What is (are) the northernmost cutoff point(s) for southern linguistic patterns in the US.
The American South
This map ( http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map3.GIF ) shows the distribution of the pen-pin merger, which is one of the most pervasive Southern characteristics.
In general, Virginia is the cutoff for the North-South divide. In Virginia and south of it, you'll find a Southern accent. North of Virginia (Maryland & north), you'll typically won't find the Southern accent.
Extending west... you'll find a Southern accent out to Mississippi. Louisiana has southern speech characteristics too, but much of the state is also influenced by its French/Cajun background. Kentucky and Arkansas are generally considered "border states".
Hope this helps :P
AJ Hoge
www.effortlessenglish.org
Extending west... you'll find a Southern accent out to Mississippi. Louisiana has southern speech characteristics too, but much of the state is also influenced by its French/Cajun background. Kentucky and Arkansas are generally considered "border states".
Hope this helps :P
AJ Hoge
www.effortlessenglish.org
Where I lived in Virginia as a little girl (Newport News) there were no southern accents. But further inland, they started to crop up.
“….you'll find a Southern accent out to Mississippi”
Huh?
You don’t think you will find a Southern accent in rural Texas and even Oklahoma? Lyndon Johnson may have called himself a “westerner” but he was just another craven politician trying to get elected.
And Kentucky and Arkansas may have been considered “border states” during the War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance but I assure you that if you get out of Little Rock and Louisville the Southern accent and culture is alive and well in both.
You’ll even find it in rural southern Missouri.
The Southern culture is essentially rural and therefore so is the accent. I’m not saying that neither exist in urban area. They certainly do in places like Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans. But in urban areas that are more “cosmopolitan” and have been subject to large scale immigration from outside the South (Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, Dallas) sadly, both have been diminished.
Huh?
You don’t think you will find a Southern accent in rural Texas and even Oklahoma? Lyndon Johnson may have called himself a “westerner” but he was just another craven politician trying to get elected.
And Kentucky and Arkansas may have been considered “border states” during the War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance but I assure you that if you get out of Little Rock and Louisville the Southern accent and culture is alive and well in both.
You’ll even find it in rural southern Missouri.
The Southern culture is essentially rural and therefore so is the accent. I’m not saying that neither exist in urban area. They certainly do in places like Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans. But in urban areas that are more “cosmopolitan” and have been subject to large scale immigration from outside the South (Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, Dallas) sadly, both have been diminished.