[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Thicknesse: Question on Pronunciation - All and Oil in Texas

[Random832]

> Steve/bboyminn:
> In the midwest, I think we have the most neutral
> accents. The accents we do have tend not to be regional,
> but more a reflection heritage. For example, while I am
> college educated and moderately well read, on occasion
> my Scandinavian heritage creeps in and I say 'ya'
> instead of 'yeh' or yes. So, in the midwest, if 
> there is an accent, it is probably a hint of 
> Scandinavian, German, or Russian.
> 
> If you've seen the movie 'Fargo' then you have a 
> hint of a Midwest accent, which originates from
> Scandinavia. 

Random832:
Well, that's actually called a north-central (or, more commonly, 
Minnesota) accent, and is distinct from a Midwestern one (precisely due 
to the sometimes quite heavy Scandinavian influence)

> Steve/bboyminn:
>  However, lacking a ancestral accent, the Midwest
> accent is considered the most neutral,  and it most
> desired in TV newsreaders. I think officially it
> is an Iowa 'sound',

Random832:
Iowa, eastern Nebraska, western Illinois.

> Steve/bboyminn:
> I can understand regional accents in a country like
> the USA that is very large and also a melting pot
> of many cultures. But the Brits live all trapped
> on one or two small islands, it seems odd that
> so many regional and very distinct accents could 
> evolve there. I would venture to say that even 
> London has a range of distinct accents. 

Random832:
Britain has had a lot more _time_ to develop multiple accents - 
America's only been colonized by english-speakers at all for the last 
400 years, and the vast majority, particularly early on, came from just 
a few parts of England, and the existence of trains put an end to the 
forces that would cause accents to become more diverse