Somehow, Southern accents make anything sound more charming, and they’ve got a whole history behind them. The way people speak in New Orleans and rural Georgia has evolved over centuries and has been influenced by everyone, including early settlers and today’s TikTokers. Here’s a look at Southern speech and what makes it so unique.
So Many Sounds
Way back when the South was getting started, people from England, Ireland, and Scotland, as well as enslaved Africans, all brought their own twists to language. They created the early sounds of what we now call the Southern accent. Along with the words themselves, how they actually said them also stuck around.
Language Keeps on Changing
Margaret E.L. Renwick from the University of Georgia said that language change is a definite thing. The Southern accent has been changing from one generation to the next, and that means it’s still changing today. She added, “What it means to be Southern is changing for people, and that might mean that the way they project their Southerness is through speech change.”
It’s All in the Family
Kids today might not sound exactly like their grandparents, but they’re still picking up on family cues. Some of them might say “pocketbook” instead of “purse,” while others might add a Southern twang to their words. Either way, family has a huge influence on how young folks talk and use language.
Learning Southern in School
Schools also play a big role in changing how accents develop. Both teachers and classmates influence the way kids pronounce their words, usually without even realizing it. This early exposure is important in making regional characteristics part of young Southerners’ speech patterns.
Talking as a Teen
Renwick also said that how you talk can show who you want to hang with or not, and teens might change their accents to fit in with their crew or to stand out. She said, “Language is aspirational. Younger kids and teenagers will form ways of talking that are unique to their groups. If they don’t want to be a part of a particular group, they might signal that with their speech. A lot of how we talk is social.”
That Distinct Southern Sound
Renwick also said, “The Southern accent has been shown in studies to be the most perceptually salient regional U.S. accent.” This accent is one of the easiest to spot in the U.S. because it has a certain style that stands out. Either way, it’s clear that almost everyone can recognize a Southern American accent.
Signature Southern Sounds
The word “ride” in the South, for example, has a special sound to it. Renwick says this “i” sound has been around since the Civil War, and it’s a big part of what makes the Southern accent so recognizable. Renwick said, “That change in the ‘i’ is classic, an original Southern characteristic and recognizable across regional accents.”
When “Pen” Sounds Like “Pin”
Similarly, when some Southerners say “pen,” it sometimes sounds just like “pin.” This is an example of a sound merge, which is when two words begin to sound almost exactly the same as each other. You’ll only be able to work out which word they’re actually saying from understanding the context of it.
Forward With the Vowels
Some Southern accents push vowels to the front of the mouth more than others, which is why “boot” might sometimes sound more like “bout.” This means that even the same word can sound different, even within the same state. Language is a big part of people’s regional identity, and even a simple change in pronouncing vowels can be important.
No Two Accents Are the Same
The biggest thing about Southern accents is that they’re pretty varied, and any Southerner will tell you that a Texan accent and a Virginia accent sound nothing alike. How people talk changes with the geography, which is mostly because of things like who moved where and when. If you travel just a few hundred miles, you might hear a whole new Southern accent.
Coastal vs. Inland Accents
Inland accents sometimes stretch a word into almost two syllables, while coastal accents often drop the “r,” so “car” becomes more British and sounds like “cah.” Similarly, more coastal Southern people might say “prize” more like “proize.” These little changes have become a big part of people’s hometown pride and show where they’re from.
The Cajun Influence
In Louisiana, the Cajun accent comes from the state’s French history, which has held strong in the rural bayous. Their accents are a mix of French and English accents that sometimes sound as though they’re from New York. This could also be because of the city’s history of trade and migration.
Changing Faces of Southernness
Renwick argues that even if traditional accents are fading, people are finding new ways to express their Southern roots through the way they talk. She said, “Just because someone doesn’t have a traditional Southern accent doesn’t mean they’re going to sound like someone from Ohio. They just might choose different aspects of their pronunciation to transmit their Southernness.”
TikTok and the Southern Accent
Thanks to influencers like Landon Bryant on TikTok, people are seeing how these Southern accents are changing. These social media stars are showing the world how different the Southern accent can be. People who live far from the South are now being exposed to the accent, and this can change the way they speak.
Impact of Migration on Southern Accents
Even so, the high number of people migrating to Southern states has diluted traditional Southern accents. This is mostly because younger generations adopt features from various American dialects. In some places across the South, this has made a more uniform speech pattern and made the accents less distinctively Southern.
Prestige and Views of Accents
People have always had different views on accents, and the Southern accent has often been seen negatively. This has made some people change their accents to suggest they have a higher social status than they actually do. This affects how accents evolve because people are changing their speech to fit with what benefits them.
The Transatlantic Example
The Transatlantic or Mid-Atlantic accent is one that you’ll usually hear in classic films, and it was a speech style that film studios deliberately created. They mixed British and American pronunciations to create a sound that sounded more prestigious and educated. Of course, now that film has changed, so has this accent.
Accent Isolation and Preservation
In some remote areas, Southern accents haven’t changed for a long time. This is simply because these places are geographically or socially isolated. For example, Appalachian English keeps aspects of older forms of English alive which have almost entirely disappeared in other American accents.
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