Southerners losing their accent

[Grizz]

In past generations you'd need to change locales in order to lose your accent. According to this article, The Southern Accent: We're Losing It just by watching TV, the Southern U.S. is slowly losing its unique accent. If it is true, it's a shame. Although I'm sure it will take several generations to happen, becoming a "vanilla" world is now plausible with satellite TV in nearly every home.

 

[Nords]

the Southern U.S. is slowly losing its unique accent.

I'm not sure how those of us outside the South would be able to tell whether you-all are losing your accents...

I complimented a guy's Southern speech the other day and was haughtily corrected that he was from south Texas. After that riposte I was too deep in the hole to continue the conversation.

 

[FreeBird]

Yes, there have been some disadvantages to the mass media and perhaps this is one of them. I'm very proud of my southern Alabama accent and will take it to the grave. As a teacher, I constantly encourage and compliment my kids southern drawl.

It still seems to be alive and well in my area of the south!

 

[chinaco]

I don't think TV is the reason. It is more due to people moving around and assimilating.

Cable TV has been around for what 30 or 40 years. I will promise you if you go into Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia (not Atlanta --- nobody in Atlanta is from there), Sout Carolina, Mississippi, etc... and the variations on the Southern accent is alive and well.

 

[GatorBuzz]

Anecdotally speaking, it seems to me every new generation loses more of their local accent, not just Southerners. My grandparents have very thick Southern accents, my parents have Southern accents, but not a hard drawl. My cousins and siblings have very mild Southern accents. I guess my children won't have one at all. That's sort of disappointing in a way.

My grandfather used to say, "Don't ever ask a man where he is from. If he is from Dixie, he will tell you. If he is not, you don't want to embarrass him." With no more accents, you pretty much have to ask where someone is from, even at the risk of embarrassing him.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I always thought that was part of the southern charm. Too bad if thats the case.

 

[Meadbh]

Linguistic evolution: not just in the South

If there is a Canadian parallel to the Southern accent, it's the Newfoundland accent (with emphasis on the LAND). I've visited there many times and have definitely noticed changes over time. Global media, integration and travel are important drivers of less colourful speech, but when away from home, people from the same part of the country take great pride in identifying each other by their dialect and accent.

Indeed, the transformation of Newfoundland English offers a case study of the politics of language. On the one hand, Newfoundlanders have learned that to be taken seriously in institutional settings connected to off island structures standard Canadian English is necessary. This also occurred in the pre-confederation period though the adopted dialect was closer to British English reflecting the political circumstances of the day. On the other hand, use of Newfoundland English is used to establish common political identity with other Newfoundlanders in a fashion unavailable to non-Newfoundlanders who have yet to be accepted into the local cultural community. This manner of using language can be readily observed in other socially marginalized populations including persons of African descent in the United States, persons of aboriginal descent from rural areas and persons originating from lower strata in the social class structure in a general sense. Each group must learn to speak the language of the dominant group yet may also derive social benefits from retaining the original dialect when interacting with fellow group members. This perspective lends credence to the complex and contentious argument that Newfoundlanders resemble what conventional wisdom posits as a discrete and unique "ethnic group" quite separate from the ethnicity of the larger population.​

Newfoundland English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[bbbamI]

A nip of Jack Daniels brings out the "drawl" in my southern accent.

 

[F-One]

I'm not sure how those of us outside the South would be able to tell whether you-all are losing your accents...

Easy... no self respecting suth'ner would ever use you-all... it's yawl sometimes spelled y'all

 

[mickeyd]

I recall reading somewhere that Omaha, Nebraska was the home of many telemarketing firms because folks there had little or no accent.

 

[REWahoo]

I complimented a guy's Southern speech the other day and was haughtily corrected that he was from south Texas.

Whut?

 

[Sarah in SC]

We've got it, but I fear it may be heard less and less. One of our favorite sons is Arthur Ravenel of Charleston (the new bridge is named for him) and he has the fabulous and not often heard "geechee" accent of the Lowcountry of SC. This is where you can still here the older folks call them hurr-i-kins instead of hurr-i-canes. We've still got our accents, I don't know about the rest of y'all (the plural is actually all y'all).

Interestingly, as I live on one of the Sea Islands where Gullah heritage is very important, the black community is seeing a huge decline in the ability of residents to speak this "storytelling" language, so crucial to the original oral history. The younger folks don't want to be seen as talking in an ignorant way, so they lose the nuances of this melodic patois. But it is in many ways a relic of an earlier time, and I wouldn't want to teach my child to speak only with Gullah phrases instead of proper English if I wanted him/her to achieve in school and career.

 

[MikeD]

I recall reading somewhere that Omaha, Nebraska was the home of many telemarketing firms because folks there had little or no accent.

I used to work in tele-com. I heard the reason all the 800 numbers went to Omaha is because the gov't defense stuff is all there and they paid to have the lines put in and the contract says the phone compay can rent 'em out cheap except during an emergency.

I was once in a room with 8,000 800 numbers terminated in it in Omaha. The big seller of the day was the California Car Cloth that wiped the dirt off your car without water and left a beautiful shine.

Mike D.

 

[Dawg52]

Last time I was in Colorado, I was in a bar and someone looked at me and asked "Texas?" With a good ole long southern drawl I replied "No Bubba, Mississippi". Got a pretty good laugh from all my bar buddies.

 

[haha]

Whut?

You mean whu-u-t?

Ha

 

[jazz4cash]

I'm not sure how those of us outside the South would be able to tell whether you-all are losing your accents...

I complimented a guy's Southern speech the other day and was haughtily corrected that he was from south Texas. After that riposte I was too deep in the hole to continue the conversation.

My first time in TX I was a young field engineer, and when my contact picked me up, I gushed........"I've never been to Texas before!" This guy cut me a NASTY look and belted out "THIS...is WEST Texas !!

 

[haha]

We've got it, but I fear it may be heard less and less. One of our favorite sons is Arthur Ravenel of Charleston (the new bridge is named for him) and he has the fabulous and not often heard "geechee" accent of the Lowcountry of SC.

There was a Harvard QB around 1960 named Charlie Ravenel also from Charleston. Arthur Ravenel would be too young to be his Dad, but maybe an older cousin or an uncle?

Charlie was also an South Carolina politico. Also I remember he was convicted of some sort of fraud some years back.

Ha

 

[Sarah in SC]

Well there are a lot of Ravenel's, and many are politicians, criminals, and no, wait that was redundant!
Arthur is in his 70s now, and to his mortification, his son Thomas, who was state treasurer, was busted with a small amount of cocaine and resigned from office to go to rehab last year. The one you might be thinking of is "Pug" Ravenel (aka Charlie). [FONT=arial,helvetica]
Ravenel, a former S.C. gubernatorial candidate, pleaded guilty in October 1995 to his role in the failure of the Citadel Federal Savings Bank, which prosecutors called one of the biggest bank frauds in the state's history. He was sentenced to 11 months in federal prison. He was pardoned by Bill Clinton right before Clinton left office.
[/FONT]

 

[haha]

The one you might be thinking of is "Pug" Ravenel (aka Charlie).
[FONT=arial,helvetica]Ravenel, a former S.C. gubernatorial candidate, pleaded guilty in October 1995 to his role in the failure of the Citadel Federal Savings Bank, which prosecutors called one of the biggest bank frauds in the state's history. He was sentenced to 11 months in federal prison. He was pardoned by Bill Clinton right before Clinton left office. [/FONT]

That's the guy. He was called Pug even in college. Very popular and scrappy quarterback.

Ha

 

[Marquette]

I haven't made it up to the northeast yet, although the people I meet here from Boston and New York definitely have that edge in their accent. However, in general, I've noticed that people in cities of any decent size seem to have only a twang of regional accent. I've always attributed that to co-mingling and influence from relos, tourists, and tv... However, get out into the country and I've often found that the regional dialect comes shining through, along with some stereotypes here and there.

 

[SteveR]

My family is from the midwest but my brother and I grew up in the South. I moved away after college; he is still there. His accent is profound...I have none unless I want to.

I lived in East TN, NC, TX and a few other states South of the Mason Dixon line. Each region had (has) a unique accent. There was a time when I could locate a native born person to within a few miles of his family home; but only within a couple of hundred mile area. The TX accent is actually a variation of one of the TN accents, as many of the original settlers came from TN or surronding areas. It melded with those of the middle Southern states (Arkansas, MO, etc.) over time and took on its' unique character. And yes, different parts of TX have unique accents too.

I fondly remember dating many a fair lady from the South who could melt your brain with a few words and a smile.

Ahhh....the good ole days.

 

[Martha]

I haven't made it up to the northeast yet, although the people I meet here from Boston and New York definitely have that edge in their accent. However, in general, I've noticed that people in cities of any decent size seem to have only a twang of regional accent. I've always attributed that to co-mingling and influence from relos, tourists, and tv... However, get out into the country and I've often found that the regional dialect comes shining through, along with some stereotypes here and there.

Ja, sister has much stronger rural Minnesohta accent ten I to. Youse talk like a yooper, eh, Marquette poy?

 

[Sarah in SC]

Yes, the regional accents within our state are getting harder to find. The one I could always pin in 3 words or less was the "Florence/Darlington" one. Finance Dude, that is the one your relatives from up around Dillon probably still have!
I'm pretty sure that Ben Bernanke doesn't still have his Flo/Darlin accent!
I love that Minnesota talk, Martha--we don't get to hear enough of it!

 

[Marquette]

Ja, sister has much stronger rural Minnesohta accent ten I to. Youse talk like a yooper, eh, Marquette poy?

Exactly... you get out into the iron range and you KNOW you're in Minnesota.

Same in the UP. You get away from Marquette and, well....

 

[thefed]

Yes, there have been some disadvantages to the mass media and perhaps this is one of them. I'm very proud of my southern Alabama accent and will take it to the grave. As a teacher, I constantly encourage and compliment my kids southern drawl.

It still seems to be alive and well in my area of the south!

Why do you encourage it?