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I know it's a general question because there are lots of southern accents, but people generally agree which accents sound southern and which do not. It got me wondering, you would expect the strongest to be in the deep south, but I don't think that's necessarily the case. The Appalachians, for example, are more untouched by modern America. Anyway, depending on demographic characteristics, i think the accent is most pronounced in the following areas:
Parts of the Ohio river valley, like southern OH and northwest KY
Older speakers in the Virginia Piedmont
Most of southern West Virginia
Most rural areas of the Appalachians from Virginia
Mountainous Tennessee such as the Great Smokey Mountains
most of Alabama and Mississippi
southern Oklahoma, central Texas
rural Arkansas and northern Louisiana
The accent seems to be weakest in certain parts of Texas like Houston and Dallas, Atlanta, much of North Carolina, northern and coastal Virginia. Of course many areas never had a strong southern accent to begin with, like far south Texas, New Orleans or Florida.
Anyway this is from someone who's never even been to America, so maybe those who know first hand can add?
Ah I can tell you've not been to America.
There are many dialects of what you call "the southern accent"
Having a career that is so far spanning 38 years, and having to talk heavily to every state in the US, I can sometimes tell where a person is from as soon as they speak.
Anyway on to the Southern thing. Some people have a drawl the real Southern drawl....some people have a good ol boy twang. If you seriously think the people in Southern Ohio and or KY , talk like say maybe a North Carolinian, you are mistaken. Totally different "accent".
Of all the people I've had to speak with on the phone and or met in person, the only place I really had a hard time understanding was Arkansas.
I've heard Southerners talk from all over the South but the one that stands out is this girl from Tennessee that I work with, strongest accent Ive ever heard.
It is hard to answer this because there is more that influences an accent that simply geography. For instance you can have two individuals of two different socio-economic groups from the exact same place and their accents can be completely different - in fact, with regards to the affluent, often they will have little or no accent despite being from a region.
Now, if you were to say; "Which accent is the most DISTINCTIVE?" that would be an entirely different question.
Certainly, Virginia has a very distinct accent. Texas is another one that is unmistakable. And we must not forget the tradiational Cajun accent of southern Louisiana which is probably the MOST distinct of them all.
North Louisiana people have strong southern accents.
I think about average on the strength of southern accents. Most are rhotic (they do pronounce their "r's") and lighter drawls and twangs. Since I live in BC where Barksdale AFB is located, I hear many kinds of accents around here esp. midwestern as well as southern. But then again since I seldom go far anymore, I'm used to the accents. If I were to come from another part of the country, it might be a shocker hearing the locals.
You still have these little old southern belle ladies although they are rapidly dying off. Many years ago, I heard some of the older ladies talk like they just stepped off the plantation, slowly and well thought out speech. Not real emotional type but intelligent. A lot of them went to some finishing school to learn how to talk proper southern. Sort of like in My Fair Lady when Audrey Hepburn loses her cockney accent and ways and gains refinement.
I have to disagree PeterRabbit. I found the people and accents much less pleasing in metro Atlanta than Columbia SC.
This really depends on what metro area/county you're in and to be honest here there are only 5 metro counties (Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, Clayton, and DeKalb). Some of the others (Henry for example) does have some country sounding folks but the more populated counties does have the pleasant sounding Southern accents. Do you agree or disagree?
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