• foggy@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    UK accents that are as different from each other as they are the generic American accent.

    So yeah, when you say ‘British accent’ that means basically nothing to anyone in the UK.

    It’s akin to saying “the generic American accent,” Which means absolutely nothing to anyone in the US.

    • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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      8 hours ago

      There is a generic American accent though. News anchors began using it heavily in the 80s because focus groups said it sounded the most neutral and hard to place. It’s basically a NoCal accent.

      • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        Nah, the San Jose local accent is distinctive and it’s not on any national news.

        The newscaster accent from the '80s was a real thing but it was upper-midwest. Tom Brokaw is the canonical example.

          • foggy@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            The precise definition and usefulness of the term continue to be debated,[8][9][10] and the scholars who use it today admittedly do so as a convenient basis for comparison rather than for exactness

            Thank you for agreeing with me, and providing sources to back up my point.

            To repeat my point,

            Stating that there exists a generic UK accent is as useless as suggesting there exists a generic US accent. The wikipedia article suggests that linguists by and large agree with me. So again, thanks.

    • Miaou@jlai.lu
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      8 hours ago

      There are more varieties of accents inside London than across the entire US. You understood their point, no need to be pedantic.