Accent in Mobile vs. rest of Alabama (Birmingham, Huntsville: schools, living)

[magicman84]

This is something I've been curious about lately. Compared to others parts of Alabama, do natives of Mobile generally have a lighter/less noticeable southern accent due to being part of the Gulf Coast? I've known people from, say, Birmingham who definitely have rather noticeable accents and no one would be surprised to find they are from Alabama. I knew someone from Ocean Springs, MS (not too far from Mobile) who had really not southern accent to speak with. I would imagine about younger (30 and under people) in Mobile you get the "southern-lite" accent that can be found in the metro areas like Houston (where I live), Atlanta, Dallas, etc. Am I right here?

[lem1985]

Im 29 not from here but been living here for a year and a half. I am from Atlanta the actual city not the burbs and we have our own accent many cities in the south really have there own southern accent. I have family from here and they do have a lighter Alabama accent compared to the other areas of Alabama but there just isn't one actual southern accent unless your deep in a country of less 10,000(just a number thrown out there)

[Bayourat15]

Mobile is more Gulfcoast than affiliated with the state.

[WanderingImport]

I've had the opposite experience. Personally, I have found that there is a toned down southern accent in Birmingham and more of one in Mobile.

[PortCity]

In Mobile every now in then you will run into some one who has a rhetoric accent but the majority has a lite southern to non southern accent. Our mayor has a non rhetoric accent but it`s an old southern accent that is also rare in Mobile but I think the accent that our mayor has is more easier on the ear then the rhetoric accent. When I was attending school in Huntsville I had the opportunity to meet Alabamians from all over and the majority of Mobilians had a different southern accent than the rest.



This what you commonly hear in Mobile.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOzH4vYhTpA


The Mobile Carnival Association president has an old Mobile/Southern accent that is rare but when I hear it it drwas my attention.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g_ei2NNxNI

[magicman84]

Hmm, based on this video, it sounds like this Birmingham native wouldn't sound at all out of place in Mobile, no?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10ypHHaX6Tk

[WanderingImport]

I watched the first and last video posted. All individuals had SOME kind of southern accent. The guy in the first video had a toned down accent as well as the girl in the last video. The girl in the first video had a rather strong accent.

Disclaimer: It appears to me that all individuals obviously knew they were recording themselves, so they automatically toned down their respective accents. That was apparent to me.

Also.. who the HECK says SALmon and not SAMON?

Magicman.. I agree. The girl in your video would not sound at all out of place in Mobile. Yalls all around.

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by magicman84

Hmm, based on this video, it sounds like this Birmingham native wouldn't sound at all out of place in Mobile, no?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10ypHHaX6Tk

Not at all she would fit right in.The old guy in the second video has a more intiresting attention grabbing accent.Even though he is an old Mobilian that accent is rare these days.

[Nighteyes]

Let's be clear here. There are any number of "Southern accents", but there is only one "Mobile accent." It is clearly different than, and easily distinguishable from, the accents to the north, west and east.

I have been away from Mobile since 1988, so my examples are rather dated. The late Ollie Delchamps spoke with the Mobile accent, as did the former Mayor/Public Works Commissioner Bob Doyle. So did the late Homer Sessions. My late father-in-law had it, as do several of my wife's family members.

The "Mobile Accent" is quantitatively and qualitatively distinct - once you've heard it, and recognized it for what it was, you'll always remember it.

-- Nighteyes (Mobile resident 1959 - 1988)

[raj kapoor]

Funny........spent a lot of time down there through the years and have never picked up a city wide or regional accent. Southern to varying degrees, but we are in the south after all.
Language is a hobby of sorts for me, so I am more than a casual listener.

The migration of people all over the US is diluting regional accents considerably. One hears poorer white people who have attended predominantly black schools with a noticeable black note to their pronunciation. This is also true in reverse but only less so. My friends who are black have told me that even black strangers will comment if they sound a little too white. And this leads to the socio-economic impact. When traveling an area, the people at the drive-thru windows and other lower paying service jobs are not going to have the same accent as someone who is managing a business or doing a tour in a museum.

The point is that education, remember that; well it is the foundation upon which life experience will build one's accent. Some are considered good and some bad, but that is in error. All people have accents and all accents are good. They represent the substance of life. It is not the accent that matters, but the grammar. A twang does not offend so much as long as real words are spoken well. I understand pride in an accent of place but that has gone with a lot of other things. People are not isolated from each other substantially enough to maintain an authentic accent of place.

It is all fun if it interest you, but I wish more young people were taught the importance of how our words define who we are to others. "If you can't say what you mean, you can't mean what you say".