Do Texas natives consider Texas the South or Midwest (Houston: high school, oil)

[ATX Homeboy]

I agree. Personally, Texas is just Texas. Geographically fits into the Southwest much better than the South. I was just pointing out the fact that many people in Texas Identify Texas in different terms.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by ATX Homeboy

I agree. Personally, Texas is just Texas. Geographically fits into the Southwest much better than the South. I was just pointing out the fact that many people in Texas Identify Texas in different terms.

I agree with the first part (as most Texans will!), but geographically, it is about as "South" as one can get! LOL (which is probably why it is classified in the U.S Census Bureau definition as "West South Central"...along with Oklahoma, Arksansas and Louisiana).

If a survey were ever done which gave "Texas" as a choice as to primary identity? Then Texas would win hands down, I'm sure.

If between South and Southwest? That is tougher simply because "Southwest" can mean "western South" or "southern West". and these are two different "Southwests"

In this realm though, the former designation ("western South) is not at at all exclusive from the South itself. It simply denotes a seperate sub-region. So in that regard, the state can be both Southern and Southwestern.

When the choice however, is between South, West, Midwest or Northeast (yeah, right! LOL), then the two major studies I have seen on it show the decided majority of Texans to primarily identify with the South.

But again, it is all opinion, as there is no "right" answer to a question that has been debated forever and seems to keep rising from the dead!

[Fullback32]

Plus our accents are different. I can tell a Texan from a southerner the minute the start speaking.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Fullback32

Plus our accents are different. I can tell a Texan from a southerner the minute the start speaking.

While I can appreciate your point, there is no such thing as a single Southern accent. Just many sub-dialects of what is broadly known as "Southern American English." And the vast majority of Texas falls within that classification.

[ATX Homeboy]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

There is no such thing as a single Southern accent. Just many sub-dialects of what is broadly known as "Southern American English." And the vast majority of Texas falls within that classification.

Yeah, I have to agree with you on the whole accent thing.

What freaks me out is people from different areas of Texas and their accents. I'm from Austin and most people I have met tell me that I sound like I'm from NOLA, but I've met men/women from Dallas with the closest "Southern" sounding accents in Texas and they live 200 miles north while Houstonians probably have a more distinctive Texan drawl. Don't even get me started on the people down in San Antone.

[Back40]

I am new here and have only posted once before, but am a native Texan and I know this subject can get hot. I also think Texas is a Southern state. Texas reb has really made some good points that I never even thought about before.

I sure don't see how East Texas, which is where I am from, can at even all be considered western.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by ATX Homeboy

Yeah, I have to agree with you on the whole accent thing.

What freaks me out is people from different areas of Texas and their accents. I'm from Austin and most people I have met tell me that I sound like I'm from NOLA, but I've met men/women from Dallas with the closest "Southern" sounding accents in Texas and they live 200 miles north while Houstonians probably have a more distinctive Texan drawl. Don't even get me started on the people down in San Antone.

LOL I enjoyed reading that post, ATX...and its good points. Yeah, just as there are many sub-dialects of a "Southern accent"....if we go down even further under the linguistic microscope, there are also many sub-varities of a "Texas accent". There was a great article a while back in Texas Monthly magazine which covered a lot of it. Also, here are a few links you (or anyone else interested in "Texas Tawk") might like to look over:

The most basic explanation of aTexas accent is that it’s a Southern accent with a twist,” said Professor Bailey, who has determined that the twang is not only spreading but also changing. “It’s the twist that we’re interested in.” The broadly defined “Texas accent” began to form, Bailey explained, when two populations merged here in the mid-nineteenth century. Settlers who migrated from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi brought with them what would later become the Lower South Dialect (its drawl left an imprint on East Texas), while settlers from Tennessee and Kentucky brought with them the South Midland Dialect (its twang had a greater influence in West Texas). Added to the mix of Anglo settlers from the Deep South and Appalachia who began talking to each other was an established Spanish-speaking population and an influx of Mexican, German, and Czech immigrants. “What distinguishes a Texas accent the most is the confluence of its influences,” said Bailey.

Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Texan . Drawl | PBS

Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Texan | PBS

[Fullback32]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

While I can appreciate your point, there is no such thing as a single Southern accent. Just many sub-dialects of what is broadly known as "Southern American English." And the vast majority of Texas falls within that classification.

Yeah, I know that...but you know what I mean!

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Back40

I am new here and have only posted once before, but am a native Texan and I know this subject can get hot. I also think Texas is a Southern state. Texas reb has really made some good points that I never even thought about before.

I sure don't see how East Texas, which is where I am from, can at even all be considered western.

I'm from East Texas, too (see my post upthread), but the part that I'm from and the part down near the South Louisiana border are pretty different. I really had no problem distinguishing my part of East Texas from the South; like I said, if wishing could have made it so, I would have been happy to consider Texas Southern, but self-honesty wouldn't let me do it.

[Spade]

If there is anything Midwestern at all about Texas. It is the far Northern panhandle of the state. I think you can just a little bit of a sense of the Midwest from that area. Keep in mind that there are two different Midwests. Great Plains Midwest and Great Lakes Midwest. Amarillo, Dalhart, Texline, Pampa and more are more like the Great Plains Midwest than the Southeast and Southwest to an extent. However, I may be stretching that a bit. Natives from that area can come and correct me at any time.

I've also heard that there are some Midwestern characteristics in DFW as well but not a Midwestern state. Nobody in Texas considers themselves as deep South. But most do consider themselves Southerners and just about all of them consider themselves Texans above all.