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To be precise, the change has come since IBM and other companies brought in thousands of “not-from-around-here” employees in the mid-1960s.
“There’s no question as to when the change happened, based on the birthdates of the speakers,” NCSU linguistics professor Robin Dodsworth said. “You went within the space of two or three generations from being an unambiguously Southern-speaking city to an unambiguously non-Southern-speaking city.”
If anything, people in Raleigh are sounding more Eastern than Southern, linguistics experts say. While characteristic accents linger in the rural South, urban centers along the East Coast talk more like each other.
“Raleigh has some features that other cities along the Eastern Seaboard share, and Philadelphia has, historically, been one of these,” Dodsworth said in response to a question about Raleigh’s linguistic brethren. “Also D.C., Richmond, even Charleston, to some extent.”
The research, called the Raleigh study, has been going on for five years and will continue. Its finding that the Raleigh accent is disappearing heads immediately onto touchy ground – the changes that natives have seen and sometimes mourned during the decades of explosive growth that started in about 1965.
My wife and I were born outside of NC and moved here 6 years ago. Our 3 year old son, who was born here, does not say "smell", he says "smay-ell". A product of his NC daycare teachers ;-)
I was always fascinated by the different accents around here, and how they vary from county to county. Growing up, I loved hearing the warm, lilting accent of the older ladies in church and at school. Even when they were angry with you, it didn't sound so bad!
I hope it's a long time before we lose all the different accents we have around here. Lenoir, Harnett, Sampson, Duplin... they have some wonderful southern drawls. Love listening to the hoi-toiders on the coast. I hate to think in a few generations this will all be lost.
Yep, knew guy from Raleigh (25 yo) , when I lived in South Florida, a year ago; he spoke exactly same way as locals (and in Fort Lauderdale people speak Northeastern way).
My wife and I were born outside of NC and moved here 6 years ago. Our 3 year old son, who was born here, does not say "smell", he says "smay-ell". A product of his NC daycare teachers ;-)
Mine's doing this too, and it drives me CRAZY. His grandparents (my in-laws) have thick southern accents, so I'm pretty sure that's where it's coming from.
My wife was born here, but she doesn't have an accent, either.
I was born in Durham, and I work for a company with offices all over the northeast. They always comment on how I have no accent whatsoever. I'm not sure why...influences of TV maybe?
I can't speak for everyone, but I think a lot of people growing up here did not consider their accent an asset. The absence of any accent on tv (unless it was an attempt to characterize someone), along with contact with others outside the state, made you sort of stick out like a sore thumb. And to those that weren't from the south, if you had a southern accent, as soon as you started to speak, you lost IQ points.
So trying to fit in with your college friends, or coworkers, you sort of revised your speech a little. To some southerners I don't have an accent at all (until I get angry). To my friends from NJ, they totally hear it.
I agree w/ Ponychick. I just heard a story on NPR about changes in the Philly accent (some parts of it fading, other parts getting stronger) and they made the comment that regional accents are getting stronger except in the South where it is fading due to dumb hick stereotyping in popular culture. Kids might wanna grow up to be Rocky or somebody, but nobody wants to be Goober.
I don't have a strong southern accent but I have a subtle one if you know to listen for it and similarly I can hear the subtle southern accent in a lot of voices around me.
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