Globally, the youth literacy rate increased from 83 per cent to 91 per cent over two decades, while the number of illiterate youth declined from 170 million to 115 million. Regional and gender disparities persist, however. Literacy is lowest in least developed countries and higher among males than females.
In sociolinguistics, an accent (/ËÃ¦ksáµ»nt/ or /-Ént/) is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.
An accent is a way of pronouncing a language. It is therefore impossible to speak without an accent. Some people may think they do not have an accent. Or you may think that there are other people who do not have an accent. Everyone has an accent. The term 'accentless' is sometimes used (by non-linguists) about people who speak one of the high prestige 'reference' accents (such as 'General American' or, less commonly, 'RP'), which are associated with people from a fairly wide region and with people of high social class.