Non rhotic accents dying out among whites in the US? (movies, moving)
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I've heard many African Americans throughout the rural south actually stressing the "r" in such words:
HER-rah (here)
THUR-ruh (there)
HUR-rah (hair)
This seems especially prevalent the closer one gets to Louisiana and east Texas. It's a really odd little twist to an accent, and by no means is it the "norm" but it's definitely out there. I never heard it when I lived in the southeast or mid Atlantic region.
Yes, the heavy pronunciation of r's is part of the Upland South twang. They speak that way in Dallas, Northeast Texas, Memphis, and virtually everywhere in between. The non-rhotic speech I was referencing earlier is really only found along the Gulf Coast, the Delta, and the Atlantic South.
I seldom ever hear non-rhotic pronunciation among white people anymore. If so it's usually someone very old. Or maybe the southern pride type just mimicking that old accent. I don't use it although I have caught myself on occasion.
I hate to see it go by the wayside. I spent most of my childhood in Virginia, NC, Maryland (Tidewater region - my favorite part of this whole world!) and Georgia, where variations of that non rhotic accent were common. I was born in Nawlins and have spent a lot of time there since so much of my family is from there, and the y'at accent is non rhotic. In fact, the places in pink on this map in the South is where I have most of my roots (excluding Texas but I didn't move here till I was an adult). Somehow though I didn't pick up much of that beautiful accent (wish I had), though I can easily slip into it when I'm with people speaking that way, which messes me up because I catch myself and a little alarm goes off in my head just as I'm saying "Ah'd lak sum watt-ah, please!" and then I can't stop focusing on whether or not I'm slipping into that mode of speech! (I have a southern drawl but twenty five years in Texas has changed it from a gentle swing to a twangy two step!)
So much of my family speaks that way, but my dad was in the military, so I heard a little of everything growing up. I'm a southerner who says, "Hey, you guys get over here" instead of "Y'all get over here!" I'm jacked up.
I hate to see it go by the wayside. I spent most of my childhood in Virginia, NC, Maryland (Tidewater region - my favorite part of this whole world!) and Georgia, where variations of that non rhotic accent were common. I was born in Nawlins and have spent a lot of time there since so much of my family is from there, and the y'at accent is non rhotic. In fact, the places in pink on this map in the South is where I have most of my roots (excluding Texas but I didn't move here till I was an adult). Somehow though I didn't pick up much of that beautiful accent (wish I had), though I can easily slip into it when I'm with people speaking that way, which messes me up because I catch myself and a little alarm goes off in my head just as I'm saying "Ah'd lak sum watt-ah, please!" and then I can't stop focusing on whether or not I'm slipping into that mode of speech! (I have a southern drawl but twenty five years in Texas has changed it from a gentle swing to a twangy two step!)
So much of my family speaks that way, but my dad was in the military, so I heard a little of everything growing up. I'm a southerner who says, "Hey, you guys get over here" instead of "Y'all get over here!" I'm jacked up.
That map doesn't seem to include a lot of areas. It definitely highlights the more distinct, Old South accents but doesn't cover the entire non-rhotic region
That map doesn't seem to include a lot of areas. It definitely highlights the more distinct, Old South accents but doesn't cover the entire non-rhotic region
No, it doesn't. That map was made by someone for wikipedia based on the data points in the Atlas of North American English (Labov et al. 2006), which are limited to a few speakers in major urban areas. More of New England, for example (not just the coastline), should be shaded as exhibiting non-rhoticity.
No, it doesn't. That map was made by someone for wikipedia based on the data points in the Atlas of North American English (Labov et al. 2006), which are limited to a few speakers in major urban areas. More of New England, for example (not just the coastline), should be shaded as exhibiting non-rhoticity.
I'm also not sure why the DC area is shaded in. I remember hearing some strong r's up thurr.
That map doesn't seem to include a lot of areas. It definitely highlights the more distinct, Old South accents but doesn't cover the entire non-rhotic region
The rhotic dialect in the US most likely originated in the areas between Southern New Jersey and Maryland. I believe this is the only area on the East Coast where the Europeans immigrants did not develop a non-rhotic dialect, unlike the other areas of the East Coast(Southeast, New England, and NYC area). The rhotic speech pattern would have a huge influence on the Midland Dialect. Of course we all know that the Midland Dialect would later go on to expand westward to eventually reach the West Coast. I also agree with the poster KathrynAragon in that despite New Orleans being located in the Deep South, its dialect/accent is very unique in that it's not as strongly influenced from the traditional US dialects of the East Coast.
A word of caution about the map above: it is based on the book American Regional Dialects: A Word Geography (Carver 1987), which is concerned with lexical (vocabulary) differences rather than phonological (accent) differences.
A more accurate map of North American phonological systems comes from the Atlas of North American English (2006):
However, as I've mentioned above, this book's regional classifications rely on a relatively limited number of data points, largely confined to major cities. New Orleans and surrounding areas definitely have some very distinctive features, which are discussed in the book but unfortunately don't make their way into the regional classifications due to the relative lack of data.
While this map isn't perfect, it is of more use when discussing regional accents than the one based on Carver's book.
A word of caution about the map above: it is based on the book American Regional Dialects: A Word Geography (Carver 1987), which is concerned with lexical (vocabulary) differences rather than phonological (accent) differences.
A more accurate map of North American phonological systems comes from the Atlas of North American English (2006):
However, as I've mentioned above, this book's regional classifications rely on a relatively limited number of data points, largely confined to major cities. New Orleans and surrounding areas definitely have some very distinctive features, which are discussed in the book but unfortunately don't make their way into the regional classifications due to the relative lack of data.
While this map isn't perfect, it is of more use when discussing regional accents than the one based on Carver's book.
You can really go with either map as both are similar except that the map you provided is a little more descriptive. Regardless, both maps show that the rhotic dialect in the US most likely originated in the Mid-Atlantic region.
That map doesn't seem to include a lot of areas. It definitely highlights the more distinct, Old South accents but doesn't cover the entire non-rhotic region
Oh, I agree. I just thought the map was interesting because it highlights nearly every area where I grew up as having a non rhotic accent (true) and yet, somehow I missed the boat.
I think of this map as, like you said, just highlighting the areas that are the most steeped in that accent (or used to be).
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