Are you asking "where do people live where their accent is untouched by time/migration"? Probably isolated pockets of Appalachia or Ocracoke Island Hoi Toiders. Their accents are closer to what their English/Scotch ancestors spoke 300+ years ago though.
Appalachian Isa good one. It has been studied linguist due to the fact that even when an outside influence comes around it pretty much went unchanged. It wasn't till the widespread introduction of the internet in the mid 2000s in the region that the accent started to show signs of impact. Since a lot of people that participated in Westward Expansion came from Appalachia, there are still enclaves of the accent all throughout the western part of the country, especially in Texas.
Texas is basically just Western Tennessee. All of the famous Texans were Tennesseans. Sam Houston? Born in Tennessee, governor of Tennessee, all before moving to Texas. David Bowie? Tennessean. Davy Crockett of the Alamo fame? Tennessean born and TN congressman before Texas.
Native Tennessean here. But from Nashville, not out in the country. When I was a kid in the 60s, talking to Tennessee farmers out in the country was an experience. I absolutely guarantee you that 95% of even Southerners back then would not have understood but the smallest handful of words. Even more amusing, back then, these farmers were legendary for speaking with their lips barely parted (and no lip movement at all). My grandfather had to interpret for me, and even he had some difficulty. Today, that is all gone. I attribute it to the influence of television and the predominance of the West Coast accent in broadcasts over the decades. I so wish I had recordings of some of those conversations for evidence of how bad it was. It would have left an impression on you.
I’ve joked for years that TN is the Tri-Star state because we volunteered 1/4 of our stars to the Lonestar state. They got Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, etc.
They cook their barbecue wrong but I love my confused cousins west of Memphis.
I always joke that Texas is our little brother who happened to grow up to be bigger than us, and everything they're famous for they learned from us. Just like little brothers do.
Austin is famous for country music and the blues. Just like Nashville and Memphis.
Their college football team is orange and white. Just like Knoxville.
We're called the volunteer state because when they needed us, we had their backs.
At the end of the day, they're our little brother. We may talk all the crap in the world to each other, but swing at one of us, and you'll be fighting both of us.
Their accents likely have faded. I recall a former coworker who was from southern Louisiana. She had a southern accent but after Xmas one yr she went doepwnnand on her first day back it was like “ what are you saying”
This is what I was going to mention. There are YouTube videos of their accent. I visited to Tangier in 1986. I always wanted to take my kids there, but somehow time passed and now they are adults,
As someone who isn’t a southerner, it’s West Tennessee. Any time I hear an accent that sounds like someone making fun of an over the top southern accent, that person is from west Tennessee.
I once met someone from Tennessee. Her accent plus the tone of her voice made me want to ram forks in my ears to make it stop. It’s weird, I’ve heard dozens of southern accents and I’ve never had that kind of visceral reaction. She was nice, too, so I felt bad.
I was looking for this. East Tennessee is wild. I was a kid and introduced to someone from there. At first I was cracking up because I honestly thought she was just doing a funny voice on purpose. Then I realized my mistake and felt embarrassed. Never heard a thicker accent than hers.
I always think of East Tennessee as the epitome of a southern accent. It isn't necessarily the strongest but it's the most stereotypically southern. They all sound like Dolly Parton. Soft, sweet accents
I had a CB radio as a kid and used to listen to the southern truckers driving through the area. I don't think you could call it English, more like Boomhauer-ese
I had a friendly acquaintance that I didnt know much about, outside of the kid's playgroup we attended. I met her husband and instantly knew he was from East Tennessee. Ironically from the same area I visited yearly as a child and I knew his grandfather.
Seems like each key has its own vibe...at least the ones with enough people living there. For anyone who's never done it, that's a super fun roadtrip just to meander down there and eventually make your way to Key West...
Most unintelligible Southern accent I've encountered was by my old roommate from the Everglades. He spoke normally most of the time, but when he got phone calls from family, he code switched hard.
I believe somone did a documentary about it but the Lumbee Native American tribe in Lumberton NC somehow or another adopted that classic hill Billy southerner accent somehow
Like as someone born and raised in Nc it’s not Appalachian, it’s not Cajun, it’s not fog horn leg horn…it’s honestly comical and feels out of place.
The Gone With The Wind style southern drawl and the Texan twang are the two that people from other areas probably think of when you talk about a southern accent. Some of the accents in Louisiana and far East Texas are the hardest for outsiders to understand.
I know nothing of the Gullah or what they specifically sound like. I’m talking about general people from SC that have a harsh and sometimes caricature like sound of a southern person.
I mean there's a variety of accents that make up the Southern dialect. You have
• Traditional Deep South accent(think SC, GA, Middle & South AL, MS, LA, North FL, East TX etc)
• Appalachian South & Ozark South accent(think WV, East KY, East TN, West NC, East OK, North AR, South MO)
• Tidewater(think MD, VA, and coastal NC)
• Cajun influenced(think LA and parts of coastal MS, AL, and East TX)
• Upper or Upland South accent(a mixture of mainstream traditional South & Appalachian, think KY, TN, Northeast/East AR, Southeastern MO, North AL, etc)
• Tex-Mex South accent(think most of TX and OK)
•Geechee which African American Southern dialect. I'm sure there's other variations I'm missing.
It tends to be the more rural an area is the stronger that particular Southern accent is.
It’s very location specific but I find Appalachian easier than the Deep South. Appalachian accents can vary a lot more in a small area while the broader lowland South tends to be a bit more homogenized. Also Appalachia ranges pretty far both North & South so you can get guys in Georgia or New York that are “Appalachian” while also having features that you would attribute to North/South. It’s a weird sort of pipeline that doesn’t quite fit nearly into a North/South divide.
That would be a hard one to define. It would depend on where the person asking is from. I don't have a good answer as mine is a mix of East Texas (learned from mom), the Permian Basin and the Gulf coast of Texas.
Though personally I think for true southern, it would be the rural parts of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.
My mom is from Southern LA so been visiting my whole life +in general with lots of travel / living abroad I normally would say I’m really good at understanding people with thick accents.
I used to go fishing at her family farm that’s way south in Cajun country and when I’d stop at a gas station to buy bait/drinks down there I genuinely almost never could understand what the fuck people were saying to me.
I’d argue the most southern accent would not be hardest to understand like in the Appalachian Mountains but rather the refined old money sounding accents.
They're all so different. I think the southern/Appalachian accent is very unique. People like Popcorn Sutton from east TN, NE Alabama, NW Georgia have a deep accent. Older people from this area had a beautiful and unique accent. Hearing people talk like that reminds me of my mom's family.
I have worked my whole life to minimize my accent because I work a corporate job. My son doesn't have an accent. That is how quickly it dies out.
My old accent comes out when I drink or get mad. I love accents from New England and NYC. As I've gotten older I tried to unpack some of the shame I have around my own accent.
I have a heavy accent and mainly work with people from out of town. I speak with my accent because it’s part of me. It’s so hard to think and try to speak without it at the same time. I went to college with people from everywhere so it’s not as thick as it used to be but it’s still pretty obvious. My kids also don’t have my accent. My partner also doesn’t have the accent despite him growing up 5 miles outside of the same city.
And that's true everywhere. Minnesotans who claim "we don't talk like that" after they see a movie like Fargo have never been to a small farming town in rural Minnesota, for instance.
I had the opposite experience when I was young. I spent a lot of time in rural northern MN. Heavy accent. Then when I went to Minneapolis/St. Paul I was wondering where all the accents went.
The ones without a rhotic R I’d say, most people would call it an “old south” accent or something similar, I’d associate it with parts of Virginia, both Carolina’s and Georgia, it’s something mostly associated with older people and also a southern aristocracy that barley exists anymore. Maybe today when people think of the southern accent they imagine a more Appalachian style or a Texas style draw spoken in most of the south but to me the old school VA NC SC GA old school one is “the” southern accent accent is example
Example typed phonetically would be “red rover is coming from North Carolina” might be pronounced like “rayud rovah iyuz comin Fromm nawth kehlina”
A good example of that accent in the modern world and not just someone emulating aristocracy or a plantation owner would be the “hit d road dude” guy
I lived there for a few years and a couple of the older folks I lived next to had that exact accent lol, I also remember the word “like” almost sounded like they were saying “la” in the very back of their throat and almost sounded like they were about to throw up lol, funny how different the accent is compared to what I grew up with in Arkansas, but the western NC accents do sometimes sound more like what I grew up with in the Ozarks, more of a twang than a drawl.
There are many, many nuances so impossible to zero it down to just one. There are “swamp” accents in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and “holler” (valley) accents in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia and Tennessee. There are rural accents in Mississippi and Alabama. Small-town coastal accents in North Carolina. But it’s not all poor or country people; a “gentleman lawyer” or sorority cheerleader could very well have a very thick accent.
The only American accent I have ever had trouble understanding was from an elderly man who spent his entire life in a tiny rural town between Texas and Louisiana
Half my family is from rural Texas and South Carolina but It was like that man was speaking an different language
I'm married into a Cajun family. It took me about 3 years to be able to understand the older family members without watching their lips move. They thought it was hilarious.
I was in Maine and while sitting in a coffee shop a few guys sat behind us and I honestly thought they were speaking another language. As someone who speaks a few languages and can understand some others it was absolutely wild when I realized they were speaking English. I had to slow it down in my head and basically replay everything to actually comprehend what was being said. I only figured it out when they were speaking to the owner, who I had been chatting with for a few days.
I’m from New Orleans. It’s call the “y’at” accents. It’s not twang southern so much as it is distinctly New Orleans. You know when you’ve crossed into NOLA territory when the R drops and words get mashed together
“Most Southern” is tricky. I would say that coastal Georgia, especially around Savannah is what most people thinks of as the long slow southern drawl. It very different from the Texas twang and the somewhat nasal Tennessee.
i think either cajun or low country carolina accent are incredibly hard. someone appalachian accents are hard to understand but i think the syrupy nature of the coastal accents takes the cake
Take a look at the Appalachian accent. I have an Appalachian accent. commonly associated with hillbillies and banjos and such. Or rather Billhillies and banjers and such lol. (Yes I play a banjo but not because I’m from the mountains)
Ive lived all over the south and had the most difficulty while on a work contract in Greenwood, Mississippi. I once asked a girl to repeat a third time and slowly please.
TheBimpo@reddit
Are you asking "where do people live where their accent is untouched by time/migration"? Probably isolated pockets of Appalachia or Ocracoke Island Hoi Toiders. Their accents are closer to what their English/Scotch ancestors spoke 300+ years ago though.
Meattyloaf@reddit
Appalachian Isa good one. It has been studied linguist due to the fact that even when an outside influence comes around it pretty much went unchanged. It wasn't till the widespread introduction of the internet in the mid 2000s in the region that the accent started to show signs of impact. Since a lot of people that participated in Westward Expansion came from Appalachia, there are still enclaves of the accent all throughout the western part of the country, especially in Texas.
TheKaptinKirk@reddit
Texas is basically just Western Tennessee. All of the famous Texans were Tennesseans. Sam Houston? Born in Tennessee, governor of Tennessee, all before moving to Texas. David Bowie? Tennessean. Davy Crockett of the Alamo fame? Tennessean born and TN congressman before Texas.
WeddingIndividual378@reddit
Native Tennessean here. But from Nashville, not out in the country. When I was a kid in the 60s, talking to Tennessee farmers out in the country was an experience. I absolutely guarantee you that 95% of even Southerners back then would not have understood but the smallest handful of words. Even more amusing, back then, these farmers were legendary for speaking with their lips barely parted (and no lip movement at all). My grandfather had to interpret for me, and even he had some difficulty. Today, that is all gone. I attribute it to the influence of television and the predominance of the West Coast accent in broadcasts over the decades. I so wish I had recordings of some of those conversations for evidence of how bad it was. It would have left an impression on you.
BoringPrinciple2542@reddit
Thank you! 😂
I’ve joked for years that TN is the Tri-Star state because we volunteered 1/4 of our stars to the Lonestar state. They got Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, etc.
They cook their barbecue wrong but I love my confused cousins west of Memphis.
Drezhun@reddit
I always joke that Texas is our little brother who happened to grow up to be bigger than us, and everything they're famous for they learned from us. Just like little brothers do.
Austin is famous for country music and the blues. Just like Nashville and Memphis.
Their college football team is orange and white. Just like Knoxville.
We're called the volunteer state because when they needed us, we had their backs.
At the end of the day, they're our little brother. We may talk all the crap in the world to each other, but swing at one of us, and you'll be fighting both of us.
Classic_Cash_2156@reddit
Except that's wrong.
Sam Houston was born in Virginia.
James Bowie (the famous Texan, David Bowie is from the UK) was born in Kentucky.
TheKaptinKirk@reddit
You’re right, of course. I misremembered some facts.
David Bowie… 😂
sarcasticorange@reddit
Satellite TV in the 90s had a good bit of impact as well.
JimBones31@reddit
Tangier Island in Chesapeake fits the bill.
SabresBills69@reddit
yes, along with its neighboring island in Maryland called smith island. Ive been to tangier
JimBones31@reddit
I have many coworkers from the island.
SabresBills69@reddit
Their accents likely have faded. I recall a former coworker who was from southern Louisiana. She had a southern accent but after Xmas one yr she went doepwnnand on her first day back it was like “ what are you saying”
Drew707@reddit
What was she trying to say?
SabresBills69@reddit
She returned and regained the harsh accent
JimBones31@reddit
When these guys talk amongst themselves it's the same way!;
According-Couple2744@reddit
This is what I was going to mention. There are YouTube videos of their accent. I visited to Tangier in 1986. I always wanted to take my kids there, but somehow time passed and now they are adults,
AggravatingBobcat574@reddit
Patagonian. That’s about as Southern as you can get
Several_Celebration@reddit
From what I've heard Backcountry of South Carolina sounds the most southern to me. See Xavier Legette the football player.
Super_Direction498@reddit
Antarctic. For real
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_English
Gold_Telephone_7192@reddit
As someone who isn’t a southerner, it’s West Tennessee. Any time I hear an accent that sounds like someone making fun of an over the top southern accent, that person is from west Tennessee.
mst3k_42@reddit
I once met someone from Tennessee. Her accent plus the tone of her voice made me want to ram forks in my ears to make it stop. It’s weird, I’ve heard dozens of southern accents and I’ve never had that kind of visceral reaction. She was nice, too, so I felt bad.
MuscaMurum@reddit
I was looking for this. East Tennessee is wild. I was a kid and introduced to someone from there. At first I was cracking up because I honestly thought she was just doing a funny voice on purpose. Then I realized my mistake and felt embarrassed. Never heard a thicker accent than hers.
letmesingyouawaltz_@reddit
I always think of East Tennessee as the epitome of a southern accent. It isn't necessarily the strongest but it's the most stereotypically southern. They all sound like Dolly Parton. Soft, sweet accents
Weightmonster@reddit
Key west accent of course.
MuscaMurum@reddit
Hawaii would like a word
sean8877@reddit
I had a CB radio as a kid and used to listen to the southern truckers driving through the area. I don't think you could call it English, more like Boomhauer-ese
SteakAndIron@reddit
Some parts of Texas are barely English
Rattlingplates@reddit
Texas Louisianan parts of Florida
nippleflick1@reddit
The one that Southerners can't understand either!
Shoddy-Secretary-712@reddit
East Tennessee
I had a friendly acquaintance that I didnt know much about, outside of the kid's playgroup we attended. I met her husband and instantly knew he was from East Tennessee. Ironically from the same area I visited yearly as a child and I knew his grandfather.
2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit
Key West
Adorable-East-2276@reddit
That’s, not really how that works
Yggdrasil-@reddit
The futher south you get in Florida, the less Southern people sound lol
LifeApprehensive2818@reddit
At least back in the 00s, Tampa and Miami had strong idiomatic similarities to Boston and Worcester MA, thanks to all the snowbirds and retirees.
pinniped90@reddit
Lol we just had a similar thread - Miami isn't really the "South". It's just its own thing.
PacSan300@reddit
Miami is so far south that it is the capital of Latin America…
JonMatrix@reddit
And if you keep going south you hit Key West which is also very much its own thing.
pinniped90@reddit
Seems like each key has its own vibe...at least the ones with enough people living there. For anyone who's never done it, that's a super fun roadtrip just to meander down there and eventually make your way to Key West...
LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit
Yeah - most of Florida was basically founded by NYers.
Zealousideal_Draw_94@reddit
I’d say Sydney Australia is most southern accent.
If you’re referring to thick accent, there up north in mountains of TN, KY, NC and West Virginia.
I don’t consider Louisiana in this because the presence of multiple varieties of the French language in the state’s culture.
GreenBeanTM@reddit
All southern accents are the most southern.
TheOwlMarble@reddit
Most unintelligible Southern accent I've encountered was by my old roommate from the Everglades. He spoke normally most of the time, but when he got phone calls from family, he code switched hard.
QueenJamieMaePalmer@reddit
Ocracoke
KerryUSA@reddit
I believe somone did a documentary about it but the Lumbee Native American tribe in Lumberton NC somehow or another adopted that classic hill Billy southerner accent somehow
Like as someone born and raised in Nc it’s not Appalachian, it’s not Cajun, it’s not fog horn leg horn…it’s honestly comical and feels out of place.
Shoddy_Bet9619@reddit
Creole
hbi2k@reddit
Whatever accent they have on Cape Horn, I guess?
devilscabinet@reddit
The Gone With The Wind style southern drawl and the Texan twang are the two that people from other areas probably think of when you talk about a southern accent. Some of the accents in Louisiana and far East Texas are the hardest for outsiders to understand.
h8movies@reddit
Auburn/Opelika/Columbus corridor.
juanzy@reddit
The Gullah people of South Carolina
StOnEy333@reddit
I was gonna say SC too. Not sure if it’s “the most southern” accent, but it sounds pretty hilarious.
TheBimpo@reddit
The Gullah Geechee are descendent of enslaved people that lived in isolated pockets of sea islands who developed a Creole culture and language.
There are multiple accents within SC. The Gullah don't sound like Upstaters or Charlestonians. Calling any of them "hilarious" is kind of insulting.
StOnEy333@reddit
I know nothing of the Gullah or what they specifically sound like. I’m talking about general people from SC that have a harsh and sometimes caricature like sound of a southern person.
Averagecrabenjoyer69@reddit
I mean there's a variety of accents that make up the Southern dialect. You have
• Traditional Deep South accent(think SC, GA, Middle & South AL, MS, LA, North FL, East TX etc)
• Appalachian South & Ozark South accent(think WV, East KY, East TN, West NC, East OK, North AR, South MO)
• Tidewater(think MD, VA, and coastal NC)
• Cajun influenced(think LA and parts of coastal MS, AL, and East TX)
• Upper or Upland South accent(a mixture of mainstream traditional South & Appalachian, think KY, TN, Northeast/East AR, Southeastern MO, North AL, etc)
• Tex-Mex South accent(think most of TX and OK)
•Geechee which African American Southern dialect. I'm sure there's other variations I'm missing.
It tends to be the more rural an area is the stronger that particular Southern accent is.
sideshow--@reddit
I grew up in the south, and the only accent I have a hard time understanding is rural Appalachian.
BoringPrinciple2542@reddit
It’s very location specific but I find Appalachian easier than the Deep South. Appalachian accents can vary a lot more in a small area while the broader lowland South tends to be a bit more homogenized. Also Appalachia ranges pretty far both North & South so you can get guys in Georgia or New York that are “Appalachian” while also having features that you would attribute to North/South. It’s a weird sort of pipeline that doesn’t quite fit nearly into a North/South divide.
Username98101@reddit
Hawaii
Cinisajoy2@reddit
That would be a hard one to define. It would depend on where the person asking is from. I don't have a good answer as mine is a mix of East Texas (learned from mom), the Permian Basin and the Gulf coast of Texas. Though personally I think for true southern, it would be the rural parts of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.
Fancy_Sleep6093@reddit
Cajun
PacSan300@reddit
This is probably the hardest American regional accent for me to understand.
Lophius_Americanus@reddit
My mom is from Southern LA so been visiting my whole life +in general with lots of travel / living abroad I normally would say I’m really good at understanding people with thick accents.
I used to go fishing at her family farm that’s way south in Cajun country and when I’d stop at a gas station to buy bait/drinks down there I genuinely almost never could understand what the fuck people were saying to me.
YourGuyK@reddit
Which is a little ironic considering the Acadian people came out of the decidedly not southern country of Canada.
LordChefChristoph@reddit
I worked in Mississippi for a few years. He spoke to me in English mostly. Even that was unintelligible. Think the guy in Waterboy, but more French.
Fancy_Sleep6093@reddit
When I hear this dialect or regional language, whatever it is, I automatically hear the banjo from Deliverance.
TokyoDrifblim@reddit
If by that you mean hardest to understand probably Cajun
happyLilAcidents444@reddit
It’s because sometimes they literally aren’t speaking English 😂
Jdevers77@reddit
Sometimes but rarely, more like English with an occasional French word but that’s not why they are unintelligible.
Blonde_Vampire_1984@reddit
The French speaking Cajuns will speak English fluently with a strongly French cadence and rhythm.
Feeling_Name_6903@reddit
Antarctic
Emerald_Pick@reddit
which is a real accent, btw, atleast been these researchers.
PacSan300@reddit
Lies, it was mostly influenced by the penguins. /s
Emerald_Pick@reddit
Researchers learned from the best. 🐧
pinniped90@reddit
Ok that was a cool little rabbit hole, thanks!
TheDuckFarm@reddit
Savannah, Georgia.
I’d argue the most southern accent would not be hardest to understand like in the Appalachian Mountains but rather the refined old money sounding accents.
dwfmba@reddit
Boomhauer
Utaneus@reddit
Hawaiian?
JonasSkywalker@reddit
Any remote Louisiana accent wins this one for me.
No-Contact6664@reddit
Cajun is so southern in Nova Scotian.
GoonOfAllGoons@reddit
This answer will not get the respect it deserves.
KDneverleft@reddit
They're all so different. I think the southern/Appalachian accent is very unique. People like Popcorn Sutton from east TN, NE Alabama, NW Georgia have a deep accent. Older people from this area had a beautiful and unique accent. Hearing people talk like that reminds me of my mom's family.
I have worked my whole life to minimize my accent because I work a corporate job. My son doesn't have an accent. That is how quickly it dies out.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I have friends with really thick Boston accents that actually took speech classes to minimize it.
It’s hilarious because if you get them around their friends and family from Dorchester or South Boston the old accent explodes out.
I knew one guy for about a year before I heard his real accent.
KDneverleft@reddit
My old accent comes out when I drink or get mad. I love accents from New England and NYC. As I've gotten older I tried to unpack some of the shame I have around my own accent.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Yup that’s the way these folks were. Get a few drinks in them and get their dander up and it’s like we were down in Southie ready to fight.
happyLilAcidents444@reddit
I have a heavy accent and mainly work with people from out of town. I speak with my accent because it’s part of me. It’s so hard to think and try to speak without it at the same time. I went to college with people from everywhere so it’s not as thick as it used to be but it’s still pretty obvious. My kids also don’t have my accent. My partner also doesn’t have the accent despite him growing up 5 miles outside of the same city.
VegetableSquirrel@reddit
The prevalence of TV and the Internet is likely a bit of an influence on the accents becoming less prevalent.
Prestigious_Field579@reddit
And that is a tragedy
Barutano74@reddit
There are a pretty wide variety of southern accents; the strongest ones tend to be the most rural ones.
Awdayshus@reddit
And that's true everywhere. Minnesotans who claim "we don't talk like that" after they see a movie like Fargo have never been to a small farming town in rural Minnesota, for instance.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I had the opposite experience when I was young. I spent a lot of time in rural northern MN. Heavy accent. Then when I went to Minneapolis/St. Paul I was wondering where all the accents went.
Awdayshus@reddit
That's the only thing Fargo exaggerated: they made the accent too strong in the Cities
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Agreed. It’s similar when the south is portrayed. You will have characters with heavy southern accents even though they live in the big city.
It’s done to set the scene but much less prominent in real life.
Like a lot of things in movies and TV it is fiction done for dramatic effect.
Barutano74@reddit
I had exactly that happen with a suburban-Minneapolis couple I know from Minnesota recently 😂
Jerentropic@reddit
Some of those penguins in Antarctica. No one knows what those guys are saying'.
ArkansasTravelier@reddit
The ones without a rhotic R I’d say, most people would call it an “old south” accent or something similar, I’d associate it with parts of Virginia, both Carolina’s and Georgia, it’s something mostly associated with older people and also a southern aristocracy that barley exists anymore. Maybe today when people think of the southern accent they imagine a more Appalachian style or a Texas style draw spoken in most of the south but to me the old school VA NC SC GA old school one is “the” southern accent accent is example
Example typed phonetically would be “red rover is coming from North Carolina” might be pronounced like “rayud rovah iyuz comin Fromm nawth kehlina”
A good example of that accent in the modern world and not just someone emulating aristocracy or a plantation owner would be the “hit d road dude” guy
Permission becomes “puh mission” , “trey Taylor” becomes “trey tayluh” , “crew tractor” because “crew tratduh” , “the” becomes “da” and “Hubert” becomes “hugh but”
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Virginia… vuhginya
edbutler3@reddit
Your phonetic respelling of the Red Rover phrase cracked me up. As someone who grew up in NC, I could hear that in my mind so clearly.
ArkansasTravelier@reddit
I lived there for a few years and a couple of the older folks I lived next to had that exact accent lol, I also remember the word “like” almost sounded like they were saying “la” in the very back of their throat and almost sounded like they were about to throw up lol, funny how different the accent is compared to what I grew up with in Arkansas, but the western NC accents do sometimes sound more like what I grew up with in the Ozarks, more of a twang than a drawl.
Pandaburn@reddit
Hawaiian, obviously
let-it-rain-sunshine@reddit
Their pigeon english is tough for most people to follow, you know da kine?
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Pigeon… heh
Pidgin English.
Pandaburn@reddit
Oh, da kine? Yeah.
Only_Presentation758@reddit
There are many, many nuances so impossible to zero it down to just one. There are “swamp” accents in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and “holler” (valley) accents in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia and Tennessee. There are rural accents in Mississippi and Alabama. Small-town coastal accents in North Carolina. But it’s not all poor or country people; a “gentleman lawyer” or sorority cheerleader could very well have a very thick accent.
itsdaCowboi@reddit
Technically it's the Puerto Rican accent
carmineragu@reddit
Country accents are usually thicker than City in the south
Odd-Tell-5702@reddit
Ocracoke Island maybe
Shop-S-Marts@reddit
Cajon
Folksma@reddit
The only American accent I have ever had trouble understanding was from an elderly man who spent his entire life in a tiny rural town between Texas and Louisiana
Half my family is from rural Texas and South Carolina but It was like that man was speaking an different language
Radar1980@reddit
Yeah the only one that gives me trouble is that deep bayou Cajun.
ScoutAndLout@reddit
But that is not Southern. It is a whole different thing IMHO.
BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy@reddit
Are you cajun?
PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit
I’m Cajun and also consider us something else
BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy@reddit
Cajun country as far as I know is extended to Calcasieu parish. Im from BR. If they mean around Toledo bend, then no.
But I've never heard anyone cajun say they aren't southern.
nickparadies@reddit
Cajuns are Southerners they’re just also Cajuns.
toot_it_n_boot_it@reddit
They don’t have a Southern accent, they have a Cajun accent.
ScoutAndLout@reddit
Cajun is a dialect in the south but not a typical “southern” dialect.
LifeFindsAWhey@reddit
You need to visit rural Livingston Parish if you think the coonass accent is bad lol
Amaranth504@reddit
I'm married into a Cajun family. It took me about 3 years to be able to understand the older family members without watching their lips move. They thought it was hilarious.
Theyalreadysaidno@reddit
My Minnesota ass looked at some people with confusion when I was in deep Cajun country.
Help1Ted@reddit
I was in Maine and while sitting in a coffee shop a few guys sat behind us and I honestly thought they were speaking another language. As someone who speaks a few languages and can understand some others it was absolutely wild when I realized they were speaking English. I had to slow it down in my head and basically replay everything to actually comprehend what was being said. I only figured it out when they were speaking to the owner, who I had been chatting with for a few days.
froction@reddit
He grew up on an island in the middle of Toledo Bend?
cooking2recovery@reddit
Probably means a border town, something like Deweyville.
Louisianimal09@reddit
I’m from New Orleans. It’s call the “y’at” accents. It’s not twang southern so much as it is distinctly New Orleans. You know when you’ve crossed into NOLA territory when the R drops and words get mashed together
https://youtu.be/5Da2iw59ErU?si=GhG2c8M3jrcbwOn1
Zama202@reddit
“Most Southern” is tricky. I would say that coastal Georgia, especially around Savannah is what most people thinks of as the long slow southern drawl. It very different from the Texas twang and the somewhat nasal Tennessee.
Barutano74@reddit
My favorite variety of southern accent is south Georgia.
TheLizardKing89@reddit
Cajun or Gullah.
MMARapFooty@reddit
Appalachian,Cajun,Mississippi Delta
Elle_Duderino@reddit
That Mississippi Delta
Vandal_A@reddit
It doesn't work like that
DropTopEWop@reddit
Eastern Tennessee
rawbface@reddit
Antarctican
theegodmother1999@reddit
i think either cajun or low country carolina accent are incredibly hard. someone appalachian accents are hard to understand but i think the syrupy nature of the coastal accents takes the cake
Numerous_Map_8127@reddit
All of my grandparents have southern Appalachian accents. Other southern accents sound mild in comparison.
Legovida8@reddit
South Carolina & East Texas
med118@reddit
Take a look at the Appalachian accent. I have an Appalachian accent. commonly associated with hillbillies and banjos and such. Or rather Billhillies and banjers and such lol. (Yes I play a banjo but not because I’m from the mountains)
Take a look at this documentary about the Appalachian accent and dialect.
yummyjackalmeat@reddit
There isn't really a quantifiable way to say what is "more" southern, but Texas and Alabama accents get a lot of attention.
pslush01@reddit
New Zealand accent
Awdayshus@reddit
Antarctic English
pslush01@reddit
Oh damn--beaten at my own game!
thewNYC@reddit
Tierra del Fuego
Roam1985@reddit
Tierra Del Fuegan
Dwayla@reddit
South Georgia.
Reader124-Logan@reddit
Yep. Also, I have an Aunt named Dwala.
IP_What@reddit
Tierra del Feugan
(Serious answer: this is going to be be a matter of opinion, but I see South Carolina/Charleston as paradigmatic Southern accents.)
Awdayshus@reddit
Antarctic English
BettyWhiteDevilband@reddit
Cape Horn or Diego Ramírez Islands.
Awdayshus@reddit
The most southern has got to be Antarctic English, a distinct dialect identified in 2019.
rollingquestionmark@reddit
Ive lived all over the south and had the most difficulty while on a work contract in Greenwood, Mississippi. I once asked a girl to repeat a third time and slowly please.
NIN10DOXD@reddit
It depends on how you define “most southern.”
DontH8DaPlaya@reddit
Have you ever been to sopchoppy, fl?
cmcglinchy@reddit
Georgia/Mississippi/Alabama