I have lived all over this country, and anyone who thinks one area has far worse communication than another, is just living within their own biases.
I was born in the south, have family in the deep south. I currently live in PA, I have lived in CA, I have spent a lot of time in the midwest, and NY... about the only major parts of the country I have not spent good amounts of time are the rocky Mountain states, southwestern states, and New England.
Everywhere, and I do mean EVERYWHERE, I have been, they all have their distinct enunciations, and language. It doesn’t take long to figure out what’s what, whether it be, how they use, or refuse to use the “be” and its conjugations... How much or little they drawl etc etc.
Yes, it can be amusing.. and being a southerner I still enjoy being able to use bless your heart as an insult, and getting thanked for it by folks who have no idea they are politely being called an idiot.
Yes, it can be disconcerting to first hear another accent or different way of speaking, but I’ve never not been able to rapidly comprehend someone regardless of those types of things, no matter where in this Country, or even other countries that I have been exposed to. Want to have fun, hear some of the colloquial ways English is spoken in parts of the UK.... You think US dialects are confusing you wouldn’t survive there... In a country a bit over half the size of California, the variation of the language is crazy.
*sigh* It’s not about the accent!
It’s GRAMMAR. Take a linguistics class - you’ll be shocked how many basic requirements there are for human speech.
Southerners EVERYONE knows about - they have a few grammar hitches but they are common to everyone, common “errors”. (That still would not be permitted in writing or on newscasts.)
In New England, no special grammar errors. Neither in New York. I’m not as “traveled” (residence) as you but I’ve been around a bit, know many people from many areas, and nope, nothing matches the PA thing.
Basically no-one knows about it, either - even me, living next to them and with western MDers who “should” have about the same patterns. It’s not shown on TV shows or anything. It’s not “advertised”. But EVERYONE knows about New England and NY and the “South” - and many know about Minn/Wisc. Most of these again, are about accent, and not rearranging words or omissions.