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I live at the crossroads of the Midwest and Mid South. The variety of accents just in my city is large. I know native Louisvillians who sounds like people from Iowa or Alabama or just standard American, in my experience most speak standard American with just a touch of twang. The Southern accent extends pretty far into Indiana too. My father in law sounds like a Yupper (Upper MI) person trying to impersonate someone from Southern Appalachia.
As a state KY as several main accent regions: Mid South is most common, it includes most of Central, Southern, and Western KY. Appalachian KY is very distinctive, many people use "you fellers (fellows)" as opposed to "y'all", most people in the northern tip of KY across from Cincinnati have a strong Northern accent that is nearly identical to what you'd hear in Detroit or Cleveland. Louisville is a bit of everything.
Y'all is not even southern anymore, black people use y'all in NYC and I have heard people in California use y'all, people just use it more in the south so people think its part of our vernacular.
Y'all is not even southern anymore, black people use y'all in NYC and I have heard people in California use y'all, people just use it more in the south so people think its part of our vernacular.
Well this is because outside of the 20th century, y'all was largely used by the African American community. During the 20th century African Americans moved north (mostly to NYC) and the word become part of language in the north.
The reasons why the word "y'all" is being used more globally is explained in a bit more detail here.
Don't worry though, you won't catch me using it or anyone that I know of in New England :-)
I've lived in both the south and the north (NY, CT, PA, MD, NC, FL) and I can tell you that you definitely still hear it WAY more often in the south. In the north you mostly just hear it from teenagers or African Americans :-)
The West doesn't have all that many distinct regional accents, aside from "General American" or "Newscaster" accent. The immigrants and ethnics all have their own accents, but it's not solely contained to the West.
However, you can tell if someone is from California because they either say "like" or "hella". Hella is stupid. So stupid I say it now.
Y'all is not even southern anymore, black people use y'all in NYC and I have heard people in California use y'all, people just use it more in the south so people think its part of our vernacular.
Been in California all my life, and I use 'y'all' often/on a daily basis. Like "what y'all doing tonight?". Lots of people use 'you guys' as well, even females when speaking to a group of females.
In terms of accents in California, the ones I hear most often are those of Chicanos/Mexican Americans/any other people that grew up in East LA (I've even heard white boys with this accent), the West LA/Valley accent - which makes the average straight West Angeleno sound stereotypically gay and the average female sound really really annoying (to my ears), and (last, but not least), the stoner/surfer accent that is very much in the minority, but not limited to the coasts or white dudes. I've even come across quite a few Californians with a bit of mid-western drawl (more among the older white folks than anyone else.)
The vast MAJORITY of us though, don't sound any different than the typical westerner, whether from San Diego, Seattle or Denver.
Location: Anchorage, Alaska (South Central Region)
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Originally Posted by UKWildcat1981
Y'all is not even southern anymore, black people use y'all in NYC and I have heard people in California use y'all, people just use it more in the south so people think its part of our vernacular.
Black dialect mainly derives from Southeastern US dialects, which is why black people say y'all not only in NYC but other cities as well.
In Maryland, there's the Baltimore accent (Similar to Philly with a Maryland twist), DC accent (A cross between Tidewater and a touch of Baltimore), and the Eastern Shore accent (Southern-sounding but more Baltimore-lite).
The B'more accent can be heard in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County (particularly the northern part of the county), some parts of Howard County, Hartford County, etc.
The DC accent can be heard in Prince George's County, Montgomery County, Charles County, and Calvert County to a lesser extent.
The Eastern Shore accent is obviously in the name.
These are the 4 main accents in Missouri. I will say the southeast Missouri accent/bootheel accent the girl has could be thicker. She probably is on the north end of the bootheel.
23.71. Or 72. The most difficult one to comprehend is the Bilgewater accent.
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