I'm afraid one day everybody will sound alike, and that would be a shame. "
Dear Jackie: I disagree very strongly with the opinion above. Different accents can promote xenophobia, which this country does not need. I regret that television has been so slow to homogenise the nation's accents. I hope for unity, not divisiveness
Sorry, Dr, Bill, but I have to disagree. I think losing the diversity and character of linguistic dialect, homogenization, is a sad and B-O-R-I-N-G prospect. Although the mass media, I'm afraid, has rendered this process unavoidable. Not to mention that professinal actors and broadcasters are trained to lose their regional accents. But xenophobia...no. The accents of immigrants who speak foreign languages is a whole nother thing. What this gentleman is pointing out here is the loss of the Southern accent, the Boston accent, the Western twang, etc. (We even have a homegrown, Southern-like twang here in South Jersey
called "piney," native only to folks who live in and around the vast and remote reaches of the Pine Barrens).
I remember when this was mentioned back on another thread someone said that across the pond the Brit broadcasters are encouraged to use their regional accents/dialects. So perhaps this is largely a Usn thing?
