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I listened to both guys. It was hard for me to tell they had southern accents at times; more so for Jimmy Carter. Like in his presidential campaign the only time he sounded southern was how he pronounced his last word in his speech, "proud." The South Carolina senator's accent sounded like a softened "Fog Horn Leghorn" (only character I know sounding like that) accent, also with no detectable twang. (No offence intended for either gentleman btw.)
One thing that surprises now me is how I usually hear some amount of twang in most parts of the Carolinas.
While in Florida I met some guys from Jacksonville that had almost the exact same southern accents (with twang?) that I'm accustomed to hearing in NC and SC. Is it possible that added twang might not be just regional, but popular among some individuals, perhaps fans of country music?
In the northern areas of the Upper Midwest and portions of Canada they tend to say out, about, and house in a particular way. The u sound in those words ends up sounding more like a w sound.
In the northern areas of the Upper Midwest and portions of Canada they tend to say out, about, and house in a particular way. The u sound in those words ends up sounding more like a w sound.
I think I know what you are talking about...
Canadians except individuals with a strong American influence don't pronounce words like "out" and "about" like "owt" and "abowt." The "ou" sound is never "ow." (except individuals with a strong American influence )
Probably 75-90% of English Canadians pronounce the "ou" as a strange dipthong. To type it out, the word "about" is probably pronounced like this:
"AB-AH-WooT" said in two syllables "AB" the first and "AH-WooT" the second.
(the capital letters signifying more highly emphasized sounds, lower case for soft sounds)
What it sounds like to a native speaker is a combination of the sounds, or even a made-up in between sound of "oo" as in "scoop" and "ow" as in "cow."
*The stereotype that we say "oot" and "aboot" is generally incorrect, though I've heard stories of some Canadians in certain areas actually do speak that way.
I remember as a kid confusing some of the American kids I met on vacation as to how I pronounced those words. Funny enough, most English Canadians, at least children (including myself, back then) don't notice that Americans pronounce "out" like "owt" while watching a movie from California or tv show from NYC.
Perhaps their "ow" sound is too soft for our ears to detect.
But we can always pick out a southern "out" as it often comes out as "Aa-OWt."
I would say you're onto something when you say tone and rythm. That I think is sort of the main differences in the Southern accents. Most Southern dialects are very close in pronunciation.
Its the tone and pitch of the speaker that sets them apart.
In Tidewater Virginia and down thru Charleston- we almost have an English lilt to our speech. Which sounds snobbier to folks in Alabama or Tennessee. Yet it still Southern.... I think its that old plantation speech that was made popular in Gone With The Wind- even though technically that was set in the Georgia Piedmont region, they would have been influenced more by the coastal speech of the South.
I notice that people in BC sound like they are ending their sentences on a question, where as people in Ontario don't sound that way.
I've heard the term "cadence" to describe a prefered pattern or rhythm of speech delivery, but I picked "tone and rhythm" in case no one had heard of "cadence."
And that right there could be the main reason northerners have a hard time distinguishing the different southern accents. Perhaps southerners pay a lot more attention to tone and pitch of their own voice than we do.
Could you define "lilt?" I don't quite understand what it means.
I think I know what your talking about, some southern accents sound a bit nasal while others no nasal sounds whatsoever, like comparing Reba McEntire to that senator from South Carolina.
BC people end their sentences in questions? Oh, you meant tone of voice. That's something I wouldn't pick up without listening for it because I'm from the Toronto area and a large portion of the population has some international accent, so all I tend to notice is if someone doesn't have to struggle with pronounciation.
I still don't know how to vote, but I remember some of my favorite sounding southern celebrities:
- "Deputy Enos Straight" from 'Dukes of Hazzard'
- "Cooter Davenport" the mechanic from 'Dukes of Hazzard'
- Lee Ann Womack
- Deanna Carter
- Reba McEntire
- George Strait
- "Wade," "Jake" and "Bobby Ray" from 'Sweet Home Alabama'
(I'm not good with the real names of celebrities )
Canadians except individuals with a strong American influence don't pronounce words like "out" and "about" like "owt" and "abowt." The "ou" sound is never "ow." (except individuals with a strong American influence )
Probably 75-90% of English Canadians pronounce the "ou" as a strange dipthong. To type it out, the word "about" is probably pronounced like this:
"AB-AH-WooT" said in two syllables "AB" the first and "AH-WooT" the second.
(the capital letters signifying more highly emphasized sounds, lower case for soft sounds)
What it sounds like to a native speaker is a combination of the sounds, or even a made-up in between sound of "oo" as in "scoop" and "ow" as in "cow."
*The stereotype that we say "oot" and "aboot" is generally incorrect, though I've heard stories of some Canadians in certain areas actually do speak that way.
I remember as a kid confusing some of the American kids I met on vacation as to how I pronounced those words. Funny enough, most English Canadians, at least children (including myself, back then) don't notice that Americans pronounce "out" like "owt" while watching a movie from California or tv show from NYC.
Perhaps their "ow" sound is too soft for our ears to detect.
But we can always pick out a southern "out" as it often comes out as "Aa-OWt."
Yes, I think it is more of a subtle thing. However, I think it is magnified by the northern cities shift accent in the US, and does not affect the Canadian areas as much.
Yes, I think it is more of a subtle thing. However, I think it is magnified by the northern cities shift accent in the US, and does not affect the Canadian areas as much.
I think I'd like to hear that. I don't think I've heard it.
Is it only for Americans with the Northern Cities Shift and who live close to our border, towards northern Michigan or Minnesota?
I've heard Northern Cities Shift accents in southeast Michigan, northern Ohio and western NY and have met others from Illinois and Wisconsin with that accent.
I listened to both guys. It was hard for me to tell they had southern accents at times; more so for Jimmy Carter. Like in his presidential campaign the only time he sounded southern was how he pronounced his last word in his speech, "proud." The South Carolina senator's accent sounded like a softened "Fog Horn Leghorn" (only character I know sounding like that) accent, also with no detectable twang. (No offence intended for either gentleman btw.)
One thing that surprises now me is how I usually hear some amount of twang in most parts of the Carolinas.
While in Florida I met some guys from Jacksonville that had almost the exact same southern accents (with twang?) that I'm accustomed to hearing in NC and SC. Is it possible that added twang might not be just regional, but popular among some individuals, perhaps fans of country music?
Well, it's like we were saying, there are a wide variety of accents in the south. I wouldn't say that the drawl is "less southern" than the twang.
The mountains and hills, where people speak with the twang, were settled mostly by Scots-Irish. For all practical purposes, they are the people who invented country music and bluegrass. There isn't much black influence, because they had no need for slaves up in the hills.
The flat coastal plain and the coast, where the slow drawl is more common, were settled mostly by French, English, Germans, and Welsh. Most of that area was 75% African back then, so there's a huge African influence that set their speech apart from the upland areas.
From there, you can follow migration patterns west. People moved from the hills of the western Carolinas, toward the hills of north Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. People moved from the fertile cotton land of the eastern Carolinas, toward the same type of land in south Alabama, north Florida, the Mississippi Delta, east Texas, etc.
Today, though, people move around so much that it's hard to tell. Here on the NC coast, I meet plenty of people from western NC with that twang. So, this information is more historical than contemporary.
I've heard the term "cadence" to describe a prefered pattern or rhythm of speech delivery, but I picked "tone and rhythm" in case no one had heard of "cadence."
And that right there could be the main reason northerners have a hard time distinguishing the different southern accents. Perhaps southerners pay a lot more attention to tone and pitch of their own voice than we do.
Could you define "lilt?" I don't quite understand what it means.
I think I know what your talking about, some southern accents sound a bit nasal while others no nasal sounds whatsoever, like comparing Reba McEntire to that senator from South Carolina.
BC people end their sentences in questions? Oh, you meant tone of voice. That's something I wouldn't pick up without listening for it because I'm from the Toronto area and a large portion of the population has some international accent, so all I tend to notice is if someone doesn't have to struggle with pronounciation.
Yes lilt is really the tone of voice or the rise and fall in pitch. Reba McEntire is more example of a twangier southern accent (althought Ive heard even more so than hers). Where she emphasies a certain rhythm in her words. In South Carolina Senator his lilt is different- he emphasises and rests his pitch differently...
Of course everyone has a different speaking voice- so that makes it a little more complicated too. You could have 2 speakers from the exact same region- they wont sound exactly the same because they both have different voices- yet the similarities are enough so that you can identify them from the same area.
Well, it's like we were saying, there are a wide variety of accents in the south. I wouldn't say that the drawl is "less southern" than the twang.
The mountains and hills, where people speak with the twang, were settled mostly by Scots-Irish. For all practical purposes, they are the people who invented country music and bluegrass. There isn't much black influence, because they had no need for slaves up in the hills.
The flat coastal plain and the coast, where the slow drawl is more common, were settled mostly by French, English, Germans, and Welsh. Most of that area was 75% African back then, so there's a huge African influence that set their speech apart from the upland areas.
From there, you can follow migration patterns west. People moved from the hills of the western Carolinas, toward the hills of north Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. People moved from the fertile cotton land of the eastern Carolinas, toward the same type of land in south Alabama, north Florida, the Mississippi Delta, east Texas, etc.
Today, though, people move around so much that it's hard to tell. Here on the NC coast, I meet plenty of people from western NC with that twang. So, this information is more historical than contemporary.
To me -its the twang that sounds less southern. The twangier southern accents seem to have more in common with the midwest and even northeastern dialects than the classic southern drawls.
Maybe its because its more associated with the "plain folk"
Well, it's like we were saying, there are a wide variety of accents in the south. I wouldn't say that the drawl is "less southern" than the twang.
Today, though, people move around so much that it's hard to tell. Here on the NC coast, I meet plenty of people from western NC with that twang. So, this information is more historical than contemporary.
I believe I have heard drawls without twang that it'd almost an understatement to say simply they sound very southern. Accents that are very thick and slow from residents of rural areas or small towns of the eastern and coastal Carolinas. However I have not heard those accents anywhere else, and never on tv or in the movies.
(I might be mistaken as I'm going on pure memory of how it sounded from my vacations years ago and over the years my ears have grown more accustomed to southern pronounciations.)
That would make a lot of sense as I did not really hear one dominant accent in places like the Myrtle Beach SC area or around Wilmington NC. Charleston and some small towns were a bit different but it makes sense that lately a lot of people are from a lot of other places in the more popular or populated areas.
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