In the United States, a Southern accent, Southern twang, or simply Southern is the sound system of the modern Southern regional dialect of American English. The Southern drawl is, technically, a particular feature within this accent.
English in the American South underwent several major sound changes from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, during which a rural-originating sound system, including two chain shifts of vowel sounds, expanded geographically through the whole region. This regional accent is fairly unified, contrasting with the more diverse and localized sound systems of earlier 19th-century Southern dialects. Still, there remains ongoing variation in the Southern accent regarding various potential differences based on a speaker's exact sub-region, age, ethnicity, and other social factors. Some sub-regions of the South, and perhaps even a majority of its biggest cities, are showing a gradual shift away from the accent since roughly the 1950s.
General modern phonology Southern Vowel Shift The Southern Vowel Shift is a chain shift of vowels that is occurring or fully completed in most Southern accents, especially those of speakers born in the 20th century; the urban areas where it is documented at the most advanced stage includes in the "Inland South" (i.e. an Appalachian region away from both the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts) as well as much of central and northern Texas. This 3-stage chain movement of vowels is first triggered by Stage 1 which dominates the entire Southern region, followed by Stage 2 which covers almost all of that area, and Stage 3 which is concentrated only in speakers of the two aforementioned core sub-regions. Stage 1 ( → ): The starting point, or first stage, of the Southern Shift, is the transition of the diphthong () toward a "glideless" long vowel (), so that, for example, the word ride commonly approaches a sound that most other American English speakers would hear as rod or rad. Stage 1 is now complete for a majority of Southern dialects. Southern speakers particularly exhibit the Stage 1 shift at the ends of words and before voiced consonants, but not as commonly before voiceless consonants, where the diphthong instead may retain its glide, so that ride is , but right is . Inland (i.e. non-coastal) Southern speakers, however, indeed delete the glide of in all contexts, as in the stereotyped pronunciation "nahs whaht rahss" for nice white rice; these most Shift-advanced speakers are largely found today in an Appalachian area that comprises eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and northern Alabama, as well as in central Texas. Certain traditional East Coast Southern accents do not exhibit this Stage 1 glide deletion, particularly in Charleston, South Carolina, as well as Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia (cities that are, at best, considered marginal to the modern Southern dialect region). Stage 1 may have begun in a minority of Southern accents as early as the first half of the 19th century with a glide weakening of to or ; however, it was still largely incomplete or absent in the mid-19th century, before expanding rapidly from the last quarter of the 19th into the middle of the 20th century. This glide weakening was perceived as a stereotypical feature of the South by the 1920s,Thomas, Erik R. (2003). "Secrets Revealed by Southern Vowel Shifting". American Speech, Vol. 78, No. 2, Summer 2003. American Dialect Society. and the 2006 Atlas of North American English describes glide weakening or even total glide deletion, , as the pronunciation norm throughout all of the Southern States. Somewhere in "the early stages of the Southern Shift", (as in trap or bad) moves generally higher and fronter in the mouth (often also giving it a complex gliding quality, starting higher and then gliding lower); thus can range variously away from its original position, with variants such as , , , and possibly even for those born between the World Wars. An example is that, to other English speakers, the Southern pronunciation of yap sounds something like yeah-up or even yay-up. (See Southern drawl.) Stage 2 ( → and → ): By removing the existence of , Stage 1 leaves open a lower space for (as in name and day) to occupy, causing Stage 2: the dragging of the diphthong into a lower starting position, towards or to a sound even lower or more retracted, or both. At the same time, the pushing of into the vicinity of (as in red or belt), forces itself into a higher and fronter position, occupying the area (previously the vicinity of ). also often acquires an in-glide: thus, . An example is that, to other English speakers, the Southern pronunciation of yep sounds something like yip or even yee-yup. Stage 2 is most common in heavily stressed syllables. Southern accents originating from cities that formerly had the greatest influence and wealth in the South (Richmond, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah, Georgia; and all of Florida) do not traditionally participate in Stage 2. Stage 3 ( → and → ): By the same pushing and pulling domino effects described above, (as in hit or lick) and (as in beam or meet) follow suit by both possibly becoming diphthongs whose nuclei switch positions. may be pushed into a diphthong with a raised beginning, , while may be pulled into a diphthong with a lowered beginning, . An example is that, to other English speakers, the Southern pronunciation of fin sounds something like fee-in. Like the other stages of the Southern Shift, Stage 3 is most common in heavily stressed syllables and particularly among Inland Southern speakers.
Back Upglide Shift The vowel , as in loud or now, shifts forward and upward to (also possibly realized, variously, as ), thus allowing the back vowel , as in thought or hawk, to fill an area similar to the former position of /aʊ/ in the mouth, becoming lowered and developing an upglide [ɑɒ]. This, in turn, allows (though only for the most advanced Southern speakers) the upgliding vowel , as in choice or boy, to lose its glide and become , particularly before (for instance, causing the word boils to sound something like the British or New York City pronunciations of ).
Southern drawl
Southern vowel breaking, popularly known as a Southern drawl, is the pronunciation of the short front pure vowels as gliding vowels, making one-syllable words sound as if they might have two syllables. Thus, pet and pit may sound to other English speakers more like pay-it and pee-it. All three stages of the Southern Shift appear to be related to this phenomenon.
The "short a", "short e", and "short i" vowels are all affected, developing a glide up from their original starting position to , and then often back down to a schwa vowel: ; ; and , respectively. Appearing mostly after the mid-19th century, this phenomenon is on the decline, being most typical of Southern speakers born before 1960.
Other vowel features Lacking or transitioning cot–caught merger: The historical distinction between the two vowels sounds and , in words like caught and cot or stalk and stock is mainly preserved, though the exact articulation is distinct from most other English dialects. In much of the South during the 20th century, there was a trend to lower the vowel found in words like stalk and caught, often with an upglide, so that the most common result is roughly the gliding vowel . However, the cot–caught merger is becoming increasingly common throughout the United States, affecting Southeastern and even some Southern dialects, towards a merged vowel . In the South, this merger, or a transition towards this merger, is especially documented in central, northern, and (particularly) western Texas.
Pin-pen merger: the vowel phonemes and now merge before nasal consonants, so that pen and pin, for instance, or hem and him, are pronounced the same, as pin or him, respectively. The merger, which is roughly towards the sound , is still unreported among some vestigial varieties of the older South, and other geographically Southern U.S. varieties that have eluded the Southern Vowel Shift, such as the Yat dialect of New Orleans or the anomalous dialect of Savannah, Georgia. Lax and tense vowels often neutralize before , making pairs like feel–fill and fail–fell homophones for speakers in some areas of the South. Some speakers may distinguish between the two sets of words by reversing the normal vowel sound, e.g., feel in Southern may sound like fill, and vice versa. The back vowel (in goose or true) is fronted in the mouth to the vicinity of or even farther forward, which is then followed by a slight gliding quality; different gliding qualities have been reported, including both backward and (especially in the eastern half of the South) forward glides. The back vowel (in goat or toe) is fronted to the vicinity of , and perhaps even as far forward as . Certain words ending in unstressed (especially with the spelling ) may be pronounced as or , making yellow sound like yella or tomorrow like tomorra. The vowel , as in bug, luck, strut, etc., is realized as , occasionally fronted to or raised in the mouth to . Phonemic incidence is sometimes unique in the South, so that: Florida is typically pronounced (particularly along the East Coast) rather than General American , and lawyer is rather than General American (i.e., the first syllable of lawyer sounds like law, not loy). The suffixed, unstressed -day in words like Monday and Sunday is commonly . Lacking or incomplete happy tensing: unstressed, word-final (the second vowel sound in words like happy, money, Chelsea, etc.) may continue to be lax, unlike the tensed (higher and fronter) vowel typical throughout rest of the United States. The South maintains a sound not always tensed: or . Unstressed, word-final → : As with many nonstandard accents of English worldwide, the phoneme in an unstressed syllable at the end of a word fronts to , so that singing is sometimes written phonetically as singin . Variable horse–hoarse merger: the merger of the phonemes (as in morning) and (as in mourning) is common, as in most English dialects, though a distinction is still preserved especially in Southern accents along the Gulf Coast, plus scatterings elsewhere; thus, morning versus mourning .
Table of vowels A list of typical Southern vowels English diaphoneme Southern phoneme Example words Pure vowels (monophthongs) act, pal, trap ham, land, yeah blah, lava, father, bother, lot, top (older: ) off, loss, dog,all, bought, saw about, syrup, arena dress, met, bread pen, gem, tent,pin, hit, tip beam, chic, fleet bus, flood, what book, put, should food, through, do, glue, rude, lewddue, tune, new, hue, cute, view Diphthongs ride, shine, try () bright, dice, psych now, ouch, scout lake, paid, rein boy, choice, moist goat, road, most goal, bold, showing R-colored vowels rhotic Southern dialects: non-rhotic Southern dialects: barn, car, park rhotic: non-rhotic: bare, bear, there (older: ) burn, first, herd rhotic: non-rhotic: better, martyr, doctor rhotic: non-rhotic: fear, peer, tier rhotic: non-rhotic: horse, born, northrhotic: non-rhotic: hoarse, force, pork rhotic: non-rhotic: poor, sure, tour rhotic: non-rhotic: cure, Europe, pure
Consonant features