Commonly referred to as “Southern,” Southern American English (SAE) is spoken in most states in the South-central and South-eastern parts of the U.S. This paper is a literature review which will critique the phonology and features of various sub-dialects in the Atlantic dialect of the Southern. The general American would be easily coaxed into the SAE accent due to its unique choice of words and pronunciation. Though it may seem insurmountable, the Atlantic dialect of the Southern is interesting to study and learn about.
In keeping with Nagle et al. (2003), irrespective of the great disparity between the pronunciation SAE between the young and older people, several generalization can be made. Nagle et al. (2003) also postulate that SAE is pronounced the same across various dialects despite the diverse ethnic backgrounds of those residing in Southern states. For instance, most dialects used the diphthong that is analogous to /ju:/ in words such as new and due. Additionally when pronouncing the words goose and goat the back vowels /u/ and /oʊ/ respectively change significantly forward.
Further distinctive pronunciation features include making some words such as fill and feel sound as homophones with no distinction in how they are pronounced. Most SAE dialects have also brought monophthongization of words with most words having new pronunciation. For instance, Wolfram et al. (1998) stipulate that pronunciation of the word nuclei with /ɛ/ and /ɪ/ has changed to that with [iə]. Studying unique general pronunciation of SAE would take a whole lot of time but to conclude the few examples discussed is the frequent replacement of /z/ with [d]. E.g. pronouncing the word wasn’t as [‘wʌdn̩t].
According to texts by McMillan et al (1989), newer dialects of SAE use contraction of the second person plural form of the pronoun you all often pronouncing it as y’all. For example, a person using the Louisiana accent would say “I have invited y’all to watch the match.” The choice of the word y’all has helped the speakers convey their message more efficiently with removing the ambiguity of using you which does not specify whether its one or many persons being referred to. For instance, one would say “I have invited you to watch the match” and another would say “I have invited y’all to watch the match.” The former would be considered as more precise than the latter. Therefore, the pronunciation of the southern accent is pretty useful in that y’all is a distinctly plural edition of the word you.
Grammatically, SAE has had several similar features. Most if not all dialects use been in a place of have been e.g. “We been preparing so hard for the game but we lost.” Secondly, they replace every with ever for instance, “I’ve searched ever’where for my games kit.” McMillan et al. (1989) also notes that SAE dialects often use done as verb while expressing the past tense. For example, “I done approach the coaches but they are too proud.”
Notably, southern United States has several dialects which are spoken according to the regions. However these dialects have common features that distinguish them from those in other regions. Therefore, so as to discuss these dialects, this paper will critically analyze the Atlantic Dialect. This is because this dialect is considered as one of the most prominent southern dialects in that it easily influences other speech patterns spoken in the southern part of United States. It is spoken in parts of South Florida and Virginia. It is also divided into three main parts: Miami, Virginia Piedmont and Coastal southern.
In critiquing the Atlantic dialect, the literature review considered sport-related examples as the area of interest of those who were involved in identifying pronunciation and features of the dialect. The Southern regions of United States are famous of enormous sporting talent in American football and basketball making it a suitable area of interest to consider in the literature review.
Virginia Piedmont is one of the unique southern accents due to its distinct commanding features. It is spoken by the upper-class in the south since it was originally spoken by important people. The dialect is considered as non-rhotic due to its speaker’s frequent omission of “R” except when it is followed by a vowel. That is, when it is followed by a vowel it turns into UH while as AW becomes sound AH-AW. For instance four dogs would be pronounced fo-uhdah-augs.
The dialect is pretty distinctive linguistically due to its unique pronunciations, Or is pronounces as aw, source as sauce and bird as boid. In other circumstances, an “r” is added and pronounced well in places where in does not exist in some words. For example, “He sawr him practicing for the big game.” Dumas (1990) notes that audio recordings of people with this accent have proven situations of leveling of the diphthong ow to short become o. For instance, when speaking, the shortening of the word caught to sound like cot and meal to sound like mill. Such kind of pronunciation is quite unique from other dialects used in the U.S.
The second main part of the Atlantic Southern American English dialect is the “Miami accent”. It is a unique accent spoken in most parts of South Florida and Miami (Kachru, 2009). Most pronunciation and rhythm in this accent were derived from Hispanics giving it a syllable-timed kind of pronunciation. Nonetheless, it is important to note that this is not an interlanguage where the pronunciation is affected by the mother language. It is an original and very native English dialect that is not learned by a speaker of another language causing the difference in pronunciation.
The “Miami accent” can be discussed by outlining the main general features that are not displayed by the speakers. Unlike most of other dialects, they do not /j/ with /dʒ/ such as Yale and jail. Notably, this accent shares many features with other types of speech that are used in the Southern parts of U.S (Nagle, 2003). Other people who influenced this dialect are the Cuba-Americans who spoke quite slower than other people who originated from the north causing a famous “drawl”. The so called “southern drawl” has caused the speech of those using the Language speak quite slower than those from the north. I is prolonged to sound like AH while O is prolonged to sound YOO. For example, “Ah’m coming home at five to dyoo the house chores”.
Finally, the Atlantic dialect contains those who use the “coastal southern accent”. Coastal southern is considered alike to the Virginia Piedmont but is unique since its dialects emerge from the languages spoken in the colonial era. Unlike other dialects which derive their accent from other languages spoken in the U.S, Coastal Southern has prevalent rhythms and pronunciations derived from colonial periods.
According to Kachru (2009), Coastal southern, like Virginia piedmont, is non-rhotic where R comes subsequent to a vowel. On the other hand, in this dialect some words change e.g. doughnuts are called cookies, an illegitimate child is called a Sunday child and a diagonal is called a catty-corner. For instance one could say, “I took the catty-corner shaped cookies to his Sunday child after watching the world cup.” Mostly, this sub-dialect is spoken along coasts the Atlantic in states such as Georgia, Delaware, Carolinas and Virginia.
Nagle (2003) hypothesizes that despite the many common features of the Atlantic dialect, it has remained distinct due to the minimal movement of people in the south unlike those in the north. This has reduced the absorption of the dialect by other dialects with the speakers remaining distinct in their way of speaking. For instance, some words used in the southern regions such as funky to mean bad smelling, mammy, boogerman and y’all remain distinct for residents in these regions.
Atlantic dialect was heavily influenced by Savannah and Richmond retaining their key features. Some key features carried forward include slower speaking and unique pronunciation. For instance one of the basketball players discussed by Dumas (1990) said that “Ma mamma says ah’m quite a fussbox.” In Atlantic dialect these words meant that his mother thought that he was quite a hard person to please.
In conclusion, this paper has critically introduced the dialects of SAE while focusing on the Atlantic dialect. It is important to note, as discussed in the above literature review, that there is no single Southern dialect but Southern American English has several dialects based on regions. With regard to the works by cited scholars, Atlantic dialect shares some distinguishing features with other Southern American English dialects making it distinct fro other English spoken in other regions.
While considering examples, the literature review has shown the Atlantic dialect is affiliated with the sport and its effect on how sportsmen pronounce words, use idioms and speak in their sporting activities. Though the Atlantic dialect is a regional dialect spoken within the confines of the Southern states of United States, it is notable that speakers from these regions and those from other regions understand one another perfectly well despite the differences in the way they speak.
Works cited
Dumas, Bethany K. "A Manual for Investigating American English in the South: Field Procedures." (1990).
Kachru, Braj B, Yamuna Kachru, and Cecil L. Nelson. The Handbook of World Englishes. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
McMillan, James B., and Michael Montgomery. Annotated Bibliography of Southern American English. University of Alabama Press, 1989.
Nagle, Stephen J., and Sara L. Sanders. English in the southern United States. Cambridge, U.K. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print.
Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. American English: dialects and variation. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998.
