In the northwest, there are only two accents:

1.) Normal
2.) Redneck

(12-27-2013 01:51 PM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  Can't lump the south into one homogenous group.
Tenn and KY have a twangy accent I don't consider it southern it's more Appalachian.
Louisiana is has it's very own sound and Cajuns sound like they aren't even speaking English.
Bama and MS are sort of similar slow drawls.
VA is a soft slow drawl.
GA depends on whether you are in rural GA or Atlanta.
Never noticed Florida having much of an accent. Maybe because many there are transplants.

There are two distinct southern dialects -then many variations of that. Inland southern and Coastal southern. Some people call it r-ful and r-less southern.

All southern dialects started in Appalachia. It is the purest form.

(12-27-2013 01:51 PM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  Can't lump the south into one homogenous group.
Tenn and KY have a twangy accent I don't consider it southern it's more Appalachian.
Louisiana is has it's very own sound and Cajuns sound like they aren't even speaking English.
Bama and MS are sort of similar slow drawls.
VA is a soft slow drawl.
GA depends on whether you are in rural GA or Atlanta.
Never noticed Florida having much of an accent. Maybe because many there are transplants.

Miami definitely has an accent.

Like others have pointed out, the midwest is definitely not just one size fits all. Southern Missouri has a borderline southern accent (farty-far instead of 44, warsh instead of wash, Mizzourah instead of Missouri).

Nice link Okie.

(12-27-2013 10:58 AM)AngryAphid Wrote:  I find myself susceptible to being influenced by 60-year-old saleswomen
with Midwestern accents…. I once bought a sofa and love seat from lady
because she had an accent and lexicon that reminded me of my aunt.

I also found it interesting that a guy with a Southern accent in New York City
sounds like a fool, but a girl with a Southern accent can own Manhattan.

A girl from my high is doing just this.

(12-27-2013 03:27 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Like others have pointed out, the midwest is definitely not just one size fits all. Southern Missouri has a borderline southern accent (farty-far instead of 44, warsh instead of wash, Mizzourah instead of Missouri).

Nice link Okie.

Thanks. I have studied this for years. One other tid bit. The word "warsh" made it into the southern dialect from the German settlers.

I think this map will be a bit more helpful.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govb...n-english/

(12-27-2013 03:59 PM)firmbizzle Wrote:  I think this map will be a bit more helpful.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govb...n-english/

Hard to say. Detroit doesn't sound like Minneapolis to me, but I do think the 'North Midland' is viable.

Arizona has too many transplants to sound like TX. Most people sound midwest there, at least among my circles.

(12-27-2013 03:59 PM)firmbizzle Wrote:  I think this map will be a bit more helpful.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govb...n-english/

The problem with that map for my state is that in southeastern Oklahoma, the locals speak with a coastal southern accent. It does do a good job of breaking it down into sub dialects.

No way the northern midland dips down into west Texas.

Racism!

Perhaps these maps are more accurate:

Don't forget the high-tiders of NC.

(12-27-2013 04:43 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Perhaps these maps are more accurate:

Yes, the second one clears it up.

(12-27-2013 02:20 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  

(12-27-2013 01:51 PM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  Can't lump the south into one homogenous group.
Tenn and KY have a twangy accent I don't consider it southern it's more Appalachian.
Louisiana is has it's very own sound and Cajuns sound like they aren't even speaking English.
Bama and MS are sort of similar slow drawls.
VA is a soft slow drawl.
GA depends on whether you are in rural GA or Atlanta.
Never noticed Florida having much of an accent. Maybe because many there are transplants.

There are two distinct southern dialects -then many variations of that. Inland southern and Coastal southern. Some people call it r-ful and r-less southern.

All southern dialects started in Appalachia. It is the purest form.

There is a small flaw in that map in regard to NC. Almost all of the Northeastern part of the state have tidewater Virginia dialects. You go as far down as Rocky Mount and you would not know you were in NC. The difference is not subtle either. Most of the OBX is also of this dialect and even more different from the rest of the state.

(12-27-2013 04:43 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Perhaps these maps are more accurate:

No, because they do not speak with a midland accent anywhere in Oklahoma.

Here is a better study that is not some college kid doing a class project.
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/mapping/map.html

The midland accent dips a little too low. I contacted the supervisor in this study and he actually apologized and said he lacked data for that portion around southern Kansas.

(12-27-2013 08:08 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(12-27-2013 02:20 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  

(12-27-2013 01:51 PM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  Can't lump the south into one homogenous group.
Tenn and KY have a twangy accent I don't consider it southern it's more Appalachian.
Louisiana is has it's very own sound and Cajuns sound like they aren't even speaking English.
Bama and MS are sort of similar slow drawls.
VA is a soft slow drawl.
GA depends on whether you are in rural GA or Atlanta.
Never noticed Florida having much of an accent. Maybe because many there are transplants.

There are two distinct southern dialects -then many variations of that. Inland southern and Coastal southern. Some people call it r-ful and r-less southern.

All southern dialects started in Appalachia. It is the purest form.

There is a small flaw in that map in regard to NC. Almost all of the Northeastern part of the state have tidewater Virginia dialects. You go as far down as Rocky Mount and you would not know you were in NC. The difference is not subtle either. Most of the OBX is also of this dialect and even more different from the rest of the state.

heck there are at least half a dozen different accents in Johnston County alone. Have any of you ever talked to someone from Broadslab? They sound completely different from someone in Benson just a few miles away.

(12-27-2013 08:20 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  Here is a better study that is not some college kid doing a class project.
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/mapping/map.html

The midland accent dips a little too low. I contacted the supervisor in this study and he actually apologized and said he lacked data for that portion around southern Kansas.

There was a special a few years back on it. The "television" dialect is southern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, into Iowa.

(12-27-2013 09:04 PM)firmbizzle Wrote:  

(12-27-2013 08:20 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  Here is a better study that is not some college kid doing a class project.
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/mapping/map.html

The midland accent dips a little too low. I contacted the supervisor in this study and he actually apologized and said he lacked data for that portion around southern Kansas.

There was a special a few years back on it. The "television" dialect is southern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, into Iowa.

I guess it's an ongoing show.

An Outer Banks "High Tide" speech pattern isn't the same as a Virginia tidewater accent.