Southern Accents

[nashvol85]

Southern Dialect Quiz

I took it twice and got "58% (Dixie). Barely into the Dixie category."

Does this make me a southern poser?

99% (Dixie). Is General Lee your father?

[nashvol85]

Okay I have an odd question and figured this old topic was the best place to put it. How is the word 'pecan' pronounced in your area? From what I can tell areas of the south west of the Mississippi River pronounce it as p'kahn. But I believe that as you go more southeast it's eventually pronounced as pee-can. So which is it in your area of the south?

My dad makes a good pecan (p'kahn) pie.

[NCB]

I say it P'kahn.

Most of Southeast Louisiana seems to pronounce it this way.

[nashvol85]

I agree. Most of the people I know who have lived here all there lives, and whose parents lived here, etc... do NOT have a Souther Accent. You only start hearing it when you get to Mid and Northern Florida.

Like I said before, to me the most beautiful souther accent is in the Nashville/Franklin area. It is very light, very gentle...

The northern florida accent is way too heavy for my tastes... And again, South Florida DOES NOT have an accent!!! It is a very generic sounding english.

Nashville is commonly associated with the southern twang, but there is a strong element of the old south "educated" or "aristocratic" refined accent. I think that's why there is a good mix of soft, gentle, and eloquent but with noticable southern roots. I learned to speak southern from my grandma, who had a very strong, yet clear and understandable southern accent.

I say it P'kahn.

Most of Southeast Louisiana seems to pronounce it this way.

PEE-CAN just sounds too harsh to me. My southern accent usually softens words rather than stresses certain vowels.

[Greenville]

I say P'kahn, but I have heard others in the south also say PEE-can.

While we're at it, I have a question. One of my friends, who is from the rural south, commented that I say "yams" and he says "sweet potatoes." He said that he always thought that "yams" was a northern way of saying it, and "sweet potatoes" was southern. Do you guys agree with that? I usually say "yams," but have also said "sweet potato" and wondered if there were any regional influence on this.

[krazeeboi]

I've heard both.

[ironchapman]

I've heard both, but pe-cahn seems more common up here, except to my Dad, who is from the Mississippi Coast. He says it pee-can.

I could care less. I say it both with a favoring for the pe-cahn.

[Mith242]

I say P'kahn, but I have heard others in the south also say PEE-can.

While we're at it, I have a question. One of my friends, who is from the rural south, commented that I say "yams" and he says "sweet potatoes." He said that he always thought that "yams" was a northern way of saying it, and "sweet potatoes" was southern. Do you guys agree with that? I usually say "yams," but have also said "sweet potato" and wondered if there were any regional influence on this.

Yeah I can't say I know of anyone over in this area that says yams. I always hear sweet potatoes.

[upstate29650]

I'm from Georgia....the state the produces more pecans than any other. I call them "pee-cans". Therefore, since we produce them, naturally, we pronounce them correctly as well.

And we also make Pralines (pronouced "pray-leans", not "prah-leans").

Hard to beat a good, authentic Southern accent. I remember as a boy, I spent two years in Vermont (frozen hell!), when my dad was transferred up there. Silly Vermonters said I spoke with a British accent!!!

But I must agree with Spartan than the upper Midwest accent is the most grating & harsh on the ears. It's 'Wisconsin", not "Wis-CAAHHHNN-sin"! Good Lawd Chile, git some learnin!!! Another nasaly accent is the Boston one, and it's bad too.

[Arkansawyer]

I'm from Georgia....the state the produces more pecans than any other. I call them "pee-cans". Therefore, since we produce them, naturally, we pronounce them correctly as well.

And we also make Pralines (pronouced "pray-leans", not "prah-leans").

Hard to beat a good, authentic Southern accent. I remember as a boy, I spent two years in Vermont (frozen hell!), when my dad was transferred up there. Silly Vermonters said I spoke with a British accent!!!

But I must agree with Spartan than the upper Midwest accent is the most grating & harsh on the ears. It's 'Wisconsin", not "Wis-CAAHHHNN-sin"! Good Lawd Chile, git some learnin!!! Another nasaly accent is the Boston one, and it's bad too.

I've never known a Southerner to pronounce them "pee-cans." I've known some neighbors from Indiana who pronounce them that way, and also Lee Corso says that. I agree with nashvol85, "pee-can" sounds harsh, and Southern accents tend to soften words.

The Southern pronunciation of "praline" is definitely "prah-lean." Here's an excerpt of an article from FrenchQuarter.com:

The candy's winning flavor has led to worldwide popularity, and, as such things go, varying pronunciations and hybrid recipes. For the record, the local and proper pronunciation is "prah-lean," while the nut most commonly used in it is pronounced "peck-on." Just remember that, in New Orleans, a word pronounced "pray-lean" means nothing except, perhaps, a posture the supplicant faithful assume while petitioning God.

Again, the Southern pronunciation is less harsh than the Northern one.

[upstate29650]

I've never known a Southerner to pronounce them "pee-cans." I've known some neighbors from Indiana who pronounce them that way, and also Lee Corso says that. I agree with nashvol85, "pee-can" sounds harsh, and Southern accents tend to soften words.

The Southern pronunciation of "praline" is definitely "prah-lean." Here's an excerpt of an article from FrenchQuarter.com:

Again, the Southern pronunciation is less harsh than the Northern one.

Then again, in your isolated corner of the South, and being located closer to New Orleans than I am, your statements above are merely your own perception. Over here, from Virginia south to Florida, the preferred pronounciations are definately "pee-can" & "pray-lean"

[triadcat]

Then again, in your isolated corner of the South, and being located closer to New Orleans than I am, your statements above are merely your own perception. Over here, from Virginia south to Florida, the preferred pronounciations are definately "pee-can" & "pray-lean"

Uuuuumm, I don't know about that. I have very deep roots here in North Carolina, and me, my family and relatives pronounce pecan like "pee-cahn" with the lower vowel sound, not the flatter sounding "pee-can". The latter pronounciation sounds almost midwest/plains states to me.

Is your family originally from the coastal south??

I do think we say "pray-lean" though.

[Mith242]

I admit I think I hear pray-lean more. But as far as pecans go it seems to somewhere towards the southeast it seems to become pee-can. I just don't know where the dividing line is. If it around the Mississippi River or futher east. Any Tennessee, Mississippi, or Alabama forumers that can give us a better idea?

[Mith242]

There's an interesting map in this month's copy of National Geographic. It shows accents around the country. Unfortunately I've had no luck finding an online version of the map to post. It shows the southern accent in extreme southern Maryland, most of Virginia except for the very northern part, the southern two thirds of West Virginia. Just about all of Kentucky except the area north of Lexington The very southern tip of Illinois, the southern edge of Missouri then dipping quite a bit around the Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma borders. The southern third of Oklahoma south of OKC, just about all of Texas except the northern part of the panhandle and the extreme west around El Paso. They even have part of southeast New Mexico. Something I don't think I've ever seen. Most of Florida isn't in the southern dialect, only around Jacksonville and the panhandle. Although it doesn't really explain Florida well, just gives it a different color. There's also a different color in South Carolina around the Charleston region. Then there's two slight color changes within the south. They have an Inland South dialect, starting around the Tenessee/North Carolina area extending down into the very western part of South Carolina and north Georgia. Then extending into much of northern Alabama. Then there's also a Texas South in most of the northern half of Texas, excluding all the panhandle. Don't think I've seen Texas defined like that before either. Anyway I thought the map was interesting if anyone has this month's National Geographic.

[Mikejesmike]

New Orleans is probably the only southern area,that hasn't had large amounts of migration,that doesn't have a southern accent. It sounds like a New York City accent. My niece came up to visit me in Ohio and while there she said everyone kept asking her if she was from New York City.

My southern score is 57%,I'm not surprised. I don't think I ever really had a southern accent. I lived around New Orleans until I was 8,my mother is from West Virginia and she left for Ohio when she was 18 and went down to Louisiana and she has absolutely no hillbilly accent,unlike her siblings who stayed behind in West Virginia. My dad has live around New Orleans all his life,all his family is from there,and I really don't detect any accent from him,maybe a slight New Orleans accent but nothing that stands out.

As for pecan I say Pee-can. My mother say's P'kahn and insists that I'm not pronouncing it right.

[NCB]

My niece came up to visit me in Ohio and while there she said everyone kept asking her if she was from New York City.

This happens to me frequently when I go out of town. I have a New Orleans accent that can be hardly noticeable at some points, and extremely strong at others.

[upstate29650]

Is your family originally from the coastal south??

Yes we are!

[Temeteron]

I am born and raised in SC, and everyone here thinks I'm from up north, just because I dont have the typical southern accent, but its weird because when i go up to Boston to visit relatives, up there they detect a southern accent.....so I guess you can say that my accent is apparent, just not that thick.....

[Mith242]

I am born and raised in SC, and everyone here thinks I'm from up north, just because I dont have the typical southern accent, but its weird because when i go up to Boston to visit relatives, up there they detect a southern accent.....so I guess you can say that my accent is apparent, just not that thick.....

Yeah a lot of time it just varies on where you are. I don't have a very strong accent but I'm sure it's a lot more noticeable if I went up north or out west.

[greystone98]

Keep in mind that even people in the South who don't think they have a very strong southern accent do have one to northerners.

Not necessarily. A lifelong resident of AL, when I came to college at UA my accent was horrendous and newly discovered by me as I'd no idea how thick it was until I was surrounded by students from all across the U.S. I spent many years trying to diminish the accent to lose a bit of the country drawl as I thought the drawl took away from the professionalism of my career.

When I spent several days in Boston this summer, I was quite surprised to hear from three different locals that they heard no Southern accent or inflection when I spoke.

[Mith242]

That is another aspect. How many have 'lost' their accent because of the stigma to it. Just because people have a thick southern accent people assume you're some idiot hick. It's really a shame that the southern accent seems to be much more maligned than any other accent in the US.

[Mr.Marc]

Not necessarily. A lifelong resident of AL, when I came to college at UA my accent was horrendous and newly discovered by me as I'd no idea how thick it was until I was surrounded by students from all across the U.S. I spent many years trying to diminish the accent to lose a bit of the country drawl as I thought the drawl took away from the professionalism of my career.

When I spent several days in Boston this summer, I was quite surprised to hear from three different locals that they heard no Southern accent or inflection when I spoke.

I have never been told that I have a southern accent, but I know that I do have one. No way am I going to lose it because others don't think it's professional. Personally, I believe it's not a certain accent that makes one sound unprofessional, it's the way you use the English language.

[Temeteron]

It also has alot to do with certain words that you say, some sound southern some dont, and if you are trying to have one or not, even though to some it comes natural, but for others its only with certain phrases.....and sometimes it depends who you talk to, for instance when i speak to my friends here I tend to talk way faster and more southern ghetto(i'm not black, i just dont have a hick southern accent, its more of a black southern accent when it is apparent).....but then when i talk to my family and relatives, and cousins up North, i tend to speak clearer........off the subject, this one time when I went to a club up in Boston, i showed the bouncer my I.D., and he thought it was fake because I didn't have a southern accent hahaha

[Mith242]

I have never been told that I have a southern accent, but I know that I do have one. No way am I going to lose it because others don't think it's professional. Personally, I believe it's not a certain accent that makes one sound unprofessional, it's the way you use the English language.

True, maybe not all southern accents are seen this way but I do believe some may think some particularly strong southern accents make them seem less proffesional or maybe less educated might also be the way to phrase it. Then I think some people perceive that people are judging them by their accent whether it may be true or not and they feel the need to lessen their accent. It just seems odd that people seem to have more negative images of southerners than people in other parts of the country.

[greystone98]

I have never been told that I have a southern accent, but I know that I do have one. No way am I going to lose it because others don't think it's professional. Personally, I believe it's not a certain accent that makes one sound unprofessional, it's the way you use the English language.

Actually, I think we're both right. It's a blend really of both how thick the accent is, how others perceive such accent, and your usage of the English language, proper grammar, etc.

I still retain an accent which is why I was so surprised that it wasn't readily detected... especially in Boston. But my accent was so very pronounced when I arrived at college some 20+ years ago that 'Debbi' came out 'Davey' which is what my dorm mates thought my name was for the first two weeks. It was that realization that became a wake up call for me.

Others with a pronounced accent may be perfectly happy with it. I was not and chose to do something about it. It's really a matter of individual choice, is it not?