![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.datalounge.com/images/dl-default-og.png)
It's peculiar how they often cut 2 syllable words into one. Example "roy-al" becomes "rohl"
they also often elongate 1 syllable words into two. Example "bed" becomes "be-yead"
they pronounce a lot of "e" letters as "i" Example: "tension" becomes "tinsion"
what gives?
by Anonymous | reply 63 | January 17, 2020 8:47 PM |
Insurance and lawyer are two words I always notice among southers. . IN surance and LAW yer.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | January 14, 2020 4:09 AM |
"Aah have an aah-lash in mah aah"
by Anonymous | reply 2 | January 14, 2020 4:09 AM |
R1, how else is “lawyer” pronounced?
by Anonymous | reply 3 | January 14, 2020 4:11 AM |
My dad always pronounced "you" as "ye". And our 3 syllable last name was chopped to sound like "arnt-un".
by Anonymous | reply 4 | January 14, 2020 4:16 AM |
Because a lot of English folks went to the south. English actors gave an easier time doing the southern accent because it's cadence is closer.
Not like Scandi influenced Minnesota. I wonder if that's how English from 200 years ago sounded in England. Like when Japanese who immigrated from Japan to America 100 years ago speak a very old fashioned Japanese. It's a time capsule in a way.
Sometimes Australian sounds almost like Texan with how the words lean into each other. I wonder what culture influenced the hard R at the end of American words. It would be so nice to be God and rewind time and watch everything all go down.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | January 14, 2020 4:20 AM |
If ye don't like how we do things heee'n 'murica, ye ken git out!
by Anonymous | reply 6 | January 14, 2020 4:20 AM |
Do southerners tend to pronounce "battery" as though it has only two syllables? Or is it just the one I keep hearing it from?
by Anonymous | reply 7 | January 14, 2020 4:21 AM |
I think most Amreicans pronounce lawyer more like "loy-er" r3. Southerners say the first part just like the word "law."
by Anonymous | reply 8 | January 14, 2020 4:22 AM |
There's a difference between the Southern states Some have that Blanche Deveroux sing talk and others sound like a month full of mumble got er done.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | January 14, 2020 4:23 AM |
R8, why wouldn’t “law” be pronounced “law”?
by Anonymous | reply 10 | January 14, 2020 4:25 AM |
I don't know why it is that way, I was just making an observation. But I guess that means it's Northerners who have the "interesting" pronunciation, since "law" seems more intuitive.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | January 14, 2020 4:29 AM |
You ought to take a linguistics class, OP. You could learn all about different regional dialects, their origin language and why/how certain words are pronounced so differently, yet spelled the same. If you're actually interested and not just asking to shit all over one group of people, it's a fascinating subject of study.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | January 14, 2020 4:35 AM |
Not OP, but care to share any of your insights, R12?
by Anonymous | reply 13 | January 14, 2020 4:39 AM |
People think that Southerners speak more slowly because they draw out their vowel sounds. In studies it has been proven that New Yorkers speak just as slowly, but stretch out different sounds.
To the Texan sounding like Australian idea above, when I was a travel agent and was dealing with people all over the world, Australians asked me if I was a New Zealander in America and the New Zealanders asked me if I was an Australian in America.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | January 14, 2020 4:40 AM |
But Northerners do speak faster than Southerners. It’s exhausting to listen to them.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | January 14, 2020 4:52 AM |
And Jersey people
And Bronx people
And Minnesotans
I'm fascinated by different accents
by Anonymous | reply 17 | January 14, 2020 4:55 AM |
Everything I know about regional dialects I learned from The Golden Girls.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | January 14, 2020 4:56 AM |
I was always perplexed as to why Sicilian immigrant Sofia Petrillo spoke like a Borscht Belt comedian. Perhaps she learned English at the Condord?
by Anonymous | reply 19 | January 14, 2020 12:17 PM |
The Southern accent is closer to what British English sounded like in the 17th century than what it appears to sound like now.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | January 14, 2020 12:41 PM |
There is no "THE" southern accent. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of different accents throughout the south.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | January 14, 2020 12:58 PM |
Just like the British accent has a royal version, so does the Southern accent- the Charleston version is royal.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | January 14, 2020 1:11 PM |
Another division thread...pathetic.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | January 14, 2020 2:07 PM |
I fully admit, as a southern Californian where we technically have no accent (I think the Pacific Northwest is the cleanest American accent, but we are close), I LOVE all other accents. When I travel to the south, I could just listen to whoever I encounter talk forever. Ditto Boston. Ditto New Jersey.
I might have a fetish.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | January 14, 2020 2:08 PM |
Anybody who thinks they have no accent is WRONG. All people have an accent.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | January 14, 2020 2:10 PM |
Not sure what ya mean, OP.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 28 | January 15, 2020 10:09 AM |
"Are you blond?" means "Are you blind?"
by Anonymous | reply 29 | January 15, 2020 10:58 AM |
[quote]I was always perplexed as to why Sicilian immigrant Sofia Petrillo spoke like a Borscht Belt comedian. Perhaps she learned English at the Condord?
She probably lived in Brooklyn where the Jewish and Italian neighborhoods were close together and there was interaction creating a distinct "Brooklyn" accent.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | January 15, 2020 11:07 AM |
I grew up in the burbs in northern NJ close to NYC people always ask me if I'm from Denver or CA. I thought I sounded like everyone in my town.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | January 15, 2020 11:10 AM |
The Philly / South Jersey accent on a masculine guy is hot
by Anonymous | reply 32 | January 15, 2020 11:10 AM |
R25 I too like regional accents my mother grew up in Boston and never lost her accent, I also enjoy my partners southern accent which becomes more pronounced when we are in the Deep South.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | January 15, 2020 11:14 AM |
Oh I'm a yankee transplant in Georgia. People love my accent by the way.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | January 15, 2020 12:47 PM |
My late mother was a blue blooded Savannah steel magnolia who had a very elegant southern accent. She never met an "R" she could pronounce. In 1966 we went on vacation to England for 12 days. After hearing my mother speak many people wanted to know when she left Britain for the states because they just assumed she was British born and bred.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | January 15, 2020 1:23 PM |
I notice that in New England the R is either not pronounced, or it is sounded like a D. For example, Putter vs. Puddah or Puttah. Dart vs. Dot.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | January 15, 2020 1:30 PM |
My friends from South Carolina pronounce right as rat, night as nat and doll as dowel.
One of them made the joke, "Just show me on the dowel where he touched you". I had no idea what he was talking about.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | January 15, 2020 1:37 PM |
North Carolina: grits vs. gray-ettes. From a book on how to talk like you are from North Carolina. Wish I had kept it.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | January 15, 2020 1:42 PM |
OP is from Boston, right?....
by Anonymous | reply 39 | January 15, 2020 2:49 PM |
The only people who would call grits "gray-ettes" are some uneducated goober who lives in a trailer at the end of a dirt road with junk cars all over the yard. That's a stereotypical pronunciation you'll only find on some stupid TV show.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | January 15, 2020 4:32 PM |
[quote]some uneducated goober who lives in a trailer at the end of a dirt road with junk cars all over the yard.
Y’all call me?
by Anonymous | reply 41 | January 15, 2020 4:52 PM |
The only person I've ever heard say "gray-ettes" was Polly Holliday on Alice. And her accent on that show was so exaggerated as to be laughable.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | January 15, 2020 5:40 PM |
I’m not southern but I catch myself pronouncing “winter” as “winner” and “milk” as “melk” and “human” as “youman.”
by Anonymous | reply 43 | January 16, 2020 3:26 PM |
I think the southern accent has changed a lot. when I was in high school in the 60's a girl moved into our area on Long Island from OK. There was only 1 person in the entire school who could understand what she was saying. (there were 1,000 kids in the school) The girl that did understand her went with her to all her classes with her so she could translate for the teachers. It took 3 months before she could pronounce words clear enough for others to understand.
Their drawl doesn't seem as pronounced as it once was.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | January 16, 2020 3:43 PM |
It's interesting that "ya'll" has become ubiquitous all over the country. So it appears the southern dialect(s) have more influence than some give credit for.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | January 16, 2020 3:44 PM |
Greenville/Spartanburg SC airport used to be called the Jet-poet
by Anonymous | reply 46 | January 16, 2020 3:51 PM |
I've picked up on "him" morphing into "'eem" throughout various regions in the south, but more recently have noticed it as far north as southern Illinois, and parts of Indiana.
During the impeachment hearings, I even caught Gym Shoe Jordan use it several times. It must also be somewhat common in Ohio and Pennsylvania as well. Is this originally an authentic southern thing, or something else entirely?
by Anonymous | reply 47 | January 16, 2020 4:44 PM |
R44, Oklahoma is not the south. I guess high school didn’t take in your case...
by Anonymous | reply 48 | January 16, 2020 4:51 PM |
Remember how George W Bush used to pronounce "terror" as "terrrr"? And "Afghanistan" as "Iraq"?
by Anonymous | reply 49 | January 16, 2020 4:56 PM |
R48 I would be in agreement with you, however many Americans disagree whether or not it is to be officially considered the Midwest Plains, or the Southwest. I lean toward those both, yet linguistics state their dialect to be southern in many parts....I'm British, so I defer, yet I do NOT consider it "The South" either.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | January 16, 2020 4:56 PM |
There are different Southern accents depending on which state you're from my friends from Georgia and Texas sound different from my partner who's from Mississippi. Perhaps some of the southern DLers who are more knowledgeable can describe the differences.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | January 16, 2020 5:01 PM |
Many people not from the South (and some who are) confuse a southern accent with a country accent...
by Anonymous | reply 52 | January 16, 2020 5:05 PM |
R48 As a Southern Studies Minor, the first week of every course was spent defining which states we would accept as Southern for that course. The eleven states of the former Confederacy was a given, the debate was over West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The subject of the course usually decided which states were included. When the focus was on language Oklahoma was almost always included. Just listen to some famous Okies such as Reba, it is clear that she speaks with a Southern accent.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 53 | January 16, 2020 5:14 PM |
[quote] R44, Oklahoma is not the south. I guess high school didn’t take in your case...
You mean you couldn’t tell just by his writing?
by Anonymous | reply 54 | January 16, 2020 5:16 PM |
I took a very popular course taught by a husband and wife historian team which covered the accents of North Carolina. There are something like 23 and they all are discernible to me now. We had bad roads until after WWII so they persisted due to isolation.
The High Tiders out on the Outer Banks speak with an accent which sounds like a Scottish brogue. It’s disappearing.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 55 | January 16, 2020 6:08 PM |
I had to stop at an airport in North Carolina for a brief layover. I swear they weren't speaking English.
by Anonymous | reply 56 | January 16, 2020 7:54 PM |
Those who have mentioned above that current Southern American English probably sounds like what British English sounded like in the 1700s is spot on. I read that in some study somewhere once. Can't remember where. My husband grew up in West London and any time we're in the US everyone thinks he's Australian. Apparently many of the initial prisoners from England who were sent to Australia were from the area he grew up in. As for me, I grew up in Minnesota and while I don't get accused of having a MN accent much anymore, when my parents visit me in the UK, no one can understand where in the world they might be from. They are pure Cohen Brothers full-on MN accent. Love it.
by Anonymous | reply 57 | January 16, 2020 8:29 PM |
Oklahoma most certainly is "south", it's just not the "southeast". There are 3 southern sections to the USA. Southwest, South Central (Oklahoma is part of this region), and Southeast.
by Anonymous | reply 58 | January 16, 2020 8:56 PM |
[quote] There are different Southern accents depending on which state you're from
Actually there are different accents depending on what area of whichever state you're from. Here in Georgia there are more regional Georgia accents than I can count.
by Anonymous | reply 59 | January 16, 2020 8:59 PM |
We ain’t talk funny in Texas.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 60 | January 16, 2020 9:53 PM |
R38 the Charlotte accent makes me want to cry blood. It’s a special breed of awful.
“Speekon’ uh’ shooduhn, Mayn - ruhmaymbr thait da-yee way broke ay-oat thuh guh-urns?”
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 61 | January 16, 2020 10:14 PM |
R52/R53 Would you two deem 'eem as country, or truly Southern?
by Anonymous | reply 62 | January 17, 2020 1:09 AM |
R19 / R30 - my sainted Italian American (first generation) grandma lived most of her life in Brooklyn and said “Oy vey” about a hundred times a day. She also called everyone “doll” which I loved.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | January 17, 2020 8:47 PM |
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3TmqOorZ6csm%2BvzqZmraCimq6le5Fuam1qZWaDbr%2FOrquhnaKjsrO%2FjJqlnWWknbKqvoyipa2doprAtbXNoGSpqp%2Bjwq%2BvyJqroqeeqHqwsoywpqucow%3D%3D