Our accents. (Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke: moving, high school, live)

[vasinger]

Have you ever noticed that we're losing it?

It doesn't matter whether its Tidewater, or Shenandoah Valley. Virginians don't sound the same today.

Listen to older people from Richmond or Norfolk, or other parts of the state. They sound terribly different than most young people in Virginia do.

I know some older people from Northern Virginia who actually sound like Virginians ! Thats the way people in Northern Virginia used to sound anyway.

I wonder if in the coming years with all the immigration we're having, that our distinctive Virginia accents will be Gone With The Wind.

[seanpecor]

Some of it is immigration and some of it is television exposing kids to other accents. I remember watching a documentary on accents, and during one segment, they discussed how the midwestern accent is heavily influencing the American, thanks to most TV personalities adopting that accent while taking speech classes etc. Also, teachers have a strong influence on the accents of children moving through public school.

The same thing is happening in Vermont. An old Vermonter accent is a very distinct accent; it's beautiful although much different than the old Virginian accent, which I also enjoy hearing. Oh well, that's progress for ya.

Sean

[vasinger]

I've heard that about TV also. But listening to TV doesn't really change someone's accent. Its interacting with people who speak a different way, that changes it. We are natural born imitators. We speak with the intonations and inflections of the the people we're around.

So I think immigration is the main culprit. Is it wrong for people out of state to move to Virginia? Of course, not ! But somehow, it does melt the natural and distinctive local dialects they had here.

But it seems the southern accents are the most affected. Northerners seem to never lose their northern accents when they move South.

[seanpecor]

If a child today grows up watching Dora, Mr Rogers, Big Bird, SpongeBob or what have you, daily, then it is bound to have an effect on the accent they themselves develop as they mature. Not a major impact, but an appreciable impact. Furthermore a child will have eight to ten teachers from K to 8th grade, so the impact of one specific teachers' accent on a child is less significant than, say, 75 years ago when a single teacher would be teaching a child from the age of 6 until they finished school. Then that teacher would have a substantial impact, nearly as significant as the child's family. But unlike 75 years ago, when the teacher was most likely from the same region, today the eight to ten teachers are bound to be from an assortment of states and would have an assortment of accents. Each teacher's accent would influence the accent of the child, effectively moderating the accent that the child would otherwise have adopted if exposed only to those with Virginian accents.

The thing about the Virginian accent is that it evolves, much the same way a Vermonter accent evolved. I suppose if this were 1900 we'd be lamenting the loss of the proper Virginian accent the elders' remembered from the 1820s

Another thing is that I'm learning there are/were several distinct accents and dialects in use in Virginia. One of them is Appalachian English, distinct in certain ways from American English found northeast of the Shenandoah Valley. One really distinctive different between, say, multi-generation native rural Roanoke area folks and similar folks in Richmond, in the way they say Roanoke. The way the "oa" is spoken by long time natives in Roanoke is really unique and basically impossible for me to even mimic, I can't even describe it except to say it's slightly guttural in a pleasant way.

Sean

[Stonecoldharbours]

Maybe this is evolution at its best? Hee hee, I sorta of have a southern accent but I also have that yankee accent and another one I Have is simliar to mass, I love it! I love accents and think they are soooo cool!

[dullnboring]

People in every part of the U.S. are losing their accents, some consciously, others unconsciously. Go to Boston and talk to people in their fifties who have lived there their entire lives and 80% of them will have the famous Boston accent to varying degrees. Then go into a high school classroom, and mabye 25% of the kids born and raised in Boston will have that same accent. It's a trend I've noticed all over the country. The younger you go, the less likely you are to hear an accent. Accents are dying from Massachusetts to Georgia to Minnesota due to globalization, increased mobility (people moving so frequently, they don't have times to pick up an accent) and stereotypes (i.e. a lot of people don't like the baggage that comes with a Southern/Brooklyn/Fargo accent so they consciously try to lose it).

[vasinger]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

People in every part of the U.S. are losing their accents, some consciously, others unconsciously. Go to Boston and talk to people in their fifties who have lived there their entire lives and 80% of them will have the famous Boston accent to varying degrees. Then go into a high school classroom, and mabye 25% of the kids born and raised in Boston will have that same accent. It's a trend I've noticed all over the country. The younger you go, the less likely you are to hear an accent. Accents are dying from Massachusetts to Georgia to Minnesota due to globalization, increased mobility (people moving so frequently, they don't have times to pick up an accent) and stereotypes (i.e. a lot of people don't like the baggage that comes with a Southern/Brooklyn/Fargo accent so they consciously try to lose it).

Theres no such thing as a Non-Accent. So basically, you're saying that everyone is adopting the flat midwestern accent that we hear on TV.

I think its awful. I would rather have regional flavor.

And I've always thought the southern accents in general were a mark of refinement- especially in Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah where it was heavily influenced by the upper crust London speech of the 18th Century.

[dullnboring]

Originally Posted by monumentfloyd

Theres no such thing as a Non-Accent. So basically, you're saying that everyone is adopting the flat midwestern accent that we hear on TV.

Yes. Of course everyone has an accent of some sort, but this "standard" way of speaking that is not particular to any region of the country which is preferred and widespread amongst news anchors, is sweeping across the country and generally the way more and more people are speaking regardless of whether or not they live in an area that traditionally has had a distinct accent.

[vasinger]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

Yes. Of course everyone has an accent of some sort, but this "standard" way of speaking that is not particular to any region of the country which is preferred and widespread amongst news anchors, is sweeping across the country and generally the way more and more people are speaking regardless of whether or not they live in an area that traditionally has had a distinct accent.

Yes, it is. Its a dialect that comes from California and parts of the midwest. They called it the Kansas-California dialect.

It is a dialect, a very bland and unappealing one at that.

[SmerkyGrl]

Originally Posted by monumentfloyd

Yes, it is. Its a dialect that comes from California and parts of the midwest. They called it the Kansas-California dialect.

It is a dialect, a very bland and unappealing one at that.

Eh well then teach your kids to have your accent! To each their own

Personally, I neither appreciate the change of accents nor do I resist. Change is a part of life. But food for thought: I'm Chinese from a very strict, traditional, proudly ethno-centric family. Imagine the reaction of my parents when I started telling people English was my primary language and my "language of preference". Ohes teh noes! The horror! They learned to deal though :P