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Yes, when you think about it, almost every black person in the United States who has prolonged ancestry on the continent came out of the south. When southern blacks relocated they tended to do it in mass waves and to where there were job opportunities. Upon arrival they were immediately sequestered and isolated in every way with the possible exception of their workplace. So speech patterns survived. This is probably the case to some degree even today.
However, R&B and particularly hip hop keep this style of speaking popular with it's slang and high energy and rhythm. And it has actually become popular in other cultures among young people.
I think this hits the nail on the head. Its the fairly uniform deep south culture bottleneck that most black Americans anywhere in the country are only very recently generationally removed from. It shows in more than just accent, it is also reflected in the southern protestant dominated religious affiliation and preaching style as well as in foods. (This has resulted in a bit of homogeneity and cultural narrow mindedness that can often cause them to mistake their southern traits for authentic ethnic traits). This differs from the much more geographically diverse origins and migratory history of white Americans.
Most pronounced among inner city, lower class and in areas with very large percentage black. In my experience it is less prominent among non inner city western state blacks.
I have come to think that the more segregated the black people are in a city, the more pronounced is the "blaccent". Keep in mind that there is diversity with the blaccents around the country, but they all(except maybe in NYC) are all rooted in the south. What I notice about Black Californians, is that there is more emphasizes on pronouncing their r's, whereas Black Chicagoans(even in the suburbs) leave the r out in some words. For example, car is pronounced as "cah" or "ca" among a lot of African Americans in the Chicago area. I have even read/heard from LA and NY blacks thinking Black Chicagoans have a strong southern twang or sounding "country" to be living in a northern city for decades now. I do think a big factor of it has to do with the fact that you can still find virtually all black neighborhoods or census tracts here. Even within Chicago, it was said that black people on the west side are a bit more "country" compared to south siders and blacks on the northside(Rogers Park, Uptown, Edgewater) may have less of a twang. African Americans who do not have a blaccent or its not strong tend to have grown up in communities that are 90%+ non-black. Speaking of my cousins who grew up in the far west suburbs, they do not sound like blacks who grew up on the south side or suburbs with a high percentage of African Americans.
I honestly don't think Southern cultural influence explains this. In the northeast you have many blacks with little to no familial ties to the South and yet they don't usually sound like your typical white northeasterner.
It sounds like what the OP is really asking is why blacks are less likely to sound like white people than other races. I think this is more accurately explained by genetics and that's an entirely different forum of discussion.
A refusal to assimilate to white Amerikkka, as it is called, pretty much. It is not only blacks that do this and it's not all blacks, although most of the people who do this are probably black. If you grew up during segregation and didn't receive a good education as a result, I think it is (or should be) excused. Most older blacks do talk a lot more "proper" if you will than younger ones do, though.
A refusal to assimilate to white Amerikkka, as it is called, pretty much. It is not only blacks that do this and it's not all blacks, although most of the people who do this are probably black. If you grew up during segregation and didn't receive a good education as a result, I think it is (or should be) excused. Most older blacks do talk a lot more "proper" if you will than younger ones do, though.
Thank God we live in such a free nation where a lack of formal education and a refusal to assimilate don't have to stand in the way of success and fulfillment. If I can rap or play ball I can potentially be far wealthier than the average American. Assimilate for what?
I honestly don't think Southern cultural influence explains this. In the northeast you have many blacks with little to no familial ties to the South and yet they don't usually sound like your typical white northeasterner.
It sounds like what the OP is really asking is why blacks are less likely to sound like white people than other races. I think this is more accurately explained by genetics and that's an entirely different forum of discussion.
LOL, there was actually a thread on this notion on City-data a few years ago. Its absurd and is easily falsifiable by simply traveling overseas.
Yeah, I didn't say it was hereditary. I said it was genetic; meaning that it's not only what you naturally get from your parents but also other influencing factors like environment or lifestyle. In other words, it's not as simple as saying that all people from/born and raised in ______ will sound the same. It's far more complex than that and ultimately comes down to the individual.
The central thesis of this thread is flawed. Many American-Born Latinos have accents. They just don’t have Spanish accents. There are definitely different regional Mexican-American accents, in the US.
While less common, there’s a certain clipped diction that many Asian-Americans share. Truthfully, the “blaccent” is more of a diction thing. There definitely isn’t a black accent. Black New Yorkers don’t sound like black people in Baltimore, who don’t sound like Black Chicagoans, who don’t sound like Black Clevelanders, who certainly don’t sound like Black Houstonians or Black Angelinos.
Truth be told, outside of the South, regional accents are stronger among the poor and working-class. Black people are just proportionately poor and working-class, in the United States.
I have come to think that the more segregated the black people are in a city, the more pronounced is the "blaccent". Keep in mind that there is diversity with the blaccents around the country, but they all(except maybe in NYC) are all rooted in the south. What I notice about Black Californians, is that there is more emphasizes on pronouncing their r's, whereas Black Chicagoans(even in the suburbs) leave the r out in some words. For example, car is pronounced as "cah" or "ca" among a lot of African Americans in the Chicago area. I have even read/heard from LA and NY blacks thinking Black Chicagoans have a strong southern twang or sounding "country" to be living in a northern city for decades now. I do think a big factor of it has to do with the fact that you can still find virtually all black neighborhoods or census tracts here. Even within Chicago, it was said that black people on the west side are a bit more "country" compared to south siders and blacks on the northside(Rogers Park, Uptown, Edgewater) may have less of a twang. African Americans who do not have a blaccent or its not strong tend to have grown up in communities that are 90%+ non-black. Speaking of my cousins who grew up in the far west suburbs, they do not sound like blacks who grew up on the south side or suburbs with a high percentage of African Americans.
But even white New Yorkers don't pronounce their r's! Ditto for Boston!
Uh....there's MANY generational Mexican Americans and Puerto Rican Americans with distinctive accents.
You can even find people impersonating a "Chicano" or "Nuyorican" accent on YouTube.
Also, it depends on the environment. Here in New England, people in general who live in affluent or suburban areas, tend to sound relatively similar to each other with minor differences.
The differences are usually more pronounced in ethnic enclaves where African Americans or Jamaican Americans are better able to preserve their natural Southern or Caribbean sounding accents. In such environments, there's little to no pressure to adjust or alter such accents because people can understand you perfectly fine in such circumstances.
Asian Americans outside of parts of California and Hawaii usually live in very close proximity with White Americans which explains why they usually don't have strong Asian accents after a generation because many got rid of their accents as a form of survival to avoid being viewed as perpetual foreigners. Things like the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese Internment Camps will do that to you.
It should be noted, too, that African Americans are one of the oldest ethnic groups in the U.S. alongside Native Americans and Scot-Irish/Anglo Americans in the South. Because of segregation, we were basically coerced into forming our own subculture and accent a very long time ago and this was amplified with Jim Crow laws as well.
Like I said before, though, this is pretty hyperbolized to begin with. This video is a sequel to a viral one on YouTube and these are regular black college students who talk similar to many black college students across the country. They obviously don't talk like stereotypical "Valley people"(which many people attribute as a so-called "white" accent) but they don't sound much different from other Americans either.
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