Do choirs have accents?

Everyone knows choirs have a 'sound', from choral societies to rock choirs, chapel to community. What is the choral sound-accent like, linguistically and musically? How does it emerge, from the director, the choir members' spoken accents, or both? Does it change over time? How do listeners evaluate choral accents? Millions of people take part in choirs every week, and choirs constitute a major professional activity. This will be the first project to investigate this poorly-understood, yet core, aspect of choral performance, by carrying out a linked set of empirical studies, grounded in speech science, sociolinguistics, musicology and musical performance.