Southern television is still like Mainer television

Parent Cafe
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<p>… a thought that occurred to me arriving in Charlottesville a day early before Orientation. </p>

<p>But it’s BORING! </p>

<p>As a linguist, I like diverse and natural accents a lot.</p>

<p>Maybe we haven’t hit it far enough South. But when the receptionist speaks to you in a unique accent, and so do the people in the lift (though you do hear a lot people who speak “General Newscaster American”), as well as the girl talking excitedly about her engagement ring — and the television stations don’t, I feel that something is amiss. </p>

<p>I can’t help feeling how silly news it must be for network policies that tell their newscasters to suppress their regional accents, especially for stations dedicated to a local area. In Singapore something similar happens too – nearly everyone speaks “Singlish” but due to government policy newscasters must adopt some artificial and stilted faux-high-brow English instead.</p>

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<p>Sorry, posting from a phone; it won’t allow me to edit. I meant to say ‘wannabe linguist’ instead, haha.</p>

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<p>It’s not that “policies” suppress accents – rather that there are fewer accents to suppress. And most TV journalists change jobs – and locations – often. Their accent is as much a result of migrating all over professionally as it is of any biases.</p>