DIALECT AND COLLOQUIALISMS by Nancy L. Eady

 I live in the Deep South, the only area of the country where it is possible to convert a one-syllable word such as “bell” to the three-syllable “Be-uh-lll.” This lengthening of words is one reason the Southern American accent is also called the Southern drawl. Because the spoken word is the basis of most dialogue, I thought I’d share some of my observations.

Southern American English is spoken generally by natives in parts of Virginia, all of West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, the northern part of Florida, including the panhandle (the panhandle is also known here as “L.A.”, standing for “lower Alabama,” although I haven’t heard the phrase for a while), Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and probably Oklahoma. I say “probably Oklahoma” because I haven’t had the chance to spend any time in the state. As a general rule, neither Maryland nor Delaware natives speak with a Southern accent, even though they are below the Mason-Dixon line. Neither do people from the Virginia area surrounding Washington D.C. nor people from south Florida.

There are many regional variations, but I lack the phonetics background to describe them. However, the Louisiana Cajun accent is one of the most distinctive Southern dialects. The Cajun accent comes from people native to areas where the French Canadians settled in Louisiana after England took over Canada.

All Southern English dialects are spoken slowly. We don’t care to rush our words, partly because we believe that what we say is worth listening to and partly because, in the summer, at 98 degrees outside with 100% humidity, it’s just too hot to do anything quickly.

Another characteristic of Southern American English is the pronunciation of words like “you”—phonetically, down here, it rhymes with “chew.” I think God uses this as a tool to teach church music ministers in this area of the country humility—rare is the church concert indeed where at least one “yew” doesn’t slip through the cracks into the singing somewhere. We also use the word “y’all.”  “Y’all” is a contraction of the words “you all.” Before those of you in other areas of the country start laughing at the use of “y’all,” stop and reflect upon whether “y’all” doesn’t sound a bit better than other variations from other regions, such as “you’se guys.” Besides, it avoids our having to use “yew” too very often in normal conversation.

Southern American English also uses colorful colloquialisms. One region-wide expression worth sharing is “even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then.” This expression is used to describe the surprising success of an individual in a field of endeavor that he or she has little experience in (or is just plain rotten at.)

Regional colloquialisms abound as well. In the areas of North Carolina where my husband and I lived when we were first married, children “trimmed” their pencils instead of sharpening them (we still sharpen them here in Alabama) and if they missed the bus, they had been “bus left.” In Alabama, if we are getting ready to go somewhere or do something, we are “fixin’ to” do it, as in “I am fixin’ to have some ice cream. Would y’all like some too?” Some of us “carry” people places, rather than drive them there. I use “fixin’ to” and “y’all” frequently but haven’t picked up “carry” for driving yet.

Native Southern American English speakers can spot a non-native speaker a mile away. This creates a great deal of frustration in the South when actors try to manufacture a Southern accent without doing their homework.   I have cringed through movies where an actor butchers the Southern accent.  It is a genuine pleasure to listen to the accent when an actor gets it right. One of the best Southern accents in a movie was Kevin Spacey’s accent in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

I am not a native Southern American English speaker, although I have been learning it for over 40 years now. Anyone from any other region of the country would peg me as Southern, but as recently as two months ago, someone asked me, “You’re not from around here, are you?” (Note: To be “from around” a place means you were born and bred at that place.) It was the first time in years someone had said that to me, but he was correct.

One pleasant feature of Southern English is the phrase “bless her [or his] heart.” You can get away with saying anything about anyone else if you say it in a gentle, compassionate voice with a smile, and include the statement “bless his heart” somewhere in the sentence. For example, the statement, “Bless his heart, John Smith is crazy as a loon,” is perfectly acceptable and taken as concern rather than derogation. 

And we are the only region I know of that has invented a new verb tense. “You” is the second person singular, as in “Why don’t you call me?” “Y’all” is the second person plural, as in “Why don’t y’all come over to dinner?" However, “all y’all" is second person plural heightened tense, to be used when you are inviting large groups of people to do something instead of groups of five or less, as in asking the Waltons, “Why don’t all y’all come over to dinner?”

So, bless all y’all’s hearts, I’ll talk to you next Monday!