Southern English
5 most difficult American accents to understand…
Play videoA British man lists the American accents that he finds most difficult to understand. He mentions what historical and linguistic roots he associates with each accent, and he broadly points to how interesting it is that English speakers are not always intelligible to each other. Particularly for the last one, he expresses a complete inability to understand speakers of it, and many Americans in the comment section even agree.
The Punctual Whenever
Play videoA youtube short that discusses the use of the punctual whenever. The punctual whenever refers the the use of whenever to refer to a specific moment in time rather than a set of events and is a common behavior in speakers of Appalachian and southern dialects of english. The poster argues that criticism of the usage of this feature is rooted in standard language ideology and is deeply tied to racist, classist, and misogynistic biases.
Chapter 19 - Their Eyes Were Watching God
This links to an excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God", which we are reading in Hum 110. (Spoiler warning.) In the excerpt, the white doctor talking to the Black main character style-shifts from a Southern dialect to a non-Southern dialect as he conveys, perhaps, graveness, expertise, or professionalism. This change is shown through changes in how his dialogue is transcribed.
Hurston was trained in anthropology and studied under Franz Boas as well as doing fieldwork in the South, so she probably would have knowledge, direct experience, or both, of this phenomenon. [Published on 1937]
Automatic Closed Captions Using Eye Dialect
The captions generated for this video follow an inconsistent eye dialect- part of it is just classic speech misinterpretation, but there are a good few moments where it becomes clear that the captions are trying to transcribe within the singer's dialect. [Published on 12-11-2024]
"Anything else you want to say, buffoon?" | Santiago mimics Louis | Interview With The Vampire S2
Play videoA scene from AMC's Interview With The Vampire where a character with a New Orleans accent is mimicked and the nuances of his pronunciations are identified as being specifically from NOLA (based on borrowed pronunciation from French).
Stud name vs real name trend
A trend where studs, black masc lesbians, are asked to compare their stud names to their real names which are often seen as "girly".
Kamala Harris criticized for style-shifting to voters
Play videoThis is a Fox "News" segment in which Kamala Harris is criticized/mocked for style-shifting in a speech at a political rally. The host argues that Harris switches rapidly from "a San Francisco elite to a Southern belle." It's not clear that the shift Harris performs is really into what some people call "Southern English," but the hosts use this claim to argue that Harris is artificially pandering to voters. Arguably, the r vocalization "four" and absence of copula could also be features of AAL, which the hosts are ignoring, deliberately or not, to characterize Harris as deceitful/unauthentic. Whose speech is most stringently policed? Why? See this book for an examination of President Barack Obama's language use and the public's response: Alim, H Samy and Smitherman, Geneva. 2012. Articulate While Black. See this paper for an analysis of (ing) and released /t/ in the campaign speeches of Obama, Romney, and McCain. D’Onofrio, A., & Stecker, A. (2022). The social meaning of stylistic variability: Sociophonetic (in)variance in United States presidential candidates’ campaign rallies. Language in Society, 51(1), 1–28
Why Does Every Southern Accent in a Movie Sound So Bad?
Opinion Piece arguing that actors often rely on stereotypes of Southern English. [Published on 03-25-2024]
Prescriptivism in the Wild
In another Kent Rollins video about whether beans belong on chili, some commenters get into it over subject-verb agreement and differing dialects! [Published on 11-15-2023]
Creative Pronunciations of Worcestershire Sauce
Kent Rollins, a self-proclaimed cowboy from Oklahoma, has a little trouble pronouncing a notorious English condiment's name. [Published on 09-08-2023]
Older Central NC Speaker
Play videoOlder NC speaker (although from Charlotte, not Raleigh Durham area) reading the same word list as my last two submissions.
Millennial Central NC Speaker
Play videoSpeaker from central NC, probably born about 1990, reading some of the same words as the previous submission.
North Carolina Accent (Raleigh-Durham Area)
Play videoNative central NC speaker probably born around 1970-80 reading a word list and answering some questions.
Pin/Pen Merger Skit
Play videoSilly little skit about the PIN/PEN merger by a speaker with a Southern Accent.
African-American English in North Carolina
Play videoAfrican American North Carolinians discuss their use of language, touching on style-shifting, communities of practice, phonology, history of language, etc. Lots of metalinguistic commentary and great speakers.
"Segment on African American English and its role in the lives and identities of African Americans in North Carolina. Excerpt from from the documentary "Voices of North Carolina""
Never Insult a Queer Person on TV, or Else - Bob The Drag Queen - Live from Austin
Play videoThis is a clip of Bob The Drag Queen doing standup comedy in Austin, TX, talking about being queer, as well as winning reality TV shows and family. Artifact 1 of 2 for an analysis of monophthongal vs diphthongal /ai/, following Rahman (2007)'s research on /ai/ variation in African American Language in narrative comedy. This clip was compared with Artifact 2 (The X Change Rate: Bob the Drag Queen https://youtu.be/brFvTNTUtSM?t=1271), which is a talk-show on which Bob is being interviewed by a close friend and fellow drag queen, who is also a speaker of AAL.
Dave Chappelle Stand-Up Monologue - SNL
Play videoVideo of comedian Dave Chappelle's stand-up monologue from his time hosting SNL in November 2020.
Larry the Cable Guy: My fake southern accent
Play videoLarry the Cable Guy explains where he picked up his southern accent and gives examples of code-switching.
Reba tries to say "ice"
Play videoReba tries to say 'chewing ice' in this clip, but because of her Southern dialect (which features aɪ-monopthongization even before voiceless consonants) it comes out as something closer to 'chewing ass'. We briefly came across examples of aɪ-monophthongization in class in the context of Bill Clinton's outburst.
Southern Dialect Pt. 1
Play videoStudy of Southern accents - rhotic or “r” pronouncing Mountain Southern, and non-rhotic or “r” dropping Plantation or Tidewater Southern.
Ideologies and stereotypes of southern english
Play videoMusician performs song explaining ideologies and stereotypes associated with the southern accent and the feelings some speakers have about it.
Comedian Darren Knight aka Southern Momma and the big snow storm
Play videoComedian Darren Knight's rendition of how southern mothers react to a snow storm in the south.
Ed Sheeran tries American Accents
Play videoIn this video, British singer Ed Sheeran is asked by a fan during a Q&A session to do his best "American Accent". He goes on to say that he can do three different ones, starting with the "Valley Girl from California" one, then moving to the "Regular" one and ending with the "Southern Draw" one. Since English is obviously one language in and of itself, but different English speaking countries have different accents. For example, Ed has a British English accent. But there are also Australian English accents, Irish English accents, and so on. There are different accents for different parts of the world, but there are also sub-accents in different parts of the same country, as shown here by Mr. Sheeran.
Do You Speak American?
Scholar and author, John G. Fought, focuses on how different dialect uses around the country affect the pronunciation of words and formation of speech patterns. Fought explains how the history of the United States has shaped language and has helped develop speech communities into what they are today. The media's role in what is considered "American" in regard to language is also described by Fought, touching on its key part in influencing specific dialect in different regions.
Sh%t Southern Women Say, Episode 1
Play videoThis comical satire highlights common phrases and slang frequently used by southern women. These iconic sayings can also index their southern roots.
Unapologetically Southern
Play videoIn this video, Chad Prather, a man who identifies himself as a Southern Gentleman. "Rants" in defense of his southern "accent" or dialect. Here we can see a man defending his own way of communication against attacks (in the form of social media messages and comments) from people who hold the language ideology that his accent proves that he is not intelligent.
Fred Armisen Can Do Any Southern Accent
Play videoComedian Fred Armisen walks through various southern accents and distinguishing characteristics.
President Bill Clinton Grand Jury testimony: Meaning of the word "is"
Play videoWhat do words mean? It depends on how you think about it.
Tracking Hillary Clinton's use of every American accent east of the Mississippi
A series of clips that demonstrate Hillary Clinton's performance of some varieties of American English, particularly Southern English and Northern Cities English (her native variety) [Published on 05-01-2015]
Can "Y'all" Mean Just One Person?
This blog post explores the idea of the singular "y'all". The post entertains the idea that this form of "y'all" comes from a style-shift used around non-Southerners in an attempt to differentiate themselves and assert their identity (similar to Kara's Jersey vowels being more commonly heard outside of Jersey). [Published on 10-03-2014]
What linguists say about Kevin Spacey's bizarre Southern accent on House of Cards
Linguists discuss the use (and non-use) of Southern English features by actor Kevin Spacey, who portrays a politician from South Carolina on the TV show House of Cards. [Published on 02-27-2015]
Paula Deen, Y'all!
Play videoThough it tragically does not contain any olive oil (my favorite thing to hear Paula Deen say), this clip is a really good example of a lot of the features of Southern English we talked about in class. Around 1:25, there's a very clear "nice" that is obviously still a diphthong, indicating that Paula is not from the Appalachian region or northern Texas, where speakers monophthongize before voiceless consonants.
American Tongues: Ice Hole
Play videoAn /ai/ monophthongization joke from the documentary American Tongues.
Treasured Island
An interactive feature, including a number of audio interviews with native residents, profiling the declining population of Tangiers Island, Va. [Published on 05-11-2014]
Louisiana Accents
Play videoA native of Louisiana demonstrates her understanding of the different accents in her home state, including the Cajun accent and the New Orleans accent.
The Grammar Rules Behind 3 Commonly Disparaged Dialects
A 2013 piece highlighting three features of three stigmatized U.S. dialects - a-prefixing in Appalachian English, "liketa" in Southern English, and remote past BIN in African American English
Wheel of Fortune: Seven swans a swimmin'
A contestant on Wheel of Fortune in 2012 solved a puzzle with "Seven swans a swimmin'," and lost the prize money after judges on the show rejected her alveolar pronunciation.
When Presidents say "Y'all:" The Strange Story of Dialects in America
A 2013 Atlantic interview with Walt Woflram on dialects and politics.
Southern Shift
Play audioA young female speaker from George Mason University's Speech Accent Archive from Norton, Virginia (English15) who has the Southern Shift.
eNCLLP: Charlotte
Play videoA clip from the documentary Voices of North Carolina on language in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Jeff Foxworthy's "redneck" definitions
Play videoJeff Foxworthy provides Rachel Ray with some "redneck" definitions and illustrates his Southern dialect - he's from Atlanta, Georgia.
NPR: Psychology Behind the Sudden Southern Drawl
A 2006 piece on NPR about Bill Clinton's use of a heavier Southern accent in a moment of anger, with guest Walt Wolfram, who explains the phenomenon of style-shifting.
Racism (Linguistic Profiling) Caught on Tape
Play videoWhite office manager at Tennessee car rental company makes racist remarks over the phone after wrongly guessing the race of the customer based on linguistic profiling.