How far west into Texas does the southern accent extend? (Houston: transplants, professionals)

[CamaroGuy]

Texans tend to have a deeper drawl than Southeners.

[catman]

I'd say the Southern accent stops at about Dallas, being mostly in East Texas, and even there it's generally less intense than Louisiana, etc.

[TXTwizter]

Well it stops at the Louisiana/Arkansas/Oklahoma border, then it transforms to Spanglish with a southern drawl!!!!

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Here is the thing though, TexDav. You seem to be proceeding from the premise that the Deep South states you mention are the standard of what is a "Southern accent."

They aren't. What is spoken there (and Alabama and South Carolina vary widely between one another, in fact) are just variations of the whole larger picture.

A mountaineer eastern Tenneessean will sound much more like a West Texas small town feller, than he will someone from South Alabama.

As a child, I felt the "mountain folk" of extreme N. Georgia, western North Carolina, and Eastern Tennessee sounded quite "shrill". The pitch of the accent didn't seem to be quite as deep as what I noticed when I traveled to south Georgia. Then again, the accent of the Piedmont, from Georgia up into North Carolina, seemed the least stereotypical "southern" of them all, even though it is definitely southern.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by catman

I'd say the Southern accent stops at about Dallas, being mostly in East Texas, and even there it's generally less intense than Louisiana, etc.

Then how is it that, I, a Georgian, felt like I was back in the "south" when I stopped in restaurants and stores in Midland, only to hear the people around me speaking with what I perceived to be a southern accent? We had been traveling to home in Georgia from my wife's family located in California. I did not perceive southern speech in California or Arizona, and I began to notice perhaps some southern traces in southwest New Mexico, around places like Demming and Lordsburg, but they weren't southern. Granted, when I visited the Carlsbad area of southeast New Mexico six years ago, a number of the people had noticeable southern qualities in their speech.

Driving through El Paso, it was definitely not southern, considering the overwhelming Mestizo population living in the area. However, by the time I got to Van Horn and Pecos, I started hearing bits of southern speech, though I wouldn't necessarily say that these areas were fully southern in speech, based on my observations. It wasn't until around the Odessa/Midland area that people sounded southern. By the time you got to Abilene, they all sounded southern. Thus, I don't get why people argue that southern speech stops at Dallas or Fort Worth. That's not true, in my opinion. If anywhere, it'd be just west of Odessa, with a bit making itself into extreme southeast New Mexico.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Scraper Enthusiast

Then how is it that, I, a Georgian, felt like I was back in the "south" when I stopped in restaurants and stores in Midland, only to hear the people around me speaking with what I perceived to be a southern accent? We had been traveling to home in Georgia from my wife's family located in California. I did not perceive southern speech in California or Arizona, and I began to notice perhaps some southern traces in southwest New Mexico, around places like Demming and Lordsburg, but they weren't southern. Granted, when I visited the Carlsbad area of southeast New Mexico six years ago, a number of the people had noticeable southern qualities in their speech.

Driving through El Paso, it was definitely not southern, considering the overwhelming Mestizo population living in the area. However, by the time I got to Van Horn and Pecos, I started hearing bits of southern speech, though I wouldn't necessarily say that these areas were fully southern in speech, based on my observations. It wasn't until around the Odessa/Midland area that people sounded southern. By the time you got to Abilene, they all sounded southern. Thus, I don't get why people argue that southern speech stops at Dallas or Fort Worth. That's not true, in my opinion. If anywhere, it'd be just west of Odessa, with a bit making itself into extreme southeast New Mexico.

Once again, Scraper, your comments and observation are right on the mark. The misconceptions, IMO, really just come down to a tendency (perhaps with much justification, given Hollywood influence) to think of a Southern accent being only that stereotypical "plantation" variety. Thus, when it is (correctly) noted that most Texans don't sound that way, then the erroneous conclusion drawn is that "Texas speech" is not Southern speech. But as you say (as did several others) there are many varieties of Southern American English, and that most often associated with Texas (the West Texas twang) is one of many of them. In depth linguistic studies consistently affirm this.

Here is a little map which shows the major dialect regions of the country and which bears out your own observations as concerns the El Paso area and the small part of SE New Mexico.

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atla...ap/NatMap2.GIF

Just another note in passing, related to your earlier post about "Mountain South" speech. I have a very good friend who is originally from North Alabama, but moved to Mississippi quite a few years ago when she got married. Anyway, she told me that after relocating, one of her co-workers (she went to work for the school system) asked where she was from. When my friend jokingly rejoined by asking "What makes you think I am not from here?", the other replied along the lines of that her speech just didn't mark her as a native of that part of Mississippi!

Anyway, when she said she was originally from North Alabama, the other lady nodded "I was thinking myself that you were either from North Alabama...or Texas." LOL

Point being, of course, as concerns this topic, that there are speech differences all over the South, even among states so close as Mississippi and Alabama. But they are all properly classified as Southern American English.

[WestTx]

I agree with the dialect map shown above. Although there are many regional accents in Texas, most of which are much different than those in the deep south; the southern twang is lost somewhere in the desert between Odessa and El Paso. El Paso is very different from the rest of the state.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by WestTx

I agree with the dialect map shown above. Although there are many regional accents in Texas, most of which are much different than those in the deep south; the southern twang is lost somewhere in the desert between Odessa and El Paso. El Paso is very different from the rest of the state.

Good point! Another area indicated on both that map and the earlier one posted showing the general extents of "Southern American English" is the exclusion of the upper Panhandle. The heavy hispanic influence -- historic and becoming ever larger -- is at least a large part of why the trans-pecos, and goodly parts of South Texas don't really fit into being classified as part of the Southern American English map. As concerns the panhandle, there was a heavy settlement from the lower midwest in that area, and it too is rightfully considered "odd man out" in terms of speech.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Once again, Scraper, your comments and observation are right on the mark. The misconceptions, IMO, really just come down to a tendency (perhaps with much justification, given Hollywood influence) to think of a Southern accent being only that stereotypical "plantation" variety. Thus, when it is (correctly) noted that most Texans don't sound that way, then the erroneous conclusion drawn is that "Texas speech" is not Southern speech. But as you say (as did several others) there are many varieties of Southern American English, and that most often associated with Texas (the West Texas twang) is one of many of them. In depth linguistic studies consistently affirm this.

Here is a little map which shows the major dialect regions of the country and which bears out your own observations as concerns the El Paso area and the small part of SE New Mexico.

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atla...ap/NatMap2.GIF

Just another note in passing, related to your earlier post about "Mountain South" speech. I have a very good friend who is originally from North Alabama, but moved to Mississippi quite a few years ago when she got married. Anyway, she told me that after relocating, one of her co-workers (she went to work for the school system) asked where she was from. When my friend jokingly rejoined by asking "What makes you think I am not from here?", the other replied along the lines of that her speech just didn't mark her as a native of that part of Mississippi!

Anyway, when she said she was originally from North Alabama, the other lady nodded "I was thinking myself that you were either from North Alabama...or Texas." LOL

Point being, of course, as concerns this topic, that there are speech differences all over the South, even among states so close as Mississippi and Alabama. But they are all properly classified as Southern American English.

Thank you, Reb.I also like the phonetic map. It seems to match my observations very well.Another area I thought had more of a southern speech pattern than it actually does is southern Illinois. I recently traveled in that area as well, and beyond the areas within twenty or so miles from the Ohio River, most people did not have a southern accent. I'd classify it as "Midland". For example, a fair percentage of the people in Metropolis, IL had a southern accent, but by the time I got to Marion, IL, not too far away (40 miles away), you didn't really hear the southern accent.

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

But...do your in-laws sound like folks from south Alabama or Mississippi? Or south Louisiana?

A west Texas accent is more akin to east Tennessee than either is to either. And both differ from coastal Georgia. Which sounds different from Virginia.

My inlaws are from East TN and they don't sound anything like any west Texas accent I have heard, to my ear there is a distinct difference. Of course like I said it is what I hear. I can tell the difference between the 2. Strangely enough my husband and fil both from TN have absolutely no accent at all. While my mil, sil, bil and their kids have very deep southern accents.