Largest city/metro where the southern accent is still dominant (movies, title)
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I see. Well I live here and I disagree as I very rarely encounter Southern accents but YMMV.
I've been living here for almost 4 weeks, and I hear it all the time, from radio, The News, when I'm out and about, at work. There are a lot of transplants here (me being one of them) but most of the people that I hear, especially outside of work, have Southern accents.
People always think that they don't have an accent of their city lacks a accent. Fact is, everyone has an accent. You are going to sound different to someone.
If you think Charlotte sounds different from its surrounding doesn't mean Charlotte doesn't have an accent, it means Charlotte's accent is distinct from from its surroundings.
There is no textbook on this, but from personal interactions I agree with KodeBlue.
I think on here people like to equate Southern with being rural/ country. They think it's a bad thing so they post on here that Atlanta and Charlotte don't have Southern accents.
Embrace your Southern culture people. It's a regional experience not an insult.
I've been living here for almost 4 weeks, and I hear it all the time, from radio, The News, when I'm out and about, at work. There are a lot of transplants here (me being one of them) but most of the people that I hear, especially outside of work, have Southern accents.
Being from a Bos-Wash corridor city with its own distinct accent and a newcomer to Charlotte, your eyes and ears are very much prone to pick up all the differences between your old city and your new one so I definitely believe you. I'm a native Carolinian and Charlotte is like my second home so to me, Charlotteans just sound "regular" to my ears lol.
Being from a Bos-Wash corridor city with its own distinct accent and a newcomer to Charlotte, your eyes and ears are very much prone to pick up all the differences between your old city and your new one so I definitely believe you. I'm a native Carolinian and Charlotte is like my second home so to me, Charlotteans just sound "regular" to my ears lol.
I'm not familiar with Charlotte as I've only been to the airport, but I find that the major cities the Bos-Wash corridor have much stronger accents than other major US cities. I find that Dallas, Denver, and LA, all sound more or less the same for example. On the other hand Boston to me really stands out. It's possible that KodeBlue is simply hearing the general American accent that dominates major cities outside of the northeast?
People always think that they don't have an accent of their city lacks a accent. Fact is, everyone has an accent. You are going to sound different to someone.
If you think Charlotte sounds different from its surrounding doesn't mean Charlotte doesn't have an accent, it means Charlotte's accent is distinct from from its surroundings.
There is no textbook on this, but from personal interactions I agree with KodeBlue.
I think on here people like to equate Southern with being rural/ country. They think it's a bad thing so they post on here that Atlanta and Charlotte don't have Southern accents.
Embrace your Southern culture people. It's a regional experience not an insult.
To me all black accents vary every few 100 miles but not each variation is non-southern. If the metro is large enough I can here multiple variations within that one metro.
To me there are multiple black NY accents that do not sound southern at all with the exception being it sounds similar to one of the black NOLA variant.
I don't hear much of any similarities between BLACK NY accents and New Orleans Black accents. Like I never listen to Master P and thought to myself "MAN HE SOUNDS LIKE JAY-Z". LOL
Like if we look at this video here, the general Black accent in New Orleans is the uptown accent that Brian Anderson has and the downtown accent that Arkesha Baquet has. Than you have people of mostly Creole descent in New Orleans that have their own accent that ironically sounds like a mixture of the general White New Orleans accent and the Black New Orleans accent. Wayne Baquet is clearly Creole and you can hear the difference in his accent compared to Arkesha and Brian.
Than you have Alvin and Melissa who are white who IMO is the New Orleans accent that sounds the closest to Northeast accents. I don't hear it with Black New Orleans but I hear it with White New Orleans. Which makes sense considering Acadians originally came from French Canada and New England before many migrated to South Louisiana.
Black New Orleans accent IMO is a older southern accent with a "Caribbean" influence. And I'm saying in the context of history. Considering New Orleans was the biggest slave market throughout America history, it retained a lot of it's earlier Americanized African dialect compared to other descendants of Enslaved people.
I think the Gullah-Geeche is another example of that who have a much stronger dialect than Black New Orleans but has that accent that many would confuse with other dialects found throughout the Caribbean. But from what I've researched listening to audio of former slaves, they generally sound closer to Black New Orleans or Gullah-Geechee no matter what state they were in throughout the south. It's my theory that there became more variety in Black accents during the great migration and when Black people started assimilating more into the dominant White society. Just my opinion.
I'm not familiar with Charlotte as I've only been to the airport, but I find that the major cities the Bos-Wash corridor have much stronger accents than other major US cities. I find that Dallas, Denver, and LA, all sound more or less the same for example. On the other hand Boston to me really stands out. It's possible that KodeBlue is simply hearing the general American accent that dominates major cities outside of the northeast?
Maybe but I haven't known anyone to confuse that with a Southern accent.
Sure understood. My point wasn’t to say that Atlanta was the most southern, or had the most southern accents. Just disagreeing with a poster who claimed Atlanta wasn’t southern “at all”. I still don’t think people would confuse it for “the north”.
I guess my point is “Southern” is an umbrella term that covers a broad and diverse region. Food-wise, that means there are variances based on localized specialities. Louisiana country cooking will differ in important ways from Georgia country cooking. Though some staples (chicken, biscuits, field peas, okra, sweet tea) will be familiar.
But yes, New Orleans, as the French cosmopolitan metropolis of an agrarian society, does strike many as being unSouthern. But that’s only if you think the rest of the South is Mayberry. But that’s simplistic obviously.
New Orleans is located in the south geographically but things like food, customs, religion, and accent are distinctly non-southern. Jackson, MS natives typically have a strong southern accent.
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