Social media may be helping preserve regional U.S. accents rather than flattening them into a single broadcast-style voice, according to a Washington Post column highlighted in the latest report.
Jennifer S. Cramer of the University of Kentucky said some Southern and Appalachian students show a renewed pride in local speech, with online platforms giving that attachment to home a wider outlet.
Linguists cited in the report said worries that TikTok, TV and other mass media would make Americans sound alike appear overstated, echoing earlier failed predictions about television-driven homogenization.
Distinctive online creators with strong Boston, New York and Southern accents were presented as evidence that digital culture can amplify, not erase, regional ways of speaking.