On Speaking with No Accent
A person's accent is the way their pronunciation reveals their social and/or geographical background. Someone from New Zealand, for example, typically, speaks with a New Zealand accent, which nowadays means that shear and share are both pronounced shear . But within New Zealand there will be differences in accent according to factors such as social class and educational background. The same applies anywhere. It is a common misconception that some people speak with 'no accent'. What this usually means is that they speak with an accent that is the listener's own accent, or that they speak a standard variety - that is, one that is closely identified with a particular region. Received Pronunciation (RP) is considered a prestigious British standard accent, although fewer and fewer British people actually speak it. Learners of English may aspire to speak with a Standard English accent, but few achieve this, nor is it necessary for intelligibility. Worse, the adoption of an...