Question for the Southerners

[BamaGirl]

I'm doing a little research on the different Southern dialects and came across something tonight that kinda surprised me. I'm im'ing a friend of mine who's up north and she agrees with this. So anyway, now I'm curious. How many of you pronounce these words differently?

tin and ten
kin and Ken
Lin and Len
windy and Wendy
sinned and send

I saw this on one site and didn't think much of it, then I saw it on another site, and another, and I'm thinking, wtf!? Those words are all pronouced the same! But no, according to these sites (and my Yankee friend), I've been saying them wrong my whole life. Who'd a thunk it? A Southerner saying something wrong. :eyes: Anyway, I was curious how widespread this is. I'm from the Atlanta area and I do it. My kids are from here (southeast Alabama) and they do it (their accents are very different tho). So come on, fess up. Who else is pronunciation challenged?

[Lars39]

1. I think it also has to do with how you are taught to read.

Phonetics versus "sight" words. :shudder:

[BamaGirl]

4. Maybe

I was taught phonics and so were kids. My brother was taught sight words, I'll have to ask him.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

2. I pronounce them all that way (as if they were with an "i").

So does my mother who is from eastern NC. I got alot of my speech patterns from her (dipthongs!). So did my dad, who was a Piedmont native.
My sister, on the other hand, has chastised her kids for this incorrect pronunciation and makes them emphasize the "e".
I think it's silly.

[BamaGirl]

3. That's how we say them (with the i)

my Dad too, who is Appalachian. Hmm, I'll have to experiment on my hubby when he gets home lol. He's Irish. He's always talking funny. :P

[chaska]

5. Oh, come on. There's no difference...

and just because you (and me) speak with an accent doesn't make us wrong in our pronunciations. Just different, that's all.

[BamaGirl]

7. Too late to go back

and add this :sarcasm: I would have thought the rolling eyes made my opinion of that point clear. :shrug:

[chaska]

8. Hell, I don't half read these things. My apologies.

:)

[RushIsRot]

6. To this Louisiana-raised person they're...

homonyms.

[BamaGirl]

9. Agreed

:)

[SmokingJacket]

10. "You want a pin? A straight pin or an ink pin?" nt

[LynzM]

13. "Ink pin" confused the hell out of me...

When I moved from CT to IN... I seriously didn't know what people were talking about.... *snobby yankee* ;)

[BamaGirl]

28. Just the term?

or the pronunciation?

[LynzM]

36. Both....

Growing up in CT, it's just a 'pen'. I mean, is there another kind of pen besides and ink pen? Blood, maybe? ;) Pen and pin are differently pronounced, for me, so that was a bit confusing, too. Ah, dialects and regionalism. Fun stuff, that!

[crispini]

11. I would say them all the same,

and I don't have much of an accent, if any.

Of course, I also call all fizzy beverages "Coke." :evilgrin:

[BamaGirl]

16. Me too lol

My hubby is Irish and says soda...drives me up the freaking wall lol!

[Aristus]

12. I've lived up North for so long that I don't pronounce any of those

words 'Southern' anymore.

However, I still say 'y'all', and will until I die, I expect.

I also say the occasional "I'm fixin'" instead of "I'm getting ready to...." B-)

[BamaGirl]

18. I have a few old Army friends who

ets'ed, went home, and took "y'all" with them lol. It's one of those words that just seems to stick. I don't think I've ever said "getting ready to" lol.

[XemaSab]

35. I grew up in the hood

and say "finna."

[Floogeldy]

14. Larry King can't say "strength."

He pronounces it "strinth."

I'm just sayin'.

;)

[BamaGirl]

19. Hmm, I've never noticed lol

Y'all realize I'm gonna walk around all week paying attention to how I say things?? Lol

[Floogeldy]

32. Heh heh.

Don't worry about it.

;)

[Bossy Monkey]

15. The acid test is fire and far; I eventually trained myself to pronounce

the former correctly, just for clarity's sake. I don't have much of a problem with the rest (to the best of my knowledge).

[BikeWriter]

17. I had a yankee officer laugh at me over "fire" and "far" being the same..

I told him he talked funny...

[enigami]

23. I had one of those too

I told him when I yelled "far in th ho" he better duck.

[BikeWriter]

29. I know you're right! :-)

[BamaGirl]

25. Yeah they do

and they think we talk funny. Weird. ;)

[BikeWriter]

30. No shit, Hon. Seems like they'd learn how to talk.

:)

[BamaGirl]

21. I say these differently

In my Dad's world, they're said the same lol. I think it's a regional thing. His Appalachia compared to my piedmont lol.

[BikeWriter]

31. Daddy was from Arkansas. :-)

[Shell Beau]

41. I've never said those the same!

[enigami]

20. o.k. ya all

Is this a trick question?

[BamaGirl]

24. Apparently lol

:D

[enigami]

27. There is more than one southern dialect?

whoed a thunkit?

[jobycom]

22. I say them differently. From south Mississippi. I had a friend from Kansas

who couldn't tell the difference between Don and Dawn, though. We had co-workers with both names, and we never knew who she was talking about or to.

[BamaGirl]

26. Most of what I'm finding divides the Southern dialects into 8 groups

One of the distinct groups is the Gulf (not to be confused with the Louisiana) region which was influenced by Southern migrants from Ga, Tn, and Bama and by Cajun and Accadian French. That may account for the difference.

[jobycom]

33. The Gulf is also a tourist region

with migrants from across the nation. In south Mississippi, for instance, I lived close to a Seabee base and an Air Force Base, and had friends and relatives (including my parents) from New Orleans, Maine, Wisconsin, and places that were just mystical lands to me. So there were a lot of non-southern influences on speech patterns.

Trent Lott is an example of that accent, as is Jimmy Buffet and Brett Favre. My accent is less pronounced than that, even, probably because of my parents being from New Orleans. Some of my classmated in elementary school had a deep south interior-Mississippi accent, and said things like "yonder," but they were teased a lot, and usually tried to change their accents. I think that has a lot to do with the coastal accent, especially in Florida and parts of Alabama (east of the bay, especially).

Just my random observations.

[BamaGirl]

34. I may agree with you when I get more into this

I'm from Atlanta, but my kids are from here (Dothan). Their accents are much more pronounced than mine. We have relatives in Panama City, Mobile, and Pensacola on the in-law side of the family and all mine's from Ga and Tn. Everyone in both families not raised in Atlanta sounds much more Southern than me (and we all say yonder lol).

The FL relatives are all really Southern actually. The rhythm of their speech is very different from mine, and on the few dialect maps I've tracked down, the area I live in now is included in the Gulf region's dialect. I think that's a mistake and there should be another separate dialect for the Chattahoochee Trace. I say that just based on the differences I hear between my kids and their FL relatives, though. I'm going to be studying this for awhile I think. I'm finding pretty interesting stuff.

[underpants]

37. Ohio native in Virginia

I say all of them the same. My wife, native Roanoker, still lets a hEEL (hill) slip out from time to time.

[Shell Beau]

38. I say them the same, but I don't think of it

as "wrong", just the way we talk!! ;)

[BamaGirl]

48. I tend to agree lol

everyone else is saying them wrong ;)

[short bus president]

39. Native NC here, and those words all have distinct pronunciations.

Maybe one of these days I could pass for a Yankee... ;-)

[kick-ass-bob]

40. Same here.

But I have yankee parents.

[elfrangel]

42. Born & Raised in the South

But, I've fooled a some into thinking I was a Yankee b/c of my speech. My mom was an English major in college, I never got away with talking like a true southerner in her presence. Still don't to be honest.

Whenever I get really nervous or excited though, my drawl makes an appearance and doesn't leave. I can't watch the video of my wedding b/c of it. I can just "hear" my mom correcting me.

*Both of my parents are from the south: my dad is from Mena, AR and my mom is from Adona, AR.*

[BamaGirl]

49. Now that's just not right lol

(Being corrected at your own wedding I mean), and probably illustrates the differences between the Deep South and the northern edges. I majored in English and my parents are both professionals (my mother's a lawyer for Crissakes). We all are clearly Southern, with accents distinctive of the regions we grew up in. My best friend's father is from AR and he doesn't sound Southern at all. His accent is completely different from my family's. Another regionaly dialect to look into lol!

[LizMoonstar]

43. you know, Chicago suburbs and such have the reverse

of what some Southern folks here have mentioned - their short i's become short e's. God. 'Melk'. Kill me now. Good thing Barak and Roll's a true City kid and doesn't have that - I spent 4 years listening to it from my ex and omg KILL URGE RISING.

[BamaGirl]

50. Lol

I know what you mean with the kill urge. My husband is Irish, and sometimes he says things that make me completely crazy lol!

[miss_kitty]

44. Look into 'The Story of English'

by Robert Lehrer. It was a 4-6 part PBS series and there's a great book that goes with, that explains different accents in the South, how they are based on Irish, English and Scottish dialects and accents...
I am a Yankee, born and bred, so I pronounce EVERYTHING correctly. :P (not really)

[no name no slogan]

45. I own the book of the series

and it is really enlightening. There are a number of different southern dialects-- and I do mean dialects, as it's not just about pronunciation, but word use, grammar, etc.

I can't recommend that series enough. It was fascinating.

[miss_kitty]

46. It was a great series

If only local PBS stations would run shows like that instead of Lawrence Welk retrospectives and Guys From Chicago With Fake Irish Accents Who Can Dance Without Moving Their Torsos And Arms shows (that reminds me of jr High School dances-what's the big deal?) for pledge time.

[BamaGirl]

51. Thx, I'll look for it!

:hi:

[Orsino]

47. I say 'em differently...

...but I'm not a Deep Southerner. I was born in Alabama, raised in Virginia, spent several years in the Army, and now live in Georgia.

I've heard Southern dialects in which these pairs would be pronounced the same, but mine--whatever it is--isn't one of them.

[BamaGirl]

52. What part of Alabama?

I kind of divide the accents here into mountain, central, Chattahoochie, and Mobile lol. I'm from Georgia and there are several distinct regions there too. I'm from Atlanta area and mine is Peidmont, then's there's mountain, the Savannah region, central Georgia, and south Georgia. Virginia gets weird too, and don't get me started on Tennessee (where my Dad's from) lol.

Our Army years were almost all spent here, so it didn't affect my accent at all. Seems like most of the ppl we knew in the Army were Southern though. The accents were certainly different, but seems like Northern accents were rare.

[Orsino]

70. Around Auburn, but...

...I left at the age of one month. It didn't take.

[Left_Winger]

53. I would pronounce them equally the same

However, where I teach school it would be slightly different. In the upstate of SC people have a tendency to add extra syllables to words. For example: Ken would be pronounced "Ke-yun", ten would be pronounced "te-yun".
We have a person at our school who makes the afternoon announcements and when a student is asked "to report to the office at the bell", this person pronounces it, "report to the aww-fiss at the be-yull."
Heck, in the upstate region of SC, people can even squeeze two syllables into one letter. For example: N = e-yun, F = a-uf, A = a-yul, etc.
Another example is the word door being pronounced "doh-a" or simply "doh".

I was raised in an isolated part of SC with only my immediate family around me. Back then the TV was a new-fangled contraption which my mother used to keep us entertained. TV broadcasts back in the late 50s and early 60s came from NYC, Washington and Los Angeles. After reading Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities I realized that my exposure to television as a primary source of language acquisition was the reason my language/pronunciation developed the way that it did.

[BamaGirl]

56. My dad does a little of that

He draws most words out more than I do, I mean. It's one of the things I've always considered part of his east Tenn. accent.

[anarch]

54. just thought I'd throw in, for the sheer hell of it,

that Brits would say that all of us in the U.S. pronounce everything incorrectly.

Then again, the difference in dialects over there is pretty intense considering the size of the land mass...I mean, I can understand pretty much anybody from anywhere close to London, and it's not too much of a stretch to figure out what people from most of the big cities are saying...but I've had Welsh people talk to me and couldn't tell if they were speaking English or Welsh... :shrug:

Personally, I've got a lot of family in the South, so I find Southern accents comforting, although I myself probably sound like a yankee to them....

[BamaGirl]

55. Lol, yeah, and the Irish would tell you the same

and I know cause I married into an Irish family. Let me tell you, you need a translator for them half the time! Course half the time they're speaking Gaelic lol. :P I accept zero criticism from them about the way I talk, they aren't doing much better lol. ;)

[Jamastiene]

57. We do pronounce them wrong, but so what...

It's no biggie. I say them like you typed them. Identical. I used to want to change how I said the words, but then I realized it's no big deal. I can enjoy our dialects and northern dialects as well. They are all beautiful sounding. I'm just as happy to hear someone with a Boston accent not pronouncing their r's in words. Or someone from New Joisy. I love accents of all types.

[BamaGirl]

58. That's cool

I'm just curious about why different areas developed so differently. It's neat stuff. ;) I tend not to think we're pronouncing them wrong tho lol. :D

[Jamastiene]

63. Well, technically, no American is pronouncing "English" words right.

I mean, you hear how the Britons say a word and that's technically the right way. So we just pronounce everything wrong. It is interesting to note that even in the small county where I live, people have different accents. It amazes me. I have a teacher who was born and raised in the middle east, but moved to America when he was like 12 years old. He has an Iranian accent mixed with a southern accent. You want to hear an accent that'll leave you amazed, you should hear his. It's cool, really.

[BamaGirl]

67. Oh bah

:P Even amoung the English pronounciations and dialects vary. Who's right there? American English can't be lumped in with Great Britain.

You ought to hear my husband and his brother and their Irish/Southern mix. It's confusing at best lol.

[toey]

59. here's another word for your dialect project

often

most northerners (at least here in indiana) pronounce the "t" in often, while southerners pronounce it offen...which is correct, btw. someone from oklahoma pointed this out to me by laughing hysterically at me when i said "often"

[no name no slogan]

60. There's no "correct" pronunciation, actually

And IIRC most dictionaries list both pronunciations as correct.

Most Americans drop the "t" in "often"; however, it isn't dropped in most other English-speaking countries. For example, most British and most Canadians pronounce it. Here in Minnesota, it is usually dropped, although you hear a few natives using it here and there.

[BamaGirl]

61. Hmm, I'll have to pay attention next time I hear it

but I think I say the "t".

[Jamastiene]

65. I'm from the south and I say awftin, or something like that. n/t

[BamaGirl]

68. That's about how we say it. nt

[trof]

62. "Impty" = empty

My daughter, who grew up in New England kids me about how much my southern accent has returned since I moved back to Alabama.

"Dad, did you just say "impty"?
;-)

I'm an accent chameleon.
I tend to sound like where I live.
I could do a pretty good N'umpsha* imitation when I lived there.

*N'umpsha - That's the way I heard an old farmer pronounce "New Hampshire".

I also learned that it was "Ammust", not "AM-HERST".
;-)

[ceile]

64. The only one I say differently is sinned and send

I draw out the "en" in send but it still sounds the same.

[redqueen]

66. I pronounce them the same.

:shrug:

[NoSheep]

69. At times I try to pronounce the ones with e's differently but mostly I say

them the same.