The Southern US accent under siege

Gjones2   Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:25 am GMT
It seems to me that two quite different qualities are needed for an adult to master a foreign language -- playfulness and discipline. The playfulness helps in being able to take chances (step outside oneself and make unfamiliar sounds). Discipline helps in learning the vast amount of information that it takes to speak correctly. This is especially true for those who aren't immersed in the language and who don't need to use it all the time. Individual differences may affect which methods work best for a particular individual, but I'd expect that a little of both qualities would be required.
Gjones2   Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:30 am GMT
to sound foreign when speaking a foreign accent -- to sound foreign when speaking a foreign language
Rob   Sat Nov 26, 2005 9:52 am GMT
I hear that some stores in south sell bithday cards with messages like "Happy Birthday Uncle-dad"!
Gjones2   Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:52 am GMT
>I hear that some stores in [the] south sell bithday cards [Rob]

That's not true. We don't have stores in the South. We barter. (And what's a 'bithday'?)
Rob   Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:22 pm GMT
Gjones2,

I'll trade you a goat if I can take your purty sister out for her "bithday"!
Gjones2   Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:20 pm GMT
What people write is a better indication of what they are than what people write about them ("...le style est l'homme même" Buffon, Discours sur le Style).
DisplacedSoutherner   Sun Dec 18, 2005 2:47 pm GMT
I never thought about my accent much while I was living in Mississippi. My family had been there over 200 years. I noticed my Louisiana and Indiana cousins sounded different, but I was 19 years old before I left the South and moved out west. I was assaulted almost daily by people from other regions of the country making fun of my accent and telling me I sounded like a "hick from the sticks." One girl even told me how "backwards" and "unintelligent" I sounded. This was all very traumatic and disturbing to me. What gives anybody the right to destroy another person's self-esteem by belittling them (did I spell that right?) to their face day after day? All because of an accent?!

I was humiliated and promptly tried to get rid of the accent. I succeeded too well. While on the phone with my little brother back home in Mississippi, I heard him yell to my mother, "Momma! D...'s done talkin' like a yankee!" He died later that day, and those were the last words I remember him saying. I felt even more ashamed, then, of trying to hide who I really was. I am a Southerner and very proud of it. . . so I ditched the western accent and went back to my roots--just not as strongly.

After moving back to Mississippi, things were great. No one ever commented on my accent one way or the other. Southerners are a great bunch of folks. . . easy-going. . . and in my experience, far less critical that people I've met outside the South. But, I digress. . . .

Years later, I moved to Texas and once again, my accent came under fire. I even overheard my boss talking to a coworker one day; she said, "If I'd known how bad her accent was, I never would have hired her."

I started "layin' it on thick" just to irritate her.

Now I'm living "up north" and boy, oh boy, have I been insulted! People I have met up here can't even speak grammatically correctly, but they will insult my accent every time! I've even been told that "You'll never get a job up here if you don't lose that accent."

The person who said accents are not part of our identity is wrong. My accent is very much a part of my Southern heritage; my family has been in the South for 400 years. . . and this accent is part of the package. I love my family heritage and my ancestors. This accent reminds me of home. However, I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I should work on losing the accent--or, as someone said, get to the point where I can turn it on and off. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to do that? Has anyone on this forum actually had to change? Or are you all just writing about something you've never experienced?
Terry   Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:00 am GMT
<<I left the South and moved out west. I was assaulted almost daily by people from other regions of the country making fun of my accent and telling me I sounded like a "hick from the sticks." One girl even told me how "backwards" and "unintelligent" I sounded. This was all very traumatic and disturbing to me. What gives anybody the right to destroy another person's self-esteem by belittling them (did I spell that right?) to their face day after day? All because of an accent?! >>

They have no such right. My heart goes out to you. They're just ignorant asses and the media have done nothing to help. You see it all the time in movies and on TV, Southerners depicted as idiots. You might try pointing out their gramatical errors. Also, some of them might just be teasing you, not the bosses, who were obviously hideous, but people often playfully tease each other about different accents without meaning harm, but I suppose you'd probably know the difference.

<<Now I'm living "up north" and boy, oh boy, have I been insulted! People I have met up here can't even speak grammatically correctly, but they will insult my accent every time! I've even been told that "You'll never get a job up here if you don't lose that accent." >>

Hey, I'm from Boston and people even there have accosted me for having a "snobby" accent, so you see you can't win with people who think they're "superior" to you whether it's because they think your accent is "hicks from the sticks" or ""snobbish." No job is worth losing your identity and sense of self-worth over. No job.

I personally find the Southern accent lovely and warm and the expressions so much more imaginative and useful. I live in Florida now and have picked up some of them. "Fixin' to" is my favorite as it makes you seem busy no matter what you're doing, so you never have to feel guilty while relaxing as I sometimes did up North. I no longer just sit outside watching the butterflies chase each other around the yard., instead, I'm fixin' to unload that dishwasher.:)

*And I'm very sorry about your little brother. I've had a terrible loss in my life and I know the pain. Don't feel guilty over that phone conversation, your brother, I suspect, was just sweetly joshing you.

Just don't let the horrible people get to you. Find the nice ones. You asked for advice, here it is: If I were you, I'd move home, where you're happy and where your heart obviously is.:)
Alex   Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:39 pm GMT
I was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX and still proudly maintain my Texas twang. I had to move to Toronto, and actually picked up some Canadian accent traits (ehs, and aboots...), so now my accent is a reflection of my own life history. I've never had any problem (in Canada or in Texas) while speaking with this accent. So y'all, keep it real, and don't try to fake it or loose it, it ain't worth it.
Someone   Fri Dec 30, 2005 10:52 pm GMT
I am from the "South" as you like to say it! And yes in my part of the region (Newport, Tennessee), has some of the deepest accents known to man kind. The kids at my school (Cocke County High School) and all the adults have one! A deep one. You should get off your butt and come and see! I think our accents is what makes us unique, it doesn't make us sound stupid as you like to say. Again it makes us unique from the rest of the nation. I personally don't think i'm stupid to be only 14 years old, now don't ya think. So personally I think your little accent club should be simply cancled! Quite frankly it's not non of your business how we talk, or should I spell it "TAWLK" since I am soo stupid. That is how we speak, you know! So basically I am telling you, you have no business what-so-ever to make fun of our accent. I know there are some people who would like to cut down on the accent and it is kind of you to help them. Since they feel the accent makes them out of place. However in my humble oppinion I think you should get a life. THE SOUTHERN ACCENT RULES!!!
Mxsmanic   Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:50 am GMT
Accents make you stand out—for better or for worse. If you wish to blend in, lose your accent. If you wish to be noticed, retain your accent. In the latter case, remember that you may be noticed in both positive and negative ways, so you have to be sure that this is what you want.

For example, a French accent can sound very sexy in someone of the opposite sex, and so such an accent might be positively perceived in social interactions. But a French accent is a liability for an engineer, because it makes him sound stupid. France is known by most people for wine, cheese, and love, but not for engineering. Irrespective of whether or not these perceptions be correct, they control the impression made by the accent.

I think that, to speakers of GAE, a southern-US accent implies hospitality, sincerity, and warmth on the positive side, but also stupidity, bigotry, and backwardness on the negative side.
Mythor   Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:16 am GMT
Guys, I have a question to ask. What is the difference between sounthern accent and other accent? Particularly British accent. I'm doing my homework right now, I hope anyone of you could help me. Please.. ^_^
billgregg   Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:43 am GMT
A couple posts seem to assume that the Upland South or Appalachian accent is a watered-down, more mainstream version of the Lowland accent. It’s its own thing and quite distinct from the Middle Atlantic speech that has evolved into the newscaster accent. Its extreme forms may be farther from General American than the plantation accent ever was.

I wonder why Appalachian speech is winning out over Lowland speech. Bill Kretzschmar blames it on the decline of the plantation economy, but I’m not convinced that economic decline by itself would cause anyone to change their accent. Low prestige, mentioned in some of the posts, is usually the cause. Though low social standing can certainly be linked to economic backwardness, in this case people seem to be trading the accent of one historically deprived region (the lowland South) for that of an equally or more deprived region (Appalachia). In fact 100 years ago, maybe even 50 years ago, the lowland accent would have been seen as the prestige accent in the region.

Could it be the influence of country music culture?
Guest   Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:57 am GMT
Most urban people from Texas use an accent close to the Californian accent: cot/caught merged and western intonation.
Jasper   Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:06 am GMT
As the article said, non-rhotic Southern accents are disappearing.

Funny thing is--I think the non-rhotic accents are beautiful (especially Tidewater), but the rhotic varieties sound "redneck", even my own.

Another thing--Northerners and Southerners seem to hate each others' accents. Southerners are aware of the Northerners' bias, but Northerners have no clue about how horrible their own accent sounds to the Southerners...