3 ms·

I think accents themselves will become a relic of the past, given the prevalence of mass media and the internet. Millennials will probably be the last broad gen

I think accents themselves will become a relic of the past, given the prevalence of mass media and the internet. Millennials will probably be the last broad generation to have any hint of an accent.

primo44 9y ago
I think that was the expectation a few generations ago, once TVs were in most people's homes, but it didn't happen. I recall seeing a headline for a study a couple of years ago that said that regional accents were actually getting stronger.
ekimekim 9y ago
As an anecdote: I have a friend who grew up in Sydney, AU. Never left the country. He has a distinctly american accent. He attributes it to too much TV.
BjoernKW 9y ago
Ever been to the UK? There are some accents that for many American English speakers wouldn't be intelligible. I doubt those will disappear within a generation. There's a general tendency of accents merging or becoming more similar but new accents develop out of that as well. I think you underestimate the effect everyday speech has on people. Take the Dutch for instance. They're famous for almost universally speaking English very well. The main reason for this is that in the Netherlands foreign language films, TV series etc. come with subtitles instead of a dubbed version. Still many still have a recognisably Dutch accent. Then there's another phenomenon that in language history so far has only happened to English: There are more non-native speakers than native speakers. So we might very well end up with something like a universal, worldwide English accent. It might just not sound like any of the native English accents at all.
- jamiek88 9y ago
  > There are more non-native speakers than native speakers That is a wonderful point that I've never thought of before. You can really envision a lingua franca that is English but not American English or British English but Global English. Second and third generation English speakers who live in a non-English speaking country as a majority of English speakers - will they be like how English is used in India or something completely different? Fascinating.
  - UncleSlacky 9y ago
    Global English ("Globish") as a simplified subset of English already exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globish_(Nerriere) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globish_(Nerriere) also in general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_English
aomurphy 9y ago
Empirically, this does not seem to be the case. Labov at UPenn has been studying American dialect formation for the past ~50 years, and has found several ongoing changes. In some ways the Midwest is getting more divergent, with the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. Many small dialects are disappearing, but others are becoming more divergent (out west). It's a mixed bag.
cassowary 9y ago
People have been predicting that for a long time. I can remember reading something in Encarta 95 about it. But it's also been disproved for just as long. New dialect features are constantly being created, just as surely as old ones are levelled. Even as much as certain groups move around a lot, huge numbers of people are living in the same area their grandparents were born in. (Sometimes, I feel surprised when I meet someone else who was born in the city I live in. But if I listen to how someone speaks, no matter if they're fifteen or fifty, I can tell whether they're from here.)

I think accents themselves will become a relic of the past, given the prevalence of mass media and the internet. Millennials will probably be the last broad generation to have any hint of an accent.

primo44 9y ago

I think that was the expectation a few generations ago, once TVs were in most people's homes, but it didn't happen. I recall seeing a headline for a study a couple of years ago that said that regional accents were actually getting stronger.

ekimekim 9y ago

As an anecdote: I have a friend who grew up in Sydney, AU. Never left the country. He has a distinctly american accent. He attributes it to too much TV.

BjoernKW 9y ago

Ever been to the UK? There are some accents that for many American English speakers wouldn't be intelligible. I doubt those will disappear within a generation. There's a general tendency of accents merging or becoming more similar but new accents develop out of that as well. I think you underestimate the effect everyday speech has on people. Take the Dutch for instance. They're famous for almost universally speaking English very well. The main reason for this is that in the Netherlands foreign language films, TV series etc. come with subtitles instead of a dubbed version. Still many still have a recognisably Dutch accent. Then there's another phenomenon that in language history so far has only happened to English: There are more non-native speakers than native speakers. So we might very well end up with something like a universal, worldwide English accent. It might just not sound like any of the native English accents at all.

jamiek88 9y ago
> There are more non-native speakers than native speakers That is a wonderful point that I've never thought of before. You can really envision a lingua franca that is English but not American English or British English but Global English. Second and third generation English speakers who live in a non-English speaking country as a majority of English speakers - will they be like how English is used in India or something completely different? Fascinating.
- UncleSlacky 9y ago
  Global English ("Globish") as a simplified subset of English already exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globish_(Nerriere) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globish_(Nerriere) also in general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_English

aomurphy 9y ago

Empirically, this does not seem to be the case. Labov at UPenn has been studying American dialect formation for the past ~50 years, and has found several ongoing changes. In some ways the Midwest is getting more divergent, with the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. Many small dialects are disappearing, but others are becoming more divergent (out west). It's a mixed bag.

cassowary 9y ago

People have been predicting that for a long time. I can remember reading something in Encarta 95 about it. But it's also been disproved for just as long. New dialect features are constantly being created, just as surely as old ones are levelled. Even as much as certain groups move around a lot, huge numbers of people are living in the same area their grandparents were born in. (Sometimes, I feel surprised when I meet someone else who was born in the city I live in. But if I listen to how someone speaks, no matter if they're fifteen or fifty, I can tell whether they're from here.)