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!
