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Here is the map of Southern Speech that I constructed. It is based on my travels all across the south, as well as my trips to every state within the U.S.
I've seen a lot of maps before, and I've felt that they do not do justice to the realities of the south.
Red: Deep South Drawl: Second strongest most identifiable southern speech.
Orange: Medium Southern Accent: The typical southern accent. Not as strong as the Appalachian Twang or Deep Southern Drawl.
Yellow: Upper South southern accent: A mild southern accent. Typical or the upper regions of the south.
Bright Green: Diluted Regions: Areas where transplants have settled in great numbers, to the point where many people (transplants) do not have an identifiable southern accent, or where native older adults speak with a strong southern accent, whereby the influence of the transplants have weakened the accent of the native younger adult and teen population to a mild southern accent.
Olive: Southern speech with an interspersed large population of Spanish speakers.
Blue: Western Speech/No Discernible Southern Speech with an interspersed large population of Spanish Speakers.
Light Blue: Population consist primarily of Spanish Speaking residents with a majority who can also speak English. No discernible southern speech outside of a small minority.
Gray: No Discernible Southern Speech.
So tell me, how accurate is it?
Last edited by City Fanatic; 06-15-2009 at 11:06 AM..
-There should be a little more yellow in Southern Maryland & the Eastern Shore(Lower Half in particular), and arguably far Western Maryland
-Gray should encompass a little more of Northeast Virginia
-The Cincinnati accent has always reminded me of the Baltimore one, but I can see why you put each respective area in its color scheme
I would not call it an Appalachian "Drawl/Twang", just a twang.
I like the concept of "Diluted Regions," but I would not consider Greenville or Columbia to be diluted. In NC I would just have the Charlotte CSA and the Raleigh-Durham CSA. The Piedmont Crescent (including the Triad) is not so thoroughly diluted, you still have some strong, twangy, piedmont accents outside the cities. I would add more dilution up and down the SC and NC coasts, but it can shift drastically as you move inland away from the beaches.
If I remember correctly, Florida's orange areas should be red like Georgia and LA.
90% accurate IMO... How did you come up with the actual borders? Documented data or just gut feeeling based on personal experience?
One thing... It would be a lot better if the legend in the map itself was more legible, so that I don;t have to bounce back and forth between your post and the map.
The yellow needs to extend much further into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The Southern-influenced accent doesn't stop until you are above I-70, in the center of those states.
Also, I've never been to Texas, but I find it hard to imagine that the Southern accent excludes South Texas.
The yellow needs to extend much further into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The Southern-influenced accent doesn't stop until you are above I-70, in the center of those states.
Also, I've never been to Texas, but I find it hard to imagine that the Southern accent excludes South Texas.
The reason I placed the accent line where I did in the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio is because:
Illinois: In places such as Mt. Vernon and Carbondale, as various smaller towns, I didn't sense that much of a southern accent. If it was there, it was a faint southern accent. I did, however, notice the accent south of the I-57/I-24 merge. North of that, not so much.
With Missouri, even Kansas (eastern portion), I've heard southern accents farther north, up to around I-70, but they aren't in the majority (say, no more than 20% of the people I spoke with).
Indiana: I did notice the accent a little farter north in this state than Illinois, as shown on the map, but it wasn't that pronounced, if at all, beyond thirty or forty miles north of Louisville.
Ohio: I didn't notice the southern accent in the Cincinnati area, beyond a few individuals on the Ohio side, and a minority population on the Kentucky side. Only in southeastern Ohio did I sense a majority southern speaking population, and that was a very mild southern accent.
^kazoopilot - That region of South Texas is very Latin dominated. You would hear more Spanglish than anything.
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