On 30-Dec-2003, "George" wrote:

Increase the current in the pool, and you'll move toward "standard " speech,
which is a result of mass communication.

I wonder about that. There was a radio series on CBC in Canada that was called
something like "Lost and found sound", where they examined the oldest recordings
available. I listened with interest to voice recordings from the late 1800s that
sounded remarkably modern. The "generic" accent that is all across Canada and
the US (the one that allows us Kanuckistanis to infiltrate US broadcasting
without notice*) was already present. Also, my grandparents and great-grandparents,
all of whom were born before mass communication, spoke with only slight regional
accents and were already close to the modern "generic" accent. I also found
that there was one recording of a British accent that was remarkably un-British
and very much like modern N.A. English.

This makes me think that the modern accent has its roots before radio could
distribute a common speech. Also, early Hollywood preferred an American "Posh"
accent that doesn't sound like the way we speak today - they weren't spreading
the common accent or speech. Remnants of this lasted in broadcasting into the
'50s.

I'd love to find a book or other source that examines in detail the spread
and development of the various English accents 'round the globe. Someone
once suggested Bryson, but his book doesn't cover that.

Sorry for the off-topic, but this is one topic that fascinates me!

Mike

* Only once in my many travels through the US did anyone suggest from my
accent that I wasn't American. This one time, a fellow said something
like "You have an interesting accent - you're not American are you? You
sound Canadian or something" This fellow was South African!