In what ways is Southern Missouri southern, and in what ways is it not?

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

The accent here sounds a lot like the accent/nasal twang of Buffalo, NY and Cleveland Ohio.

The farther out of St. Louis you go , the more you start hearing a slight southern twang

That's true, but it's slight. slight. Nothing compared to what you will hear in Virginia or Kentucky.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

The accent here sounds a lot like the accent/nasal twang of Buffalo, NY and Cleveland Ohio.

The farther out of St. Louis you go , the more you start hearing a slight southern twang

One of my best friends is from Cleveland, she sounds NOTHING like me or any of the STL expatriates here.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

One of my best friends is from Cleveland, she sounds NOTHING like me or any of the STL expatriates here.

I have a lot of friends from cleveland with absolutely no accents, but when you get to the outskirts of the city the accent becomes apparent. But almost al of Buffalo, NY has a mid-western nasal twang

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

The accent here sounds a lot like the accent/nasal twang of Buffalo, NY and Cleveland Ohio.

The farther out of St. Louis you go , the more you start hearing a slight southern twang

Actually, interesting you mention that. I know a woman who was born in Missouri(around Branson or Springfield area) and her accent sound just as southern as the persons where she currently lives, in metro Atlanta. Actually, I know some people who were born in Atlanta and who have less of a southern accent than she did.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Actually, interesting you mention that. I know a woman who was born in Missouri(around Branson or Springfield area) and her accent sound just as southern as the persons where she currently lives, in metro Atlanta. Actually, I know some people who were born in Atlanta and who have less of a southern accent than she did.

Some of my relatives in SE Mo have very heavy accents, more so than the average accent one hears in the area.

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Actually, interesting you mention that. I know a woman who was born in Missouri(around Branson or Springfield area) and her accent sound just as southern as the persons where she currently lives, in metro Atlanta. Actually, I know some people who were born in Atlanta and who have less of a southern accent than she did.

Regarding where one is born and how their accent may be of a certain 'flavour', I wonder how their parents talked? In other words, just because a person is born in such-and-such area, if their parents were from somewhere else, how would that affect the child's accent? Just curious...

[DinsdalePirahna]

Believe it our not, there are places in the Taconic and Catskill Mountains of NY were the people have the Southern Accent. Settled by the Scotch/Irish and really isolated by terrain and bad roads for a long time, they are kind of like Metropolitan Hillbillies. (there is even an area called Oniontown that puts almost any backwoods appalachian area to shame)

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Actually, interesting you mention that. I know a woman who was born in Missouri(around Branson or Springfield area) and her accent sound just as southern as the persons where she currently lives, in metro Atlanta. Actually, I know some people who were born in Atlanta and who have less of a southern accent than she did.

That isn't surprising considering how close by Arkansas is. But you will find just as many if not more natives that have nothing more than a twang or no accent at all. My dad is from Joplin..born and raised there and speaks with no accent. Atlanta is also a much more urban city than Springfield or Branson is....I know several people from Atlanta who don't speak with an accent. Not to mention, the people in Atlanta I've heard speak with a Southern accent speak with a Deep South accent. The accents I've heard around Springfield and Branson sound more hickish, similar to Kentucky, Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee. However there are many natives, many reasonably old, that don't speak with an accent. It's a mix of both Midwestern and Southern accents.