How far west into Texas does the southern accent extend? (Dallas: college, live in)

[Scraper Enthusiast]

How far west into Texas does that Southern accent extend. The reason I ask this is because a lot of people will argue that east Texas is southern, but that north central and west Texas is not. At least in speech patterns, I'd have to disagree. I've noticed people speaking with southern accents in Abilene, Midland, and Odessa. However, I didn't really notice it in El Paso, as it is primarily Mestizo over there.

So how far westward does the southern accent extend? Does it even extend into southeastern New Mexico?

[TexasHorseLady]

Texas has got MANY accents. Some of them may have a tinge of Southern, but not qualify really as a "Southern accent". Most West Texas accents don't qualify as Southern, in my opinion, and they're definitely different from East Texas accents, for example. Then there's the Central Texas folks who don't really sound like either. So as a Texan, my answer is, "Not far at all."

[GearJammerOne]

Ya....Texas Horse Lady is correct. I am from Abilene, which some consider to be west Texas while others say it is Central Texas. You don't generally find in West Texas the traditional southern accent of Georgia or Alabama. West Texas accent is unique in itself.
I would imagine that most outside of West Texas are not too familiar with our accents anyway because we pretty much stick with the philosophy that we only talk when something needs said anyway.

[tstone]

Southern accents are of different varieties, spread all over the state.

In the large metros you may go days without hearing it, even from the lifelong natives.

In far South Texas, forget it.

[NOTAM]

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

[NOTAM]

you got that right. i lived in far South Texas, and I NEVER EVER heard anything resembling Southern or Texan or anything with a twang. just mexican. and get this! those folks down there couldnt understand me cuz of my accent, and i'm talkin bout those who were down there and were bilingual (spoke English too!)
ah. it feels so good to be somewhere, where folks understand me, and i understand them, and we speak the same language too!

Originally Posted by tstone

Southern accents are of different varieties, spread all over the state.

In the large metros you may go days without hearing it, even from the lifelong natives.

In far South Texas, forget it.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

IMHO, pretty much all of Texas has a southern accent. Is it identical to the Deep South, absolutely not....but it is definitely southern (i.e. not Yankee as in the East, not nasally like the Midwest, not surfer dude or neutral like much of the West).

I was born and raised in Oklahoma and I find that generally people in Texas speak very similar.....(of course, I live in North Texas so that may be why....but I've been all over this great state and most folks tend to speak southern with the exception of cities that have predominant Mexican culture).

When I lived in the West, the people I worked with thought I was from Alabama the first time I spoke in front of them! I told them that I was an Okie/Texan (previously lived in Texas before I moved West) and that there was no way that my accent was as thick as an Alabaman.

[Alatex]

You don't generally find in West Texas the traditional southern accent of Georgia or Alabama

You know, the weird thing is that I've met only two people from Abilene (sat next to one on a plane last month, and the other grew up in Abilene but moved to Alabama a couple years ago to go to college), and either one of them could pass for an Alabamian easily. The college student works as a waitress at a restaurant that I go to regularly, and I had no idea she wasn't from Alabama until I mentioned to her that my brother had moved to TX.

I don't hear many "Southern accents" in Austin-San Antonio , however, and basically everyone that my cousin north of Dallas works with is a northern transplant.

[NOTAM]

i lived for many years in rural area right smack in between Ft Worth and Wichita Falls, and the accent there is much thicker, stronger, twangier than even Central Texas. it seems to dilute as you go south in Texas, and then disappear when ya get to Austin and parts south...in general.
another place i notice just as strong a Texas accent is East Texas, esp NE.

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

IMHO, pretty much all of Texas has a southern accent. Is it identical to the Deep South, absolutely not....but it is definitely southern (i.e. not Yankee as in the East, not nasally like the Midwest, not surfer dude or neutral like much of the West).

I was born and raised in Oklahoma and I find that generally people in Texas speak very similar.....(of course, I live in North Texas so that may be why....but I've been all over this great state and most folks tend to speak southern with the exception of cities that have predominant Mexican culture).

When I lived in the West, the people I worked with thought I was from Alabama the first time I spoke in front of them! I told them that I was an Okie/Texan (previously lived in Texas before I moved West) and that there was no way that my accent was as thick as an Alabaman.

[TexasHorseLady]

I've been working with a gentleman relocating to Central Texas from Georgia over the past few weeks. Trust me, I have NO difficulty differentiating between his accent and even the Deep East Texas (where I grew up) accent. Not even related to West Texas (which I can also distinguish), or Central Texas (where I currently live), or North Texas (where I lived for some years), or San Antonio (where my husband grew up) and further south.

Just because it's not Yankee or Midwest or West Coast doesn't mean that it's Southern.