The "Southern Accent"

South Polls The "Southern Accent" BY JOHN SHELTON REED Linguists insist that die speech ofdifferent parts ofthe Soudi and different kinds of soudierners differs from the generic speech of the Midwest in different ways. There are, in other words, many different southern accents, and most soudierners are attuned at least to die differences between up-country and low-country and between black and white. But outsiders like the folks who make television programs tend to ignore these distinctions, as do many southerners, perhaps especially when they're outside ofthe South. And it is possible to classify people as having strong or weak regional accents, even if their accents are different. Relying on that fact, we have asked interviewers for the Soudiern Focus Poll, conducted since 1993 by the Odum Institute at die University ofNorth Carolina, to rate the "southern accents" of respondents as "strong," "detectable," or "none." Although these student interviewers are not trained linguists, dieir crude ratings have turned out to be excellent predictors of a great many things. People rated as having strong accents are reliably more "southern" in everything from their religious beliefs to their dietary preferences. This should not be surprising: the same circumstances that instill regional speechways should be more likely to produce typically regional attitudes, values, and behaviors as well. What are those circumstances? Among residents of the South, that is, what sorts ofpeople have identifiably soudiern accents? The table on die next page indicates diat roughly a third of our respondents fall into each ofdie three categories. But strong accents are more common in the Deep South states (se, ga, al, ms, la) than in the peripheral South. They are also more common among natives than among migrants (although migrants who have been in the South more than ten years are likely to have picked up at least a detectable accent, and one out of five has acquired a strong one). There are no appreciable differences by race or gender, but there is a discernable age gradient: although most younger respondents have at least a detectable accent, diey are somewhat less likely than older ones to do so. Related to this, perhaps, is that Democrats and regular churchgoers are slightiy more likely to speak with an accent than Republicans and die unchurched. There is plainly a social-class dimension to dus. Respondents with low incomes and/or litde education are more likely to have regional accents, as are those from nonmetropolitan areas. This almost certainly reflects in part the fact diat migrants tend to be of higher income and education than natives and are concentrated in soudiern cities, but the differences persist when looking only at natives. 102 PERCENT WITH STRONG ACCENT VS. NONE. (The remaining percentage rated "detectable.") StrongNone Southern total Deep South Peripheral South Lived in South 10 years or less Lived in South more than 10 years lived in South enure life Residence at age 16 in the South Residence at age 16 in Border States Residence at age 16 in the Non-South Considers self southerner Does not consider self southerner Metropolitan residence Nonmetropolitan residence White Black Other Male Female 18-24 years old 25-44 years old 45—64 years old 65 years old or older 11th grade or less education High school graduate Some college College graduate Income less than $20,000 $20,000-$39,999 $40,000-159,999 Income greater than $60,000 Republican Democrat Independent Other Political Affiliation Never attends church Attends church less than once a week Attends church once a week Attends church more than once a week 30 40 26 6 18 44 37 22 4 41 6 23 42 32 26 13 32 28 22 27 34 37 53 37 29 19 36 32 30 21 27 34 24 29 26 30 30 33 36 22 42 78 47 20 25 52 74 20 70 44 22 32 31 74 38 34 42 41 31 27 20 27 37 48 32 34 36 43 37 32 40 39 45 36 36 31 [Source: Interviewer ratings, avg. Fall 1998 and Spring 1999; 164; residents of 1 3-state South.] The Southern Focus Pollis a semiannualtelephone survey conducted by the Howard W...