To many people, Southern accents are considered "bad." To many people, the accent is a sign of a?

Question

"lower class." Now, think about this. If The South had won the War of Northern Agression, or Civil War as most people call it, would the Southern accent be considered in a different light? Would it be considered "normal?" Instead of making fun of Southern accents, would people make fun of the accents of folks from other parts of the country? Would dictionaries have been written by Southern people instead of Northern people, thereby causing the "Southern language" to be considered normal?

Answer 1

Now sugah, what in the world are ya'll talkin about our lil ole accent for? I may sound like I'm a little dumb but honey chile, most men I know who are Yankee's just fall all to pieces when I talk and bat my lil ole eyelashes at 'em. Shoot, sweetie, I have a lil ole college degree in nursin, if ya'll ever happen ta be travelin through MS and have a pesky ole heart attack, hell, you won't mind that lil ole drawl one bit while I'm trying to save yo life. Ya'll have a good day now ya hear!!!

Answer 2

We wonder the same thing about accents from New England and New York City. You see, we believe our pronunciations are correct, and all the others are the odd ones. Did you ever listen to Teddy Kennedy give a speech? Wasn't it at least a little funny? The speech patterns - not the content. On second thought, the content too. And, whether you intended it or not, your question does come over as somewhat insulting; 'lazy' tongue and degradation in speech patterns does tend to imply we may be lazy and our speech may be degraded. The thought that a 'lazy' tongue (or oxygen deprivation) would cause our accent to differ from some undefined norm is just not supportable. As for degradation, look the other way. Southerners tend to be more conservative in their speech patterns and words - more resistant to degradation. Even our shibboleth 'you all' is not a degradation - it's a progression. English lost its distinction between seond person singular and second person plural, so Southerners evolved the eminently sensible 'you all' to fill the gap. Sounds much better than the 'youse guys' and 'you-uns' (not sure how to spell that) used elsewhere. Everyone tends to think his speech patterns are the best. I grew up in the Appalachians (there's a word Yankees mispronounce), so to me that speech is the norm. Those people in Southside Virginia and the ones at the lower end of the Shenandoah Valley have accents - I don't. [Side note to Taivo: 'hoos' for 'house' lingers in the lower Valley.] This will eventually disappear as a point of discussion. The all-intrusive box called television is acting as a great leveler of accents. When people hear words pronounced the same way over and over from television, they tend to adopt those pronunciations. Eventually, our descendents will all be speaking with a rather bland Midland accent - but wait - if all speak that way, is it still an accent?

Answer 3

I don't know where ur getting those thoughts about accents. I happen to love hearing their drawl. People in New York, New Jersey and Maine to just name a few have another accent. Some would refer it to be a Yankee accent. It's what makes life interesting. If I hear a Spanish or Portuguese accent does that make someone lower class ? No, it means were a melting pot of ideas, countries and we all call USA home.

U won't go far in life nor enjoy the people around u if u pigeon hole every nationality into upper and lower class by the accent of their pronunciation. If the south had won the civil war I doubt it would have any bearing on the way someone speaks. Ur missing life, if u spend ur time classifying classes.

I have been very fortunate to meet and have friends from all classes and all countries. My biggest upset right now is catching myself being apprehensive about middle eastern nationalities in light of 9/11. So I'm working hard to not be so judgmental. It's not easy, but at least I'm trying. I am trying to understand their religion. In doing so I realize, it's not their religion but a few fanatics that u se that title to create havoc.

Answer 4

well first of all, most dictionaries are written in english and from england, not the north US and even so, they do include southern slang words in them. second. its not so much the accent that people use anyway, its the lack of education that people may show by the choice of words. There are stupid people everywhere.

Its not like if the South had won the war that automatically people would change the way they talk. did the southerners change the way they talked? i don't think so.

By the way, Matthew McConaughey makes southern accents sound extremely sexy and a lot of people love southern accents.

Answer 5

If the south won the war, the accents would still be considered lower class by the north, because the south would still be veiwed as "backwards" because they would be a rival country. BTW, South was fighting for independence, it was not looking to annex the North so there would be no "southern takeover" from the CSA.

Answer 6

As a true Southerner, and living overseas, I am very proud of the way I talk, no one makes fun of me. Intelligent people find it very enjoyable to converse with people of different countries, and different accents. If you think a person is bad because they have Southern Accent, look into yourself, therein lies the BAD!

Answer 7

Almost every state has a different Accent if you listen closely . Let's face it American English isn't really normal English anyway,just look at how much difference there is in the English spoken in England and in America .

Answer 8

some may say its lower class but it has a nobility and homely hornor system that is valued. if the south was writing the dictionary thing might be different but the mantaility is still the same.

Answer 9

I find women with southern accents sexy, esp Georgia. I have no idea why.

Answer 10

Northeners are no better at speaking. Southeners are more warm in speaking. And the accent is beautiful. Ya'll!!!!!