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.”
Castilians have a lisp.
When I was in the Middle East, I worked with a Texan that had grown in up Scotland and had a thick Scottish accent.
He had previously spent 8 years in Saudi and was fluent Arabic.
The contractor had mostly Lebanese and Palestinian Foreman and leaders. They were making fun of his accent. When I asked about if the Scottish was bleeding into his Arabic, he said no, they think I sound like a Saudi.
Since the slaves would have had to learn english from their masters, and not vice versa, it seems more likely the drawl was present in the speech before the slaves learned it.
I also think geography has a lot to do with it. My favorite is a Texan accent. Unfortunately I have a touch of philly and new york but say, “eh?” and “y’all” every once in a while. I don’t say wooder for water though.
Have fun!
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=1&;
Love Brother Dave.
“James Lewis, get away from the wheel-barrow!
You knows you doesn’t know nothin’ about machinery!”
Love him too.
“Is you gon’ be here when John gets here?”
“Man, if you ain’t John, I’m gone!”
Here is a short but interesting explanation; and it has nothing to do with African influences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwffKlvfOY
My wife is from the Philippines...raised speaking Visayan and English...since being in the south for so long...her English has a southern accent....many Filipinos laugh when we travel....she’s says ya’ll and has a heavy southern/Visayan accent....can be comical at times.
I repaired my enunciation on the spot.
That's why they're always tellin' their daughters ta 'Check yer awl!'
I repaired my enunciation on the spot.
Why?
“Louisiana: “banquette” – sidewalk. “
I’ve seen this word in writing once in the 25 years I’ve lived here, and have never actually heard it said. This must be isolated to the roughly 17,000 people who still know how to speak Cajun French.
Why do New Yorkers literally talk out of the side of their mouth??
“”Resist modernity.” Translation: remain bone-in-the-nose, grass-hut-dwelling barbarians. Not exactly a noble goal.
And their minimalist language is nothing compared to the Tralfamidorians, who communicate by farting and tap-dancing.
You’re about as dumb and ignorant as a fence post.
I once heard a sermon on the radio by the original Bob Jones. I tuned in about half-way through and I figured the preacher was black until the announcer mention Jones’ name at the end.
“Tump” — now that’s one I haven’t heard for a while. We had some transplanted Arkansans where I grew up in southern Illinois, and I used to hear it all the time.
The Southern accent I knew as a small child no longer exists anywhere that I know of. It was restricted mostly to people sixty and over back then and it came mainly from old English influences, not from the black people. The black people I was around then may have used many of the same words but pronounced them differently and they had words that they used that were not used by white people and vice versa. I have to struggle to try to speak in that way now. Oddly enough, I grew up in South Carolina just South of the North Carolina line and midway on an East to West axis but I have been told many times that I sound like a Texan. I did some telephone work which involved calling a lot of people in the Eastern half of Texas and some of them would ask what part of TEXAS I am from, they assumed from my speech pattern that I was born and raised somewhere in Texas.
Do you have any idea how comical some Northern accents sound to Southerners?
Tump is British....southerners use it in a slightly different way...including me.
After studying Spanish on my own for a number of years and four semesters in college, I am able to understand a fair amount of Spanish spoken on documentaries. The Spanish speakers on the docs tended to speak at a reasonable pace and enunciate well.
However when trying to understand Mexican soap operas, I was/am almost completely lost. Los actores hablan demasiado rapido.
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