Why do so many people all across Indiana speak with mild Southern accents?

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by ciceropolo

A lot of the linguistic differentiation throughout the Great Lakes / Midwest states is determined by the historic settlement patterns and countries of origin / culture. You may find Colin Woodard's books about the 11 different cultures of interest. As one person already mentioned, the US Route 30 as north south demarcation is fairly accurate throughout the area.



https://www.businessinsider.com/the-...es-2015-7?op=1



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0YAR_vsQZ8

I know that book very well and believe it or not, have even spoken to the author very briefly. I think his thesis is supurb, however I would not agree at all that route 30 is the demarcation line, nor would a lot of people. Rather I see it more as I-70 because cities like I said that are adjacant in latitude to central Indiana in neighboring Ohio and Illinois have very neutral accents (Dayton, Springfield, Columbus, Decatur, etc.) but for some reason people from all over Indiana (even places as north as Kokomo) will speak with mild southern accents. Look at this map for example;

https://aschmann.net/AmEng/#SmallMapUnitedStates

[beckerd2]

i have famiy in gibson county/evansville area. When oeople from other areas hear them talk, we just call it sorta hillbilly.
Because its not really southern, just a kind of twang on some words...at least with the friends and family I have lived there all their lives. Some people really drawl it out while others don't.
I know my family can not say wash. Its "I need to WARSH the car." They put an R in it.

[EscAlaMike]

Originally Posted by beckerd2

I know my family can not say wash. Its "I need to WARSH the car." They put an R in it.

That's definitely not a Deep South thing. Nobody I've ever heard from Alabama says "warsh". It may be an upper Appalachian / Ohio Valley thing that is also fairly common in Indiana. I knew a guy from Anderson, IN who said "warsh".

Not that it necessarily bears any resemblance to reality; but Carl from Sling Blade says "warsh", and that takes place in Arkansas.

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Robert20170

I grew up in Noblesville (20 minutes NE of Indy), and we didn't call it "Nobletucky" for nothing. Many of the friends I had in High School had families that came from both Kentucky and Tennessee.

Colum-tucky in da house.

[marino760]

Originally Posted by EscAlaMike

That's definitely not a Deep South thing. Nobody I've ever heard from Alabama says "warsh". It may be an upper Appalachian / Ohio Valley thing that is also fairly common in Indiana. I knew a guy from Anderson, IN who said "warsh".

Not that it necessarily bears any resemblance to reality; but Carl from Sling Blade says "warsh", and that takes place in Arkansas.

I live on the KY side of the Ohio River below Ohio. Funny but people across the river have a semi-Southern accent but also say "warsh". "Warsh" is never heard on my side of the river unless it's coming from someone from Ohio. People here have regular Southern accents, some very thick, others not as thick but no one from KY says "warsh".

I once asked someone from the north side of the river if people in northern Ohio have a different accent from southern Ohio and they looked at me strangely and said....Nooooooooo. LOL They had no idea what I was talking about.

[sheerbliss]

My parents, who were from Wyoming, said warsh instead of wash. According to Quick and Dirty Tips, "The intrusive R in “warsh” is most commonly associated with a dialect of American English known as the Midland dialect. The exact boundaries of the Midland dialect region vary from study to study, but all the analyses agree that covers most of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, as well as parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma."

My grandparents were all from these Midland states.

There's a whole site dedicated to the Midland dialect: https://theamericanmidlanddialect.we...sier-apex.html

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

My family is from Tennessee and Kentucky and they all say worsh for wash, holler for hollow and ort for ought.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by EscAlaMike

That's definitely not a Deep South thing. Nobody I've ever heard from Alabama says "warsh". It may be an upper Appalachian / Ohio Valley thing that is also fairly common in Indiana. I knew a guy from Anderson, IN who said "warsh".

Not that it necessarily bears any resemblance to reality; but Carl from Sling Blade says "warsh", and that takes place in Arkansas.

You hear that in St. Louis, Missouri and up into Iowa.

[nalabama]

I’ve been here in Alabama 60+ years now and been saying “warsh” the whole time. I did come here from Kentucky though. I’m on a self-improvement plan now to change to “wash” but I must admit it’s a slog.

[LeisureSLarry]

My grandparents from Ohio said warsh but it seemed to have ended with them. It didn't stick me with but a couple years in Texas and I am still trying to drop the ya'll. Fortunately 'fixin' never took. Need to go back to being a real midwesterner and saying you guys and pop - got ridiculed a couple of times for pop and started saying soda but now am back home.