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.
 
I admit to enjoying The Waltons- favorite part is Earl Hamner’s opening monologue. A fine speaking voice- rich, yet subtle tones.
But I am confounded by his pronunciation of “out”. Example- “during the stark time of the Great Depression, our family was accustomed to going withoat”.

Just a bit odd, as I am more familiar with northerners (maybe Minnesotans) pronouncing “oat” for “out”.
The further north you go, the more “oat-ish” you get. Also words like ”about” get less diphthong and end up sounding like “a boooot”.
When I say “out”, there is a definite “ow”.

This discussion is reminding me of one of Stalone’s few comedy movies, Oscar. Tim Curry plays a dialectician that has been hired to teach Stallone’s character, a Chicago mob boss trying to “go straight”, how to ”talk good”. Here’s a series of lines bases on speech patterns and such:
 
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The further north you go, the more “oat-ish” you get. Also words like ”about” get less diphthong and end up sounding like “a boooot”.
When I say “out”, there is a definite “ow”.

This discussion is reminding me of one of Stalone’s few comedy movies, Oscar. Tim Curry plays a dialectician that has been hired to teach Stallone’s character, a Chicago mob boss trying to “go straight”, how to ”talk good”. Here’s a series of lines bases on speech patterns and such:
😂😂😂
 
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My experience as far as the use of the N-word - it was considered coarse and vulgar and only lower class people used it. Robert E. Lee's social class would not use the word, at least in polite society.
My experience with the word was. I never used it unless I was willing to make a fight of it. But those days are over, wouldn't consider using it now. But unfortunately I'm seeing it used far to often these days by whites not expecting the consequences. Never heard the word used by family growing up (lower class) they preferred "colored". I think the N-word isn't "dialect" except maybe how you pronounce it. I don't know, is there regional dialect terms for black folk? This is the proverbial can of worms.
 
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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.

Hmm, my wife is from Alabama and she is in her mid 30s and her and her sisters expunged all Alabama from their accent, or at least tried. Her grandparents from both sides are still alive and have to be in their 80s and the biggest thing I noticed with their accents is that they don't enunciate that well. Therefore, I would say that the CW accents from Alabama were real difficult to interpret. Keep in mind, that the south during that era had a 50% illiteracy rate, so I would venture to say that in conjunction with the old people from Alabama I talked to that they were very hard to understand. I think the younger generation with TV and the internet learned to talk more proper.
 
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Absolutely not! I'm an Alabamian, and no matter how many times @Viper21 and @Rebforever tell me that Staunton is pronounced "Stanton" my brain reads it as "Stawnton" every single time. And, if I don't catch myself before the word escapes my lips, I say it that way. Even though I know Ill be ridiculed and labeled a "Yankee outsider." :roflmao: I don't mind really. Its probably the only thing I say that anyone thinks sounds remotely un-Southern

EDIT TO ADD: Its definitely Alabamian. When in doubt just remember this: We prefer to add as many syllables as possible to every word. So for example:
Ala- bam - an = 3 syllables
Ala-bam-ee-an = 4 syllables (No contest. We'll choose the 4 syllable word every time. :D )
I have heard some respond using “Alabamy.” Does that count? 😎
 
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I've almost never heard that, in PA, and I'm a native. Maybe it's a Central PA thing? I've heard "Yinz" a bit, which is definitely a Pittsburgh thing. In Eastern PA I typically hear "Youse" or "Youse all." Especially in and around Philly.

As far as the original question, watch something with Lucas Black in it. He's a native Alabamian, who tends to play "Southern boys," and using his native accent, as far as I can tell. That'll get you an idea of what an Alabama accent might sound like. As far as slang, that's a bit tougher, just like today, it depends on a combination of factors including geographic location, but also combined with generation/age, race/ethnicity, gender, education level, class, even subculture... my punk friends from Philly talk a lot different than my country friends from outside of Philly, who talk differently than my local NEPA college nerd friends, and my skateboarding/snowboarding friends, who talk differently than my CW reenactor friends, and we all talk different than our parents do. Got it?

Yeah, Yinz is a repulsive contraction that is used too frequently in the Pittsburgh area, especially from the older generation. I was just talking to my mother and she said, "are yinz coming here for Christmas?" Ugh.
 
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Absolutely not! I'm an Alabamian, and no matter how many times @Viper21 and @Rebforever tell me that Staunton is pronounced "Stanton" my brain reads it as "Stawnton" every single time. And, if I don't catch myself before the word escapes my lips, I say it that way. Even though I know Ill be ridiculed and labeled a "Yankee outsider." :roflmao: I don't mind really. Its probably the only thing I say that anyone thinks sounds remotely un-Southern

EDIT TO ADD: Its definitely Alabamian. When in doubt just remember this: We prefer to add as many syllables as possible to every word. So for example:
Ala- bam - an = 3 syllables
Ala-bam-ee-an = 4 syllables (No contest. We'll choose the 4 syllable word every time. :D )

Just think for a fleeting moment you must really feel superior. If I were you, I would talk that all the time. :smile:
 
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I will say that as a Washingtonian, a veritable "mini-New England" of sorts, we have a rather nasal accent, but we're conceited enough, and Seattle was such a pop-culture city of renown for so long, that we imagine we speak a sort of "prestige dialect" of broadcast English perhaps the way Oxford once defined the "Queen's English..."

On moving to North Carolina, I was literally dumbfounded by how many different accents there were within the state... Appalachia/ Western North Carolina, the Piedmont, East Carolina, and then various sub-regions. North Carolinians would make jokes among themselves that just went right past me... Native North Carolinians would say things like: "S/he was from Boone... So we thought s/he talked funny..." to much laughter and mirth.

Much old Scots and Elizabethan English lies at the roots of some Appalachian expressions and regional vocabulary and idiomatic usage. The "low-hanging fruit" could include things like "vittles" from victuals and "critter" from creature or statements of welcome like "Rest your wrap and set awhile..." among others. I had friends in Carolina who spoke with a rather heavy "Southern accent" and cultivated it, knowing that lots of snobbish, effete non-Southerners looked upon such accents with disdain or scorn or a sign of lack of education or whatever, and would consciously flummox such people... The ex-Navy guy who used to cut my hair would engage me with typical barbershop small-talk, and I was acutely embarrassed and painfully self-conscious that I simply could not understand a word! Similarly, I used to go get my shoes shined... The guys who worked the shoe-shine chair were from Mississippi... unintelligible! As most people on this forum know, there are lots of Southern accents that are "prestige dialects" of their own... One might recall, for instance, that the late Shelby Foote was apparently quite taken aback by offers of marriage after the Ken Burns mini-series documentary!
 
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A plug of tobacco is a quid, stopping or shutting something down is putting the quietus on it (h gets in there like quiheytus), a bad hand in cards is not worth a louie, a quail is a pattridge, and a round is a cattridge. All this is Middle Tennessee Scots-Irish. "our" is pronounced "air" and"their" is pronounced "thur." Oh, and "wounded" is "wownded."
 
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I grew up in Mississippi where like many other places you used to be able to pretty much tell where in the state someone was from by accent. I never had trouble understanding southern accents at all until I was a freshman at LSU and had a bunch of just out of the swamp Cajuns in the dorm rooms around me. At first I couldn’t understand a quarter of what they were saying except when they would call me a stump jumper, whatever that was. It was an eye opener for sure.
 
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A plug of tobacco is a quid, stopping or shutting something down is putting the quietus on it (h gets in there like quiheytus), a bad hand in cards is not worth a louie, a quail is a pattridge, and a round is a cattridge. All this is Middle Tennessee Scots-Irish. "our" is pronounced "air" and"their" is pronounced "thur." Oh, and "wounded" is "wownded."
Of course, "rounds" is fairly universal, no? Since musket balls (and early rifled balls too) were spherical, and these lead spheres or balls were tied into a tubular paper cartridge, the term "rounds" stuck with cartridges long into the present day.. Certainly there is much influence of Scots-Irish, and portions of Appalachia were settled in a very different pattern than, say, the Piedmont or low-country, hence the "different accents" (different languages or dialects, even?) of the "up country" and "mountain folk."
 
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I'm from Alabama. Born and raised. There are still many dialects, speech patterns, and differing idioms in use in various parts of the State. As recently as my childhood, you could still easily recognize the region where a person's ancestors came from in their speech. My own grandfather retained the dialect and pronunciation patterns of his ancestry. Im happy to try and expand on various dialects and pronunciation, but it could take some time. For starters, why don't you join us for the live Zoom presentation Wednesday night and you can laugh with everyone else at my southern accent? :biggrin:

EDITED TO ADD: A few threads that include discussion of southern accents and idioms.
This first one is really funny and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in southern dialects!




Laura:
I love hearing your proud Georgian accent!
 
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Laura:
I love hearing your proud Georgian accent!
Sorry I should have said proud Alabamian accent.
I had relatives move to Alabama from Marlboro County SC in the 1820’s. My ggf was named after Wyatt Heflin . I have not researched to see if there is a family connection or just admiration for his success in Birmingham. Wyatt Heflin Adams was born in 1831 in Adamsville,SC. I hope to identify all of my relatives who fought in the Civil War.
I read a letter written in 1858, where one of the Adams from Adamsville , SC bought a slave from north Mississippi. I can’t recall if he bought the slave from a relative.
The surgeon for the 8 TH SC married my GGF ‘s sister. I can’t locate his name in this old brain tonight. I am up here in the land of the devil, NYC with my son at Sloan Kettering! Sloan Kettering is a godsend! New experimental drug working wonders!
I was kidding about the land of the devil.
 
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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.
Southern dialects are very complex from the Virginia Tidewater area down to Texas.

You've received some great info.
I think @lelliott19 explained it best in post #6.

However, New Orleans accents are the exception to all stereotypical Southern accents.

And while I appreciate authenticity in novels, trying to duplicate accents on paper never seems to work
(For me anyway).

Such seems to detract from the premise of the novel.
But I do wish you well with your work !

Let us know when it's published.
 
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