Southern Accent (general, Spanish, years, America)

[Buckhead_Broker]

Southerners, of which I am a 12th generation one, speak a truer version of the Queen's English than other Americans. However, as we become a more homogenized culture, the beautiful Southern accent will ultimately be lost.

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by Buckhead_Broker

Southerners, of which I am a 12th generation one, speak a truer version of the Queen's English than other Americans. However, as we become a more homogenized culture, the beautiful Southern accent will ultimately be lost.

Yes, you are so right. My family (both sides) were pre-Revolutionary War settlers. I have researched the linguistics of my state, NC, since college . . . (I majored in English) . . . and it is amazing all the contradictory info you will find (especially tomes written by professors, LOL). My state has many different dialectic differences. Some of it is more "upper class" in origin than others . . .

One side of my family were Swiss who only intermarried w/ other Swiss and Germans from their arrival in the mid-1700s, until my g/parents married, merging a line of Scots w/ that Swiss line. On the Swiss side, the speech had very noticeable traces of German influence. This was not typical for our region - but made for an interesting variant!

Sadly, the lyrical speech of the South is eroding . . . my son is proud of his Southern accent but I wonder if the generation that follows him will grow up w/ much of that speech inflection . . . b/c where we live, 2/3 of the residents are newcomers. I would think ATL is very much the same!

I will drop my R's til the day I die, so some of us will still hold onto our speech patterns/dialect/enunciations . . . but no guarantees for 50 years from now, Buckhead.

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[Buckhead_Broker]

R's? What are those? Our daughter gets so irritated at me because I say skiin' or swimmin' or cookin'. I don't have much use for the letter "G" when it ends a word.

[BoydS]

Southern accent ... just what part of the south is your question refering to..? Areas of NC and SC have been mentioned, but I consider Louisiana as a southern state also. The French language is very pronounced in that state. When was the last time you had a conversation with a cajun..?

[texdav]

Everything I have read is that many wealthy europens settled in the south during early yeras of the united staes. palces like savannah and charleston as well as have large holdings in louisana. Some of the southern gentry accent can be traced to them.

[Bobilee]

Here is a map of Southern American speech from the Univ. of Penn


South Regional Map

[NOEM1226]

Originally Posted by BoydS

Southern accent ... just what part of the south is your question refering to..? Areas of NC and SC have been mentioned, but I consider Louisiana as a southern state also. The French language is very pronounced in that state. When was the last time you had a conversation with a cajun..?

agreed. I was raised in Arkansas,spent years in North Carolina(the outer banks) and visited Louisiana.
Although all of these places are "southern" the accents are nothing alike!

Even being raised by people with southern drawls, I had no idea what these other people were saying at times.

[BoydS]

Originally posted by Bobilee
Here is a map of Southern American speech from the Univ. of Penn


South Regional Map

IMHO that map means absolutely nothing. I'm would hope the university has a bit more definition of the southern language than that graphic display.

[Pikantari]

I have no idea, truthfully, but this thread is an interesting read. I do know that I came to Virginia from Maryland.

In Maryland, I did not consider myself to have any accent at all, but now here In Virginia, having been here since 1989, I think that I have picked up a bit of an accent. not as much as some living here, and not as much as what the folks from Carolina have, but nonetheless, when I get around my family, it is def there.

I know this has nothing to do with how we got it... but it has everything to do with how I got it!

I got it by moving to the area!

[David Alleyne]

Atlantans have a hybrid accent that still have some Southern in it. I don't have a drawl and I don't speak slow like the prototypical Southerner but I was born in the South so that would make it Southern. I say that my dialect is a mix of Southern, Midwestern, and Norhteastern because my parents come were born and grew up in those areas and their speech rubbed off on me. The Southern accent is still alive though.