How would Southern Speech Patterns, or Dialect compare to modern accents?

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Oct 23, 2021
How similar/dissimilar were speech patterns and dialects in the CW era from modern accents, especially in the state of Alabama?
Would a person whose ancestors were French talk differently from someone with, say, Scottish ancestry? If so, how?
What sort of idioms were in common usage at the time?
Is it possible to write accurately about the CW without using the N word?
I live in MN and most of my experience with southern dialect is from TV & movies, although I did go to TX for a few days several years ago, which resulted in an interesting interaction between me, the MN transplant I was visiting and her coworker. How likely is it that my perception of how people talked in Alabama during the CW is accurate?

I‘m writing a novel set in Alabama and New Orleans, and I want to be as accurate in my dialog as possible. One main character has French ancestry and the other might be Scottish. Any suggestions are welcome.
 
DID YOU EVER FIND THE WHOLE WORLD IN THE BRANCHES OF A CHINABERRY TREE?

"Roy, fuhst you have to considah, uhhh, who Suthunuhs ahh. We ahh a mixtuh of Celtic - we run high to Celtic influence. We ahh mostly Irish, Scottish, English, Welch. We, uhhh, grew up in an agricultuahhl society mainly. We, uhhhhm, the tradition in the South is not uhban. It is not industrial - oih, it wasn't. At least awah hehitage is not such. Uhhhm, I think we ahh a region of stoy-tellers, natrally. Just by awah tribal instincts. Just fohm awah tribal instincts.

"We, uhhhhn, did not have the pleasures of, ahh, the thea-tah, owh the dance, owh motion pick-chas - when they came along. We simply entahtain each othah by tawking. It's quite a thing. If you've, uhhhm, nevah gone; or if you've nevah known a Suthun small town. The people theah are not pahticularly sophisticated, of couse, not wohldy wise in any way, but they tell you a stoy - evahy time you see one. It's.... we ahhh oral types <subdues laughter.> We tawk.

"An anuthah thing that I've noticed about people at home as opposed to, say, people in small-town New England..... we have, uhhhm, rah thah moah humah about us. We ahh not tasitahn (taciturn); we ahh not wry; we ahh not laconic. We uhhhm, owah whole society is geahed to tawk, rathuh than to.... I mean, we wuk hard, of couse, but we do it in a diffaent way. We wuk in oydah not to wuk. Any time spent on business is moy ah less, time wasted. But you havta do it in oydah to be able to hunt and fish and, uhhhm, goss sip.

"No, but I think this hehitage of owahs.... fust of all, owah ethnic background. Then the absence of so much to "do" - in the sense of go somewheah, to see sumthin. We can't go and see a play. We can't go to a big league baseball game when we want to. We have had to entahtain owahselves foah yeeahs. And that was my childhood. If I went to a film once a month, ummm, that was pretty wondahful for me and foah all children like me. We had to use owah own devices for play; foah entahtainment.

"We didn't have much money; nobody had any money. We didn't have many toys to play with. Nothing was done foah us. So the result was that we lived in owah imaginations most of the time. We devised and we were readers. And then we would transfuh evahy thing on the printed page to the backyahd, in high fohms of drama.

"Did you nevah play Tahzan when you wuh a child? Did you evah go to the jungle or fight the battle of Gettysburg in some fohm or fashion? We did. Did you evah live in a tree house? Did you evah find the whole wuhld in the branches of a chinaberry tree? But I think that that kind of life natrally produces moah writers than say living on 82nd Street on New Yoik City. In small town life, and in rural life, one knows one's neighbahs. Not only does one know evahthing about one's neighbah, one knows evahthing about that neighbah's life from the time they came to the country. People are predictable to each uthha simply by family characteristics. Life is slowah theah. We had moah chance to look around and absoab what we see. We're not in such a hurhy....
Thank you for the video clip and the transcription! I just think it is such a precious record of a very important part of our national heritage. I had never seen or heard the clip and am so happy that it exists. Not only is it a wonderful example of her accent, from the linguistics perspective, it is a moving, powerful, and insightful reflection of a way of life.

I say, "some people live to work, I work to live." She said it so beautifully; (without accent) "We work in order not to work. Any time spent on business is more or less, time wasted." She is absolutely correct to consider that, in general, a difference between North and South. I have lived in both North and South and the difference is striking. I still tell people how different it was when I lived in Texas back in the 1970's. It was literally as she described. I was a laborer for a contracting company and there were times when we were waiting for supplies and the supervisors would take us over to sit under the trees and we would all talk, tell stories and simply enjoy one another's company. I was in shock! That would never happen up in the Northeast! If there was downtime like that we would move piles of rocks from one place to another, or something to keep us busy. No, No, No, we heard nothing but, "Idle hands are the devils workshop." And even in common conversation; I am often fascinated when I call someone just checking in to see how they are, and all I hear is a litany of all that they "accomplished" that day, as if I cared. It is so interesting psychologically because it is evident that for many Northerners, "accomplishment" is central to their sense of self. Sometimes I believe that the New England version of the Protestant Work Ethic is the ruination of our society! LOL

Thank you again posting her interview!
 
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For another take on Southern linguists, here's an 1964 recording of Harper Lee, Alabama author of To Kill a Mockingbird. She's definitely non-rhotic. Thanks for reminding us of that term @Frank Watson

At 4:15 in the video, the interviewer asks why Miss Lee thinks that "such a disproportionate share of our fine fiction...of our most sensitive fiction comes from writers who were born and reared in the South." Interesting assessment by Miss Lee in response.

Soon after this interview, Harper Lee basically became a recluse. This was likely one of the last interviews she gave about To Kill a Mockingbird.
I have to agree with 7th Miss..... she's a female Shelby Foote..! I could listen to either of them talk for hours.

I would love to have sat on a porch on a summer night, with a cold drink, listening to their stories. I can almost hear the bugs making racket in the background... :cool:
 
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We still do !
( In the very Deep South )

Every day ....

:smoke:
Yes! If someone asks if you're hungry or would like something to eat, you'd possibly reply, 'I might could eat something."

Now if a gentleman asks you to iron his shirt so he can go out with his friends.... that's another story. In that case, replying, "I might could do that." Takes on a whole 'nother meaning. All real Southern men know..... that means if I do it, you're gonna owe me. :D
 
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I have lived in both North and South and the difference is striking.
It was literally as she described.

Thank you again posting her interview!
Indeed !

Only if one has lived in the South for at least two years, then perhaps they may start to understand the complexities of this section of the United States.

Everything Miss Harper Lee said ... was an honest response to all of the questions she was asked.

I've listened to that interview multiple times since it was posted.
And yes, another shout-out to @lelliott19 for finding that rare interview.

(By the way, chinaberry wood is a great secret ingredient in official BBQ contests)
 
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Indeed !

Only if one has lived in the South for at least two years, then perhaps they may start to understand the complexities of this section of the United States.

Everything Miss Harper Lee said ... was an honest response to all of the questions she was asked.

I've listened to that interview multiple times since it was posted.
And yes, another shout-out to @lelliott19 for finding that rare interview.

(By the way, Chinaberry Wood is a great secret ingredient in official BBQ contests)
Was in Monroeville two years ago, looking at a house for sale.
Shoulda’ looked up her home…..the agent said she could show me.
But I was trying to get on to Dothan.
 
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Indeed !

Only if one has lived in the South for at least two years, then perhaps they may start to understand the complexities of this section of the United States.

Everything Miss Harper Lee said ... was an honest response to all of the questions she was asked.

I've listened to that interview multiple times since it was posted.
And yes, another shout-out to @lelliott19 for finding that rare interview.

(By the way, Chinaberry Wood is a great secret ingredient in official BBQ contests)
Thank you! Especially for the BBQ tip!!!😍
 
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Was in Monroeville two years ago, looking at a house for sale.
Shoulda’
looked up her home…..the agent said she could show me.
But I was trying to get on to Dothan.
Actually, you probably shoulda' bought the house and moved to Monroeville, AL. Nothing against KY, but a lot of Alabama remains among the few places in the world where you can still find the whole world in the branches of a Chinaberry Tree. :D
 
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One of my all-time favorites comes from a friend of mine who was at a minor league baseball game in the Hazelton, PA area; known locally as part of the "coal region." He was waiting in line at the concession stand for food and he heard the fellow in front of him order, "two haddock, one wit relic, one wit not..." My friend thought, interesting, they have fish at this concession stand. Until he saw the fellow leaving with two hotdogs and one had relish on it the other did not. :bounce:
 
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So what is this one all about? Someone says something. The other person doesn't quite hear it. Instead of saying, "What?" or "Huh?" they say, "Do what now?"
Same meaning.

In it's basic translation, it means "repeat that " or as @Sheltowee said "say again " .
 
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I have a tendency to have selective hearing when my wife talks to me when I ask her to repeat what she has just said.

"Sorry don't boil my cabbages twice" Is this a saying the South use?.
 
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I have a tendency to have selective hearing when my wife talks to me when I ask her to repeat what she has just said.

"Sorry don't boil my cabbages twice" Is this a saying the South use?.
I’ve been know to say “I don’t chew my cabbage twice”.
Typically gets me in trouble…..
😯 Never heard anyone say anything like that - well, I've learned something new!

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My parents always used the phrase "They went to housekeeping," to mean two people got married. Or " After we went to housekeeping " to mean "After we were married. " I haven't heard anyone use that phrase in a long time though.
 
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