Accents in Birmingham

[bhamguy]

Originally Posted by White Wine

I don't know man. The only places in B'ham where southern accents are less common (though I wouldn't say uncommon) would be Southside, Crestwood, and Forest Hills / Highland Park area. Other than that.........you will hear a drawl more often than not. Over the mountain, even among wealthy people in Mountain Brook, there is generally a pretty strong southern accent. It's not the same as the redneck, NASCAR driver accent I alluded to earlier. It is more genteel and less harsh. But it's obviously in more middle class and working class communities the accent is also pretty strong.

B'ham doesn't have nearly as many non-southern transplants as cities like Atlanta or Charlotte to balance out the accents. When I was growing up in the city, anyone without a southern accent was definitely identified as not being from the area. I know, because my mother is not from Alabama so she would get that kind of question all of the time (and still does).

I can agree with some of this, undoubtedly. The people in Mountain Brook, with the southern accents, are usually older and more pleasant to hear, vs the "twang." The same can be said about Vestavia Hills; both cities sounding like old money Buckhead-Atlanta. The younger people in those places generally have much less of a southern accent. That NASCAR-accent mentioned, heard on the south end of town in Hoover, 280, Homewood, etc, are usually from people from other parts moving there. I name these places, since they grew faster with transplants from other places, outside the South. Of course, you will hear the southern accent (even from a few older natives), but the lack of a strong southern accent is more prevalent. This is just my take on it, anyway.

[White Wine]

Originally Posted by bhamguy

I can agree with some of this, undoubtedly. The people in Mountain Brook, with the southern accents, are usually older and more pleasant to hear, vs the "twang." The same can be said about Vestavia Hills; both cities sounding like old money Buckhead-Atlanta. The younger people in those places generally have much less of a southern accent. That NASCAR-accent mentioned, heard on the south end of town in Hoover, 280, Homewood, etc, are usually from people from other parts moving there. I name these places, since they grew faster with transplants from other places, outside the South. Of course, you will hear the southern accent (even from a few older natives), but the lack of a strong southern accent is more prevalent. This is just my take on it, anyway.

Age may be a better indicator of who has the accent or not than race, income, or location within the metro area.

[Taajsgpm]

Originally Posted by Tourian

They vary.

I like them all , very romantic sounding to me

[dijkstra]

I missed this thread when it first started.

I actually did a research paper on American dialects a few years ago. I can say that some people in this thread definitely have some misconceptions about the current state of "accents" or dialects.

It is true that the so called "Rhett and Scarlett" deep south accent (sometimes referred to as the "Southern Plantation Accent") that is often used in TV and movies as if it is the norm has been rapidly disappearing. It is difficult to find someone with that particular southern accent and if you do, they are usually older and in the area South of Montgomery.

The common Southern accent is still very prevalent, even right in the middle of Birmingham. It is so common and anyone that has lived here for a number of years, they don't pay much attention to it so it seems as if it almost doesn't exist. Anyone that transplants from the North and lives here for several years picks some of the accent up. When they go back North to visit, they often get comments about their accent. Now with that said, the accent isn't as twangy as it used to be but it's basic sound or "drawl' is still there. Basically the accent is still very prevalent throughout the South but softer.

To me what is most interesting is the Northern City Vowel Shift accent. It is actually diverging and becoming stronger and more widespread. For an idea of how it sounds, think about Boston and Chicago accents......a car is a "cah" and a dog is a "dahhg" for example. Recent studies show that this accent is actually spreading and the pronunciation is becoming more strong. Some words have gotten so misconstrued by it, it is difficult for someone who doesn't regularly hear the dialect to understand what is being said at times.

So my point is, it simply is not true that all the accents across the US are disappearing. Some variants are disappearing, some are weakening but then again some are strengthening and spreading.

On a side note, I found one aspect to be kind of funny. Men outside of the South love to make fun of guys with Southern accents but what they don't realize is the women often love to hear it. So while the guys are cracking jokes, the guy with the Southern accent doesn't have to put any effort into finding an ice breaker to strike up a conversation with the ladies. It is sort of like the Australian accent thing with women.....they come up to you and just want to have a conversation so they can hear your accent.

It is actually pretty interesting if you look into it and it was extremely easy to put together a fairly lengthy research paper on the topic.

[Southlander]

Very interesting, dijkstra. I love learning about accents and dialects.

That "twang" in Birmingham is very possibly coming from transplants from places like Fort Payne, Gadsden, Decatur, and some Huntsville, where migration from the mountains of Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina was quite common 70 to 50 years ago (think families moving here to work on TVA dams and in the developing industries).

So MANY of my 32-year-old son's Decatur classmates are living in working in Birmingham now...lots more jobs for college graduates there than in Decatur.