear dumb in Japanese. So for the dub they went with Billy Bob Thorton, since most Americans associate southern with stupid. It's very jarring to hear a Japanese monk with a southern accent.

[side_show]

Wasn't there someone here with an accent story regarding call centers (centres) and Canada?

Yes, that was me.  I can't be bothered to search for my old post.  Manitoba has a huge amount of call centres because our accent is considered non-regional specific.  I've worked at many an American call-centre, several for products not sold in Canada.  We were told to say we were located "north of Minneapolis" and to never reveal we were in Canada.  Occasionally people would catch me when I said "about" and want to make sure I understood that they knew I was Canadian.

[littlefallsmets]

When I worked a call centre job, they were just so happy to be reasonably sure that I was a native English speaker that... they didn't really care if I was in Utica or Topeka or Vancouver or whatever. I wasn't in Bangalore or Manilla and that was good enough for them.

There was the vague possibility that I could actually understand them and that was enough.

Welcome to the 21st Century.

[CortJstr]

When I worked a call centre job, they were just so happy to be reasonably sure that I was a native English speaker that... they didn't really care if I was in Utica or Topeka or Vancouver or whatever. I wasn't in Bangalore or Manilla and that was good enough for them.

There was the vague possibility that I could actually understand them and that was enough.

Welcome to the 21st Century.

This is one of the reasons I prefer Vocelli's when ordering cheap delivery pizza. You call an 800 number where you get somebody at a central office hired for their phone skills instead of a random guy working the counter at your local shop. The pizza is no better or worse than Domino's or Papa John's but ordering is easier and has a lower error-rate.