American English
So I was taking a break with a few of my colleagues on Friday and one of them casually mentioned that I am extremely easy for them to understand. We just had an all employee meeting where I did quite a bit speaking so I took this as good feedback about the meeting.
They followed this up by asking me if I intentionally tried to speak that way or if it was natural. I had to think about it for a second, because in general, when we speak it "just comes out" but then answered there are two reasons that I can think of why I'm easy to understand.
- After working with so many different non-native English speakers I actively try to speak "not fast" (as opposed to slow) and enunciate my words clearly.
- I'm from the Midwestern part of the United States. I've always thought that the Midwest has the best, most neutral accent, but I always assumed I thought it was neutral because I'm from the Midwest. Doesn't everyone think they have a neutral accent?
To satisfy my own curiosity I decided to do a little research. It turns out that there is a name for the accent that I have (and if you're in my family member, then you have it to). The actual name for the accent that we speak with is called "General American" and is the most common dialect of American English. It is sometimes referred to as the "newscaster accent".
Even though it is hard to pinpoint the exact location of the general American dialect, there is a map as you can see below. Sorry Minnesota. Sorry Chicago. Forget about it Michigan. It looks like it's a gift that only a special few have, from Lincoln, Nebraska to Peoria, Illinois. Hmmm, what's the center of the General American universe? It looks an awful lot like Des Moines, Iowa.
