Neutral American English
"The English are apparently more insular in their towns and less mobile than Americans, and so they have more marked regional accents."
Less mobile? That's not a useful impression considering England covers a minute area compared to the US and is much more densely populated. If anything, the English are most likely to be more mobile than Americans.
<<Less mobile? That's not a useful impression considering England covers a minute area compared to the US and is much more densely populated. If anything, the English are most likely to be more mobile than Americans.>>
The answer lies in the fact that historically, there has been a lot of time which has allowed different accents to develop in the UK, while English-speaking North America has been around for comparatively little time, altho there certainly has been enough time for some regional differences to pop up.
I agree, Kirk; that sounds a lot more plausible.
She doesn't sound neutral to me. The way she pronounces "snack" "these" and "need" tweaked my ear a bit.
>>She doesn't sound neutral to me. The way she pronounces "snack" "these" and "need" tweaked my ear a bit.<<
It sounds perfectly fine to me.
I agree with Joanne. She might sound fine to you, but that woman won't get that TV news anchor job any time soon.
>> I agree with Joanne. She might sound fine to you, but that woman won't get that TV news anchor job any time soon.<<
I wonder if the woman speaker that Rom posted that was from Portland, Oregon could get the job. I could not for the life of me figure out where she was from. Audio sample:
http://site1.afraid.org/hosting/rom/w.wav After listening to that sample, I would have to say that Portland has the most neutral sounding accent--none of the funny idiosyncracies of the Northeast, and none of the vowel shifts that are affecting the Midwest at this time. And also, it looks like Westerners say that Midwesterners have an accent, and do not have an accent, but it seems that most Midwesterners cannot distinguish Western accents from Midwestern ones.
No way! That woman sounds like a hillbilly.
>>According to this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American the area with the most "neutral" accent (the accent most closely approximating General American) is a belt running from northwestern Illinois to eastern Nebraska, encompassing most of Iowa<<
Does that include Davenport, Iowa? I just listened to a sample, and it sounds too much like Boston to me. Doesn't sound any more neutral than the Maine accent.
<<I just listened to a sample, and it sounds too much like Boston to me.>>
Huh? Her accent is rhotic, father-bother merged, and cot-caught unmerged. Not to be a phonological pedant, but that's about as far as you could get from a Boston accent.
>>Supposedly the midwest, as long as it's not the part with the sing-song Scandinavian "Fargo" accent.<<
Basically, the Midwest, outside of dialects with Canadian-type features, the Northern Cities Shift, and or some degree or another of a German and or North Germanic substratum. That would cut most of the Upper Midwest, where the many of the dialects have at least two of those three to at least some degree or another, hence why people rarely speak of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, or Michigan as being primarily "General American"-speaking.
>>Huh? Her accent is rhotic, father-bother merged, and cot-caught unmerged. Not to be a phonological pedant, but that's about as far as you could get from a Boston accent.<<
i meant that the pitch and tone sounded very East coast regional to me, kind of like a boston squeeky-sounding accent.
<<i meant that the pitch and tone sounded very East coast regional to me, kind of like a boston squeeky-sounding accent.>>
Sorry, but it didn't sound East Coast to me.
I think both of those audio samples have quite recognizable accents. The truth is that there is no such thing as a neutral accent as everyones perception is different. As long as people can generally understand what you are saying that's all that matters in my view!