Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What difference does it make? Well, it makes a big difference. Like it or not, for better or worse, people assume certain things about you based on your accent. And while it may not seem like a big deal to you, accents are a product of history, geography, culture, migration patterns, and technology. To study accents is to study the complex interplay between all of these forces.
Yup, right or wrong, fair or not, that is the way it is...people will make assumptions.
I sound like a (very) southern white guy. I have met people who I could just about see deducting IQ points when they heard me talk. It's been assumed I'm racist, prejudiced, ignorant, or knew and associated with people who were just because of how I sounded. I found that this said more about those making the assumption than it did me.
But this served as one reason to me to at least learn to pronounce words and use them correctly...but I won't give up the accent!
I've always been interested in why language is what it is, the historical, social, economic forces that made it what it is. Personally, I hate the disappearance of accents, dialects and languages. The most threatened in our country today are the different native American languages that we are losing as older people die.
I sound like a (very) southern white guy. I have met people who I could just about see deducting IQ points when they heard me talk. It's been assumed I'm racist, prejudiced, ignorant, or knew and associated with people who were just because of how I sounded. I found that this said more about those making the assumption than it did me.
I use this to my advantage. When I want to be underestimated, or I want to sound intimidating, or if I'm around a bunch of neo-hippies and want to see if they're bigots, I slip into a drawl.
Yup, right or wrong, fair or not, that is the way it is...people will make assumptions.
I sound like a (very) southern white guy. I have met people who I could just about see deducting IQ points when they heard me talk. It's been assumed I'm racist, prejudiced, ignorant, or knew and associated with people who were just because of how I sounded. I found that this said more about those making the assumption than it did me.
But this served as one reason to me to at least learn to pronounce words and use them correctly...but I won't give up the accent!
I've always been interested in why language is what it is, the historical, social, economic forces that made it what it is. Personally, I hate the disappearance of accents, dialects and languages. The most threatened in our country today are the different native American languages that we are losing as older people die.
You are correct.
A former NFL player I am fond of is black and sounds more white southern than black per se. Nice guy but made a few people snicker with how he spoke. I finally pointed out that if you read a transcript of what he said, he was in reality very eloquent and well spoken. As he is now high up in the executive suite, it seems other people agreed.
I moved from New York to Dallas and more than few folks thought I had walked out of Goodfellas.
I use this to my advantage. When I want to be underestimated, or I want to sound intimidating, or if I'm around a bunch of neo-hippies and want to see if they're bigots, I slip into a drawl.
I've also been known to really exaggerate it as well...
I think that anyone's diction and grammar is largely influenced by their educational level and by what type of atmosphere they were raised in. After all, we are all products of our environment and our childhoods, like it or not. Thus, you'll find under-educated and lazy-talking people in all parts of the country. My hometown of Austin, TX is a good example. Even though we are "deep in the heart of Texas" this is also a very educated town, generally speaking, and it's common to find many, in fact, MOST, people here speak without a hint a southern accent or Texas drawl. (True, we have been invaded by Yankees for the past 20 years, so this is a reason for the dirth of accents too, but still...)
And as far as Ohio goes: man, I spent some time around Dayton several years ago and I remember thinking that even the WHITE people sounded country to me. Some of those cats could give our East Texas hicks a run for their money in the redneck department. (Present company excepted for anyone from the Great State of Ohio who're reading this post! lol)
I think that anyone's diction and grammar is largely influenced by their educational level and by what type of atmosphere they were raised in. After all, we are all products of our environment and our childhoods, like it or not. Thus, you'll find under-educated and lazy-talking people in all parts of the country. My hometown of Austin, TX is a good example. Even though we are "deep in the heart of Texas" this is also a very educated town, generally speaking, and it's common to find many, in fact, MOST, people here speak without a hint a southern accent or Texas drawl. (True, we have been invaded by Yankees for the past 20 years, so this is a reason for the dirth of accents too, but still...)
And as far as Ohio goes: man, I spent some time around Dayton several years ago and I remember thinking that even the WHITE people sounded country to me. Some of those cats could give our East Texas hicks a run for their money in the redneck department. (Present company excepted for anyone from the Great State of Ohio who're reading this post! lol)
I agree with everything you said. I've been to Austin once; absolutely loved the town. I definitely wouldn't mind living there someday....And the women there, ! I know a few people from Austin and they sound like they could be from anywhere. As for the Dayton comment, all I can say is I concur. I'll leave that alone.
No disrespect to your relatives, but I'd say it's not a color issue but a class issue. Hence, yes, education is likely to play a big role. Didn't the black people that moved from the South during the "The Big Migration" primarily consist of farm hands and took industrial jobs that didn't require a whole lot education? How many of those folks became a college and university attending middle class? (I'm truly asking, I have no idea?)
My experience is form the Bay Area, California. Black folks in Oakland also speak with a bit of southern influence as well, although more generic "ebonics" dialect than with a southern drawl". My father (who is black), however, speaks a more generic Northern Cali-dialect and it's only his deep voice that gives away his "blackness". But when I interact with my other relatives, none of which are educated, it's hard for me to even follow the conversation (part of that is b/c I'm born in Sweden and English is my second language, but still).
My wife and her educated friends have the same "sounding white" problem. My wife's friend traveled to London to interview for a legal position for a prominent and influential magazine, and the British recruiter literally dropped his jaw when he realized that the attorney with the stellar resume he had hope to hire was a black woman. He was so surprised he couldn't even hide it.
I'd say this is not really a color thing at all. I can just look to my native Sweden. Even though some educated people keep part of their home area dialect when they enter a professional career, most gravitate towards the Stockholm dialect or a more neutral variety. Whenever you hear a pronounced regional dialect it will be from someone in the country without a degree (or someone who's playing around).
(for the record, I don't have a degree myself and speak a generic US English with a Cali twist, and a slight accent that nobody has been able to place so far).
In all seriousness though, there is something I've been trying to figure out for a while, so I decided I would just create a thread on the topic.
Why do a lot of blacks in the midwest region and even the west sound so strikingly southern? I travel quite a bit, so I have the opportunity to interact with locals from different regions. I was surprised when standing in a McDonalds in Minneapolis, how southern all the blacks sounded. I heard two guys in there who sounded almost as southern as a black native of Alabama.
I'm originally from the east coast, but currently live in Cincinnati, OH. Frankly, I was astonished at how "country" the majority of blacks sound here (yes...majority). What really rings a bell in my ears is the pronunciation of words such as: fall, ball, tall, call, mall, etc almost rhyming with foul. (....and they have the nerve to say I "touk" funny.) Another word that comes to mind is how they say hour. Usually when most people pronounce hour, it's done in two syllables such as "ow-wer." I've heard numerous blacks here pronounce hour in one long, lazy syllable such as "ihrrr." The first time I heard someone say that, I literally didn't know what he was saying or even attempting to say, so I had to "axe" him what he was talking about. I had a black female tell me, they (Ohioans or Cincinnatians, idk) speak standard english. I can agree that most of the whites have a rather "flat" accent, but the blacks, nawww.
I would have to say the place I've found blacks to have the closest variation of english to standard american is Springfield, MA. Being from the east coast/ New England, I pronounce the aformentioned words to rhyme with brawl. As I mentioned before, it's not just a Cincinnati phenomenon because I've heard it all throughout Detroit and Chicago; the two biggest cities in the midwest.
I've already heard about how most blacks originated in the south and I'm not buying that argument. The same issue is present with blacks on the east coast; me being one of them. My parents moved to CT in their early 20's from SC in 1978, so I'm only one generation removed from the south. However, I have relatives in the midwest who have been settled there since the 30's and 40's and the younger generations still sound like they just stepped off the bus from Alabama. I've found a lot of blacks in Detroit and Chicago to sound more southern than those in a lot of places in the Carolinas (small towns exempt).
Well, I guess to wrap up my thread, I want to know why a lot of the blacks in the midwest and parts of the west still sound southern while those on the east coast and New England are essentially, more assimilated into their surrounding cultures? Does it have to do with lack of educational opportunities or what?
P.S. I'm a young black male btw, in case some of you guys didn't catch the subtle hints. So NO, I'm not some furtive internet racist!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!
Amazing. I have been in FL for a bit. I am from Cape Cod MA. Two black males in the area I am in now can have a conversation around me and I understand none of it. On Cape I had no problem..... I Honestly think it must have to do with the southern ignorant "speak" and their need to come up wiht their own dialect. Ducking if I have offended.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. (....and they have the nerve to say I "touk" funny.) Another word that comes to mind is how they say hour. Usually when most people pronounce hour, it's done in two syllables such as "ow-wer." I've heard numerous blacks here pronounce hour in one long, lazy syllable such as "ihrrr." The first time I heard someone say that, I literally didn't know what he was saying or even attempting to say, so I had to "axe" him what he was talking about. I had a black female tell me, they (Ohioans or Cincinnatians, idk) speak standard english
. I can agree that most of the whites have a rather "flat" accent, but the blacks, nawww. 
.
