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I don't think the accent will ever die out with Southern Black Americans.
Well I can say among urban Southern Blacks, it is softening a bit and as rural areas continue to depopulate, you may see a noticeable shift 50 years from now.
Born and raised deep south and have been told many times I have no southern accent but say southern words. My mom has a real heavy accent tho but dad was a yankee transplant
As someone from Chicago, it seems to depend a lot on which part of the South you're in.
In larger cities like Houston and New Orleans? Gone among younger people; they just have typical American accents. In rural Alabama and Mississippi, though, even the young kids have Southern accents, as thick as their parents' if not thicker.
To a degree, that also reflects my experience in the Chicago area: in the city itself and the inner suburbs, the kids mostly don't have the stereotypical "da Bears" brogue (though apparently mine is really noticeable to people from other parts of the country), but when you get far enough into the outer suburbs and especially rural northern Illinois and Wisconsin, you hear it more in the younger generation.
I could definitely see it in 50 or 100 years where the cities are where the standard American international speech that gets exported around the world is spoken, but the rural dialects are more on the verge of becoming different languages.
As someone from Chicago, it seems to depend a lot on which part of the South you're in.
In larger cities like Houston and New Orleans? Gone among younger people; they just have typical American accents. In rural Alabama and Mississippi, though, even the young kids have Southern accents, as thick as their parents' if not thicker.
To a degree, that also reflects my experience in the Chicago area: in the city itself and the inner suburbs, the kids mostly don't have the stereotypical "da Bears" brogue (though apparently mine is really noticeable to people from other parts of the country), but when you get far enough into the outer suburbs and especially rural northern Illinois and Wisconsin, you hear it more in the younger generation.
I could definitely see it in 50 or 100 years where the cities are where the standard American international speech that gets exported around the world is spoken, but the rural dialects are more on the verge of becoming different languages.
The reason you don't hear it among many young White Chicagoans is that many of them are transplants. It is truly rare to find a child of natives anymore.
That and lots of young White natives are taking on Black patterns of speech. I don't mean wiggers either. I mean I hear a lot more glide deletion, and Southern vowels among White young people who have contact with Blacks. This lessens the harsh nasality of many young Chicagoans.
Not so related but I have noticed some Chicagoans starting to sound MORE Northern but in the direction of Wisconsin. I find this odd.
As in California vowel shift? I don't think so at all. That isn't heard really anywhere outside of the West. It is strictly a Western trait and I believe it evolved long ago.
More talking about intonation, like up speak. A lot of young people across the US kinda sound like Valley girls.
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