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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wnewberry22
If you want to isolate your STRONG accents go to rural, poorer areas with low high grad rates. These areas have the lowest number of migration, immigration, or mobility. The economic status of the area acts as a non-natural isogloss (spelling) barriers the accent from moving. Thats why the accent in southern Appalachia is so thick...people don't leave or move in...they just live and die in the area. My parents in southwest Virginia would NEVER IMAGINE leaving the comforting confines of coal country. Likewise...no one that doesn't have family from the area ever visits...there the accent just doesn't dilute much.
Again, thats the reason the areas with lower incomes have the thickest accents, i.e., mississippi delta, southern appalachia, african-american concentrations in most southern cities, central alabama, and north-central florida.
One other thing I'll add (and this is only specific to appalachia because it's where I grew up) is that locals in the small towns are VERY UNWELCOMING to outsiders. It you move into southwest VA from east ky, western nc, southern wv ,or east tn...thats fine and dandy. But if for some reason someone from the north moves in people become very a little weary. I can reacall when I was younger I had a literature teacher that was from Maryland and naturally she spoke with some other accent that didn't sound disctinctly southern. I thought that was the "proper" way to prounce the letter "I" was like, "ah" and the teacher accosted all of us into pronouncing it like "eye." When I went home and showed this to my mother she said that I was, "trying to get above my raising." Now granted this may be a fairly isolated incident but it does demonstrate a distaste in change in the area, I believe.
I passed through Southwest Virginia. We camped at a KOA near Wytheville, I must say Virginia in general was one of the most beautiful states we passed through! I'm sure many people visit western VA, WV, and the Appalachian region as a whole for it's beautiful scenery, hiking, camping, fishing, white-water rafting and maybe to experience some of that 'country culture.' Aren't like Dollywood and Pigeon Forge some of the top tourist attractions in the country?
But yes, communities there are very isolated. Didn't really get to stop in many hillbilly towns, but the accent in eastern TN and western VA is one of the strongest of all the 16 states I went through cross-country, along with rural Mississippi where in the towns everyone has a thick accent.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,054,732 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mancat100
First of all I like southern accents, so please don't take any negativity out of my post. That being said, I generally find that country people in the north talk with the more bland, general American accent (at least the country people in eastern PA, NJ and NY). Whereas the southern country accent really is the epitome of the southern accent. The southern city people barely have any accent at all unless you really listen for it.
I think that's true. In many northern and western states rural folk sound just like city folk. Maybe the 'country accent' is just talking a bit slower, using a bit more slangy language, rather than actually being another accent.
I believe it that in the South rural folk do often tend to actually have stronger southern accents.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,054,732 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mancat100
Regarding the original question, don't most people basically talk very much like their parents? I would think, generally, that most young southerners would have an accent because the people who taught them to talk, their parents, have the accent.
Not really. I don't talk at all like my parents (who are from another country), although I did when I was really young. Your environment/peers have a stronger influence after you start school.
I passed through Southwest Virginia. We camped at a KOA near Wytheville, I must say Virginia in general was one of the most beautiful states we passed through! I'm sure many people visit western VA, WV, and the Appalachian region as a whole for it's beautiful scenery, hiking, camping, fishing, white-water rafting and maybe to experience some of that 'country culture.' Aren't like Dollywood and Pigeon Forge some of the top tourist attractions in the country?
But yes, communities there are very isolated. Didn't really get to stop in many hillbilly towns, but the accent in eastern TN and western VA is one of the strongest of all the 16 states I went through cross-country, along with rural Mississippi where in the towns everyone has a thick accent.
Not everyone; especially the young people nowadays. A lot of people would be surprised to find that in even the tiniest, slow-as-molasses, one-horse town in the Deep South, there might be some people who's accents aren't thick at all.
Can you name a couple examples of each version? Maybe that would help.
Name them how? I'm not sure what you're asking...I usually have to hear it to recognize the difference, but I know a southern accent from country talk when I hear it.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,054,732 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nairobi
Not everyone; especially the young people nowadays. A lot of people would be surprised to find that in even the tiniest, slow-as-molasses, one-horse town in the Deep South, there might be some people who's accents aren't thick at all.
That's sad. Actually I have very little real experience of Mississippi. We drove from New Orleans to Memphis through the state, only stopped once at a Sonic's in some tiny town, no idea which one, and the girl serving, she was probably about 17-18, had a strong southern accent. She was white, btw. Most blacks in MS tend to have the strong accents anyway, same with TN.
Regarding the original question, don't most people basically talk very much like their parents? I would think, generally, that most young southerners would have an accent because the people who taught them to talk, their parents, have the accent.
This. I grew up in New Orleans and am the ultimate city kid, but a lot of my speech patterns when I was younger were derived from my mother and father, from Texas and Mississippi, respectively. Then I went to a prep school and started talking with more of an "educated" New Orleans accent. I've been told by Southerners from outside of New Orleans that I have a neutral or "educated" sound, but when I talk to one of my friends, who grew up in SW Chicago, I think even somebody who spoke British English would be able to tell the difference. I actually haven't left the New Orleans area in over a year due to an injury that limits my travel and I can hear my New Orleans speech patterns getting thicker. TV, radio, and youtube can only affect a person so much; by nature we pick up on the habits of those around us.
Name them how? I'm not sure what you're asking...I usually have to hear it to recognize the difference, but I know a southern accent from country talk when I hear it.
I meant can you name famous people who would be good examples of each to help illustrate the differences.
Many people about in their late teens/early twenties in Southern Maryland have noticeable accents. I don't meet many younger kids so I don't know about them.
You can hear 50 year olds with tidewater accents all the way up to the PA border, in younger generations the accent is mostly confined to Annapolis and south.
In my area of Alabama, it seems like most of the kids in Mobile don't have much of an accent. It's the same way in Daphne and Fairhope. However, once you go north into the towns like Bay Minette and Atmore, the accents get MUCH thicker.
It's the same way in the FL panhandle. I don't really hear much Southern accent in Pensacola, but just slightly north of the city in Cantonment and Molino it gets really thick.
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I'm sure many people visit western VA, WV, and the Appalachian region as a whole for it's beautiful scenery, hiking, camping, fishing, white-water rafting and maybe to experience some of that 'country culture.' Aren't like Dollywood and Pigeon Forge some of the top tourist attractions in the country?
