The Texas Accent (Houston, Dallas, El Paso: live, corporate, rain)

[lepoisson]

I'm from North Carolina. People in this part of the South have a slow drawl accent. However, the Texas southern accent is quite different. It's not slow, but it has a sort of twang to it.

Get someone from Texas with an accent to say words like "right" or "tight". It almost sounds like they are saying "rat" or "tat". Get someone from North Carolina (or really the rest of the South) to say these words and they'll sound sort of like "riot" or "tayat".

Are there any other characteristics of the Texas accent you've noticed?

[lonestar2007]

I've noticed some people like to lay that 'twang' or whatever you want to call it, on pretty thick if they think someone's paying attention. I knew an old gal in a bar that liked to do this back when the yankees were coming in here pretty hard and heavy back in the eighties. They'd comment on her accent and then omg, there she'd go just drawling and twanging - awful sounds (about like what you described) coming out of her mouth, I just wanted to slap her, it sounded so horrible.

I come from a long line of Texans and I don't talk like that. Matter of fact, if my Mother had ever caught me talking like that when I was young, she'd have swatted me a good one on the behind. I use to think I didn't have an accent, but I've been told I do, but definitely not a pronounced twang.

[radiolibre99]

I don't have an accent either and neither do a lot of younger Texans. Texas accent to me actually sounds a bit higher pitched than the traditional southern accent. You can hear turn up a decibel when someone is beside themselves; such as "what in the hell".

[lepoisson]

For those of you in the DFW area, you can really hear the accent on 92.5FM when the Crazy Gun Dealer does his crazy commercials. But this might have something to do with what lonestar2007 said.

GW Bush also has a distinctive Texas accent.

[RustyRanchero]

When I was a kid traveling around anywhere outside of Texas they loved hearing me talk for some reason. That's when I knew my Texas accent could sway the women.

[DanielWayne]

There's more than one accent native to Tx. South Texas, El Paso, SE Texas (folks with Louisiana ancestry), etc. Then there is the accent that sounds a bit like someone from Kentucky.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I'm from North Carolina. People in this part of the South have a slow drawl accent. However, the Texas southern accent is quite different. It's not slow, but it has a sort of twang to it.

Get someone from Texas with an accent to say words like "right" or "tight". It almost sounds like they are saying "rat" or "tat". Get someone from North Carolina (or really the rest of the South) to say these words and they'll sound sort of like "riot" or "tayat".

Are there any other characteristics of the Texas accent you've noticed?

It depends on the part of Texas and the generation. My mother, born in 1932, had a Southern accent plus a twang that I can't quite explain. She did have a slow drawl (that my brother and I did not have) but with an added twang. I'm trying to think of a word...my name is two syllables but she made it three.

[KathrynAragon]

All I can tell you is that I moved from the southeast coast 25 years ago and stayed in touch with many of my friends. Over the years they have commented often about how I've picked up a "Texas accent."

When I was a corporate trainer and traveled around the US a lot, people would often comment on my southern or Texas accent.

Like I said, I am not originally from Texas but I am from the south. I understand what the OP is talking about. MANY people in Texas drawl out "light," "bright," "night," "right," and "tight," - words like that - with that long "a" sound the OP is describing. It was one of the first things I noticed when I moved here. I haven't picked that up but I do notice the difference in accents when I go back to Georgia and North Carolina from Texas. My husband is a native Texan and he doesn't seem to have a twangy accent, but he does that thing with those words. Personally, I like it. I think he sounds sexy - LOL.

People who think they have no accent are kidding themselves. Everyone has an accent. Mine doesn't bother me - in fact, I like it. But I know it's there.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

There's more than one accent native to Tx. South Texas, El Paso, SE Texas (folks with Louisiana ancestry), etc. Then there is the accent that sounds a bit like someone from Kentucky.

You beat me to it.

People in Dallas sound different than those in Houston.

[Redlionjr]

Texans have many different accents and if you think you don't have a accent then you probably haven't lived outside of Texas before. I never really notice my accent till I started talking to people from other states and they would tell me I sound funny.