Why don't people have an accent when they sing?

Answer 1

Some people do have an accent while they sing, for example "Camille" ( a french singer) does have a slight accent when she sings in English. As a whole however, the act of singing is essentially talking and stretching out the vowel sounds. In most languages, vowel sounds are universal; so when they are stretched and modified with pitch, they often lack culturally induced inflections.

Singing also relies heavily on consonant sounds, leaving less room for dips in tone or clipping of syllables giving music a more universal sound)

Other songs commonly sung with accents include

• "Loch Lomen" - A Scottish folk song
• "Electricity" - Billy Elliot the Musical
• "Donkey Riding" - A Newfie Folk Song

Answer 2

When people sing, they modify their pronunciation to match the rhythm and melody of the music, which can smooth out some accent features. Also, the elongation and emphasis on certain sounds in singing can sometimes override the typical accent characteristics.