Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands (henceforth ABN) is a term used generally in the Netherlands by linguists and laymen alike to refer to the country's prestige dialect; a literal translation would be ‘General Refined Dutch’. Though ABN is a dialect rather than an accent (Wells, 1970:231), its status is comparable to that of the RP accent of English since it is essentially a social variety only loosely associated with a particular geographical area. ABN speakers are to be found in greatest numbers throughout the Western provinces (i.e. Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and Utrecht) and particularly in the annular Randstad conurbation linking the towns of Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam and Utrecht; but ABN is to be heard from the upper socio-economic classes all over the Netherlands, and is also looked to as a standard in the Dutch-speaking regions of Belgium.