How far west into Texas does the southern accent extend? (single, American)

[Neutre]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Hey, if you want to go that far, Southern American English is nothing more than English as spoken in various counties in England/Scotland/Ireland, from which the Southerners came (and, indeed, linguistically some of the pronunciations can be traced back to specific counties). So the accents in the South aren't Southern, but English. This I learned not through linguistics directly (though I did study it a bit in college), but through my genealogical research. Sometimes those accents can be a clue, when you hit a brick wall in your research, as to where you should be looking to take up the scent again and perhaps bring it forward to the connection rather than working backwards.

Southern American English does share some characteristics with the accents of southern England, also Australian and Kiwi accents.
The most notable ones are the lowering of the /ei/ sound like in "mate" or "may " and the fronting of /ow/ such as in "so " and "road".
But one of the characteristics that set SAE apart is the so called "drawl" where the stressed short vowels acquire a certain glide. And this feature is not to be found in the speech of Southern England.

[WillysB]

I believe the southern accent extends as far as Vidor TX but not much further. Anything west of that is distinctly a Texas accent.

[Terri722]

Originally Posted by bellestaroftexas

trust me, i work with folks from Alabama and Mississippi-now they talk SOUTHERN. very different, VERY VERY different from talkin' Texan.

I have to agree here...I have always lived in Southeast Texas and
really don't think I have an accent...until I talk to someone from out
of state and get called on it...haha....but to me...the folks from
Alabama and Georgia have the ultimate Southern accents...without
a doubt...

[blueskies49]

Originally Posted by bellestaroftexas

i lived in far South Texas, and I NEVER EVER heard anything resembling Southern or Texan or anything with a twang. just mexican.

Well, okay, I'm confused now. I had a boss from Harlingen and he has one of the twangiest southern accents I've ever heard. Born and raised there.

Originally Posted by theSUBlime

It should also be noted that larger cities like Dallas and Houston tend to have neutral accent.

Yes, but the neutrality hasn't taken over in all areas of the city and suburbs yet. I personally know people raised in Garland and Mesquite with a definite southern accent.

Originally Posted by Terri722

I have to agree here...I have always lived in Southeast Texas and
really don't think I have an accent...until I talk to someone from out
of state and get called on it...haha....but to me...the folks from
Alabama and Georgia have the ultimate Southern accents...without
a doubt...

There's no such thing as an "ultimate" southern accent. People may think that because of Hollywood and "Gone With The Wind" but as has been said throughout this thread, there are variations of the southern accent throughout the South and Texas.

Maybe some of y'all don't have an ear for accents. West Texans pronounce words like "my" and "night" and "I" sounding as "ah" like other southerners and insert typically southern words and slang into their speech like "y'all" "fixin to" and so on. It certainly isn't northern or midwestern or western or pacific northwest or whatever.

[Nairobi]

to my family in chicago, all the cousins from texas and georgia sound exactly the same.

find someone from houston and someone from atlanta, i bet no one could tell who was from where. i certainly can't. all the time i meet people here in houston who i assume are from here until they tell me they're from mississippi.

the only completely distinct southern accent to me is the one from n'orleans.

[tstone]

Actually, you can put natives from any big Southern/Texas city in the room with people from the Midwest/West and no one would be able to tell where everyone is from. People from parts of the US that are not in the South sometimes don't understand this.

[Terri722]

Originally Posted by blueskies49

There's no such thing as an "ultimate" southern accent. People may think that because of Hollywood and "Gone With The Wind" but as has been said throughout this thread, there are variations of the southern accent throughout the South and Texas.

Maybe some of y'all don't have an ear for accents. West Texans pronounce words like "my" and "night" and "I" sounding as "ah" like other southerners and insert typically southern words and slang into their speech like "y'all" "fixin to" and so on. It certainly isn't northern or midwestern or western or pacific northwest or whatever.

I just must not have an ear for the locals then...like I said, I don't
even think I have one until someone mentions *how cute* it is...haha
As for the Alabama and Georgia twang...it's not because of any movie...
I have been there...a lot...and I can just hear a much more defined
*southerness* ....

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by tstone

Actually, you can put natives from any big Southern/Texas city in the room with people from the Midwest/West and no one would be able to tell where everyone is from. People from parts of the US that are not in the South sometimes don't understand this.

yeah, but i'm from texas and i can't tell the difference.

[blueskies49]

Originally Posted by tstone

Actually, you can put natives from any big Southern/Texas city in the room with people from the Midwest/West and no one would be able to tell where everyone is from. People from parts of the US that are not in the South sometimes don't understand this.

Sometimes it's the small ways that words or sounds are pronounced. Speaking of city people (not those with thicker country accents), there is a mix of people where I work. The native city Texans who don't sound like they have much of an accent pronounce words like "car", "and", "boat", "milk", etc., different from those from the Midwest or West or North. Those not from Texas or the South pronounce vowels a bit more nasally and with very short sounds.

But I do know someone from the southern portion of Illinois and they sound kinda southern. The southern tip of the border states near the South like Indiana, Illinois and Ohio have a little drawl to them.

[Neutre]

Originally Posted by blueskies49

But I do know someone from the southern portion of Illinois and they sound kinda southern. The southern tip of the border states near the South like Indiana, Illinois and Ohio have a little drawl to them.

I also noticed that.
I heard some people from southern Indiana and southern Illinois and they certainly had some drawl.