Aren’t accents mad?
A distance as little as 5 miles can mean vastly different pronunciations.
We have a centralized source of referencing for spelling (see the Oxford dictionary) which the majority of English speakers abide by.
But phonetically we’re all over the place!
And if I’m to hazard a guess as to why.
I reckon it’s a matter of tribes.
Through vocalisation of language we can signify which tribes we belong to and which tribes we definitely don’t belong to.
That way the snobs can stay with the snobs and the scumbags can stay with the scumbags.
The fact that actors can convincingly adopt new accents for roles proves you’re not stuck with the first one you get.
I think the differentiation in pronunciation is born out of identity.
Thomas Duggan 