Quote:
Originally Posted by Suki
Maybe for someone who's been raised in the US it is hard to tell what an standard accent would sound like, but really, there is such a thing.
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I never said there was no standard accent - I think you are misunderstanding my comment.
I said there is no part of the US where that accent is spoken by the majority of the population. That is exactly why it is a standard, and why it is not possible to identify it as being from a specific location. It is spoken, exists, is the standard taught in schools, but is not the accent of a region. There are areas that are close to the standard, but they all have some small quirks unique to the region.
The Canadian accent it is very close to the standard US accent, but has a few unique quirks. Most of the accents in the US that are close to the standard have the same number of quirks - so there is no obvious reason to assume that the accent is from outside of the US.
If we think of Standard US English as a solid color - say, red - most similar accents actually in use would be a shade of red. Not pure red, but very close. If we take another cup with a slightly different shade of red (Canadian English) - you`re going to guess that it belongs to the same group as all the other shades of red unless you`re told otherwise.
BTW... I don`t think Jimmy Kimmel is a good example of a standard accent, really - I had never heard of him, but checked a video out online... And guessed where he was from in about 20 seconds.
I also guessed that he went to school in California - and was pretty close. He has that Italian-American accent thing going.
Maybe this is only obvious to me because I grew up in the US?