Yeah, the broadcast media have been dissolving our regional accents for decades--although their ideal of "standard" U.S. English seems to have changed over time. If you listen to radio programs from the '30s, pretty much everyone sounds like they're from the greater New York area--fast-talking, very nasal (think Walter Winchell). Even in early Hollywood, you used to hear a lot more of that sharp, Northeastern accent. Since the '60s, though, the standard seems to have gotten more Southern or Western--slowing down, losing the nasality. Still, public figures with strong regional accents--Southern or Northeastern or Minnesotan or whatever--seem to be getting rarer: they can do comedy, sports, politics, sure--but drama or the network news? Not so much. ;)
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Date: 2005-04-16 06:05 pm (UTC)