Interestingly, English does have a “reference” accent. “Queens English”.
Back in the days of the British empire, the aristocracy had a serious problem. When they traveled, the local population were difficult to understand, they all had accents. To solve this, the hired help were taught not just English but a clear “accentless” English. This meant the rich could go anywhere in the empire and not have to decode the local’s butchering of English.
While it’s used a lot less now, it was only a few decades back that the BBC stopped requiring it for news broadcasts. It’s the “classic” British accent you see on TV shows.
Interestingly, English does have a “reference” accent. “Queens English”.
Back in the days of the British empire, the aristocracy had a serious problem. When they traveled, the local population were difficult to understand, they all had accents. To solve this, the hired help were taught not just English but a clear “accentless” English. This meant the rich could go anywhere in the empire and not have to decode the local’s butchering of English.
While it’s used a lot less now, it was only a few decades back that the BBC stopped requiring it for news broadcasts. It’s the “classic” British accent you see on TV shows.
Fun fact it’s also the Coruscanti accent in Star Wars