Posted on 09/18/2015 9:57:02 AM PDT by chasio649
The other day, my son asked why there are such a variety of accents in the country. Why does a fellow from Mississippi have a twang that’s different from a fellow in Texas?
Long ago, I asked my father a similar question. He pointed out that it isn’t just in America – a wide range of dialects and accents are common for French, Arabic, whatever.
In recent days, some interesting pieces have appeared online. One in Slate has a list of the top slang terms from every state. Here’s what was included for the Mid-South:
Arkansas: “tump” -- to tip over or dump out. Louisiana: “banquette” – sidewalk. Mississippi: “nabs” -- peanut butter crackers. Tennessee: “whirlygust” -- a strong wind. The words from Arkansas and Mississippi are familiar. Not so those from Louisiana and Tennessee.
Humans are so inventive, language doesn’t have to be spoken words. Slate has posted a video shot in a mountainous region of Turkey where residents whistle long range conversations when their shouts won’t carry. Some 10,000 people still use this method of communication.
And if you want to get into some truly odd language characteristics, head down to northwest Brazil. There, the Piraha people speak a language unrelated to any other. Christian missionaries have spent agonizing decades trying to learn the intricacies of the Piraha’s tongue and culture.
A 2007 profile in the New Yorker says Piraha is “based on just eight consonants and three vowels, (and is) one of the simplest sound systems known. Yet it possesses such a complex array of tones, stresses, and syllable lengths that its speakers can dispense with their vowels and consonants altogether and sing, hum, or whistle conversations.”
Further, the Piraha, “have no numbers, no fixed color terms, no perfect tense, no deep memory, no tradition of art or drawing, and no words for ‘all,’ ‘each,’ ‘every,’ ‘most,’ or ‘few.’”
Why has this group been able to resist modernity? Largely because they “consider all forms of human discourse other than their own to be laughably inferior, and they are unique among Amazonian peoples in remaining monolingual.”
Years ago I was sailing on the Chesapeake Bay with an English girlfriend and visited Smith Island. She said the locals had a Dorset accent. The locals were probably descendants of the original Jamestown colony.
The Smith islanders called people on Tangier (a neighboring island) “cheese-eaters” because they said they spoke like they had a mouthful of cheese.
I live in Minnesota and the strangest thing is I never hear a Southern bastardization of the spoken word of English. I hear Somali, Hmong, Mexican, Eastern European, and Chinese versions but never a Southern accent. Put that in your pipe and think about it.
Your post made me think of something really funny. Years ago I was in Paris and I went to the theater. I went to the ladies rest room and when I closed the stall door I noticed that the lady before had left her purse.
I said in a loud voice “ hey you left your purse” . The lady who left it shouted back at me ........
“ are you from Texas?
; )
As a 7th generation Floridan, I totally disagree. What did we call chiggers before slavery? Or banjos? We certainly had them here.
There were very few slave owners in this neck of the woods and people didn’t move around much then. Generations lived in one spot and saw very few people in a years time.
So, since I’ve never lived anyplace else, I speak very much as my ancestors did....with a definite Piney Woods Southern accent.
From pokeweed, Not sure where that comes from.
“I live in Minnesota”
I’m too thick to figure out your post....I shall move on to something more simple and not as intellectual and brilliant....I am from the south so my family tree has no branches...you must excuse my ignorance...Have mercy on me superior being....In Jesus’ name and Walter Mondale...excuse me.
“What did we call chiggers before slavery?”
Chigroes.
You never get to hear a Southern accent, well bless your heart, you poor thing!
50 years ago I lived for a short time in Dare Virginia. Some Residents of that area had a very old English accent. It was lovely.
From the article in Slate referred to by the author:
Washington, D.C.
bama (noun): a loser or chump
It’s only 9:30 and these bamas are already in their pajamas.
I believe the Australian accent is very similar to a London accent, especially the East End. It stands to reason, being that Australia was a penal colony, London probably had the most criminals, thus the origin of the Australian accent.
And you seem stupid
We’re even
Well, I do find some of them comical such as people who cannot pronounce the word saw. It comes out sounding like the last syllable of dinosaur. “That’s a nice hand saur you got there.” “Thanks, I saur it on sale at Home Depot so I bought it.” On the other hand I would never go into a Northern state and go around telling them, “You guys sure talk funny” which is what some Yankees do when they come South. If they want to come to my state and tell me to my face that they find my speech amusing then turnabout is fair play. Of course the worst of the Northern accents seem to be disappearing along with much of the old Southern way of speech. I don’t hear, “On da coana o’ toity toid an toid stweet” much any more. I haven’t heard “gnu kyar” lately either. Before I quit the telephone work I used to do I had one assignment calling in the Bronx, wow, that was some experience, they all sounded like an angry Bugs Bunny. People in the Bronx can say, “I love you” in an angrier sounding tone than a drunk redneck in South Carolina could muster to say, “I’m gonna kill yo’ sorry ass.”
My favorite states were Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana and I actually don’t like the fact that regional accents are disappearing. When we all start sounding like midwesterners it will be a sad day to me. At least it would be better than listening to Fran Drescher as “The Nanny” though.
You’re likely just another asshat here to denigrate Dixie
So be honest what’s your real issue?
Too big a coward to admit
Figured
Here we went.
Lol
America circles the shitter and these clowns can’t get enough of berating the last redoubt
The white south
That is absolute bullshit. The Southern drawl primarily comes from 1800s Northern England and Southern Scotland speech patterns. This is almost where many in the South came from.
Thanks for that thoughtful reply... Although I have an Appalachian accent, it is still similar. Not one bit ashamed of it either even though I’ve been laughed at. Anyway, the southern accentS (There’s more than one) were developed over a long period of time and from more than one source. The large numbers of Scots-Irish had something to do with it as did the English. You should examine the story of Tangier Island in my home state of Virginia for an surreal experience. They sound nothing like modern Americans.
CAUSE THEY ALL TOOK DELIVERANCE BANJO LESSONS....
I loved the strawbries when I lived in Phiwwy.
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