It is also important to remember that in some cases, accents can be helpful in that they can evoke certain positive reactions (such as a British accent seeming sophisticated or an Indian accent seeming exotic). Whatever the case, it is important to remember that it is very unlikely that a person with a very distinctive accent will get a certain job, let's say something like a radio or TV announcer. It is generally accepted as well that there if there is to be considered a correct way to speak a language, and that the correct way is reflected in what is considered to be the standard, then the logical prediction is that the standard will not change over the course of time. This is generally not true. but, as for example what is seen in the case of the use of double negatives, there is often an attempt to demean speakers who use double or other multiple negative constructions.
It is, however, very common to hear double negatives used in the business setting, especially in a more relaxed work environment. This speaks to certain arbitrariness in what is considered standard speech. It is also important to remember that what is considered to be standard in one area of business...
And it is also important to remember that what was standard yesterday may not necessarily be the standard today nor the standard for tomorrow. Basically, the bottom line to this is that what is standard is not necessarily better. What is standard is what is the societal response to certain people who speak certain ways.
These statements being so, then the question arises "How far should regional differences in the use of language be incorporated into our business communications" if we consider business communication to be a synonym for "standard communications. It would appear that regional differences in vocabulary and accent can cause some problems in miscommunication but more and more, as the world becomes a global village, there is a decrease in the amount of prejudice and stereotype associated with these regional differences. As long as context and content remain essentially clear, that the message is understandable and that the receiver is open to differences in language style, regional language differences should have little to no impact on the clarity and appropriateness of business communication.
