General American

General American is a notional accent of American English based on speech patterns common in the Midwest of the United States and those used by many American network television broadcasters. It is also sometimes called Standard Midwestern. The General American accent or dialect is not thought of as a linguistic standard in the sense that Received Pronunciation (RP) is the standard, prestige variant in England and British society historically, but its speakers are perceived as "accentless" by most Americans. The idea of a uniform media American accent has declined in popularity since the late 1960s.

Related Topics:
Accent - American English - Speech pattern - Midwest - United States - Network television - Broadcaster - Dialect - Linguistic standard - Received Pronunciation - Prestige - Variant - England - Media - 1960s

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Within American English, General American and accents approximating it are contrasted with Southern American English, several Northeastern accents, and other distinct regional accents and social group accents like African American Vernacular English.

Related Topics:
Southern American English - Northeast - Regional accents - African American Vernacular English

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