Why is it that people almost universally prefer certain accents over others? I’m talking about English, but I’m pretty sure this holds true in other languages as well. Some accents appear more refined and “proper” whereas other accents appear less refined. What exactly causes this difference? I think that it’s partly due to enunciation on top of pronunciation. Pronunciation determines what type of accent is perceived; enunciation affects how “good sounding” that accent is considered.
Just about any American will tell you they love a British or Australian accent. Perhaps just because it is different, or perhaps because of something more. Why do we like a British accent, but not the one from the foreign citizen who immigrated and learned English later in life? Even within foreign accents, there is a divide, such as an Eastern-European’s English accent compared to a Chinese person’s English accent. I think that I find the Eastern-European accent more pleasing to the ear because they enunciate more when they pronounce words. Maybe the sounds that they make in their languages sounds more like the ones needed for English, so it’s easier to form the sounds.
Whatever it is, it’s really interesting why this effect works. I wish I had the kind of academic background to analyze the parts of language, pronunciation variances as related to enunciation, and any other factors. It’d be an interesting thing to better understand what the underlying reasons are.
