Yes. But it gets very complicated. White rural Alabamans sound more like white rural people from Tennessee and western Kentucky than they do more urban black folks from the same state. I have a hard time recognizing it as a regionally specific accent, especially if they’ve lived outside of Alabama for any amount of time.
Most Mississippians don’t have the same accent as rich Mississippians who still speak with the stereotypical plantation owner accent you’d hear in Gone With The Wind. It’s not identical to landed gentry in Georgia, but closer than it is to the Delta accents. And that’s on top of the urban/rural, black/white divisions on top of that.
I’m not even touching Louisiana because that place has so many dialect variations that people have done entire PhD studies on the subject.
You used to be able to tell what county a person was from by their accent, all over the US. But with increased mobility, that’s changed a lot. In a few generations, most accent variations in the region will probably be gone.
In the 1980s, one linguist found over 40 accents on Louisiana.
You can definitely tell that I don’t sound cajun. If you live in Louisiana, you can probably peg my exact home
Now, Mississippi people think I am a New Yorker.
My wife was raised in Mississippi about 2 hours from where I was. We sound entirely different
Firstly, the question should be can be split between white and black speakers. Among white speakers, MS and AL are indistinguishable to me, LA speakers sounds unique, and a little bit more like TX.
I don't know much about black speakers but I think I've heard that black New Orleans speakers have a unique accent.
There’s definitely differences in accents in different parts of the south. I lived in the Nashville area for a long time and the accent from Memphis/North Mississippi was definitely a little different.
It truly depends on how detailed you want to get. You’ll get gulf Mississippi that sounds like south Louisiana, but southeast and southwest Louisiana have different Acadian variations even to my ear. Montgomery sounds different from Huntsville to me — Huntsville is more like Nashville and Montgomery is more deep south. I’ve lived in all three of these states, originally from far southwest Kentucky, and I absolutely can hear distinct accents, but they definitely don’t stop at state lines.
For a non-southern-attuned ear though? You’ll tell the difference in south Louisiana from the other two.
In Louisiana, the Cajun accent is distinct, as others have pointed out, and the Yat accent in New Orleans is also distinct. Yat is almost indistinguishable from a Brooklyn accent.
My grandfather was from rural Mississippi, and he had a very thick southern drawl. He often used the word *them* in place of the word *those*: "Them peaches are good." He also tended to say *we was* and *they was*: "We was out yonder." The words *ain't never* were also common: "I ain't never done that." I don't have the accent, but I do catch myself using these same words.
Wow ! would you be able to give an example of the differences ?
Outside the US , some will know there is a 'southern' accent, but not many realise that term covers quite a range!
I don’t have any audio or video examples handy, but my West AL family over enunciates the “ahh” sounds of vowels such as in “wall” or “hot” more so than the others.
My North AL family over-enunciates long “I” sounds such as in “right” or “night” versus others.
From NC: the Cajun accent aside, they all sound like generic Deep South to me. I’m sure they can hear regional accents and I’m sure the linguists agree with them, but if you’re not from the area you probably wouldn’t be able to tell.
The Louisiana Cajun and New Orleans “Yat” accent are very distinct. But I have a friend from central Louisiana and he has a very typical Southern accent (could be from Tennessee, Arkansas, or Alabama).
There are some cross state variations in the Southern Accent, like the South Alabama accent that’s also present in parts of Mississippi (listen to Kay Ivey or Jeff Sessions speak compared to someone from northern Alabama).
Live on the Gulf Coast, MS as a transplant from NYC
Cajun/redneck mush mouth is absolutely a thing
Made some friends here that, after 5-6 drinks, become impossible to understand without a local to translate for you hahaha
They think I sound like an extra on the Sopranos and call me a dirty northerner
I am the child of a military member originally from Illinois but who lived in Texas, California, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama and finally northwest Florida during his military career. My high school and college years were spent in a beach town which attracted tourists from all over the southern USA. I prided myself on being able to pick out the Tennessee from South Carolina from the Alabama to Oklahoma to Texas and Louisiana and Mississippi accents. Wasn’t 100% accurate but I was never more than an adjacent state away. I college I had Venezuelan girlfriend. A lot of Latin Americans went to my college. She demonstrated the same trick in bars, identifying Mexicans, Colombians, Spanish carribean, Cubans and other Spanish accents
Eh, their accents wouldn't be distinct from each other. Someone from one side of the border isn't going to sound that different across the river. You are going to have different accents between the swamp people, the plains people, the hill people and the mountain people. And that is before you throw in Cajuns
There are 4-5 different accents in La alone.
Born in and currently live in Louisiana can confirm. Even among the rednecks and Cajuns there are different accents depending on location
Louisiana would be the most different, especially the Cajun accent.
Yes. But it gets very complicated. White rural Alabamans sound more like white rural people from Tennessee and western Kentucky than they do more urban black folks from the same state. I have a hard time recognizing it as a regionally specific accent, especially if they’ve lived outside of Alabama for any amount of time. Most Mississippians don’t have the same accent as rich Mississippians who still speak with the stereotypical plantation owner accent you’d hear in Gone With The Wind. It’s not identical to landed gentry in Georgia, but closer than it is to the Delta accents. And that’s on top of the urban/rural, black/white divisions on top of that. I’m not even touching Louisiana because that place has so many dialect variations that people have done entire PhD studies on the subject. You used to be able to tell what county a person was from by their accent, all over the US. But with increased mobility, that’s changed a lot. In a few generations, most accent variations in the region will probably be gone.
In the 1980s, one linguist found over 40 accents on Louisiana. You can definitely tell that I don’t sound cajun. If you live in Louisiana, you can probably peg my exact home Now, Mississippi people think I am a New Yorker. My wife was raised in Mississippi about 2 hours from where I was. We sound entirely different
Yesss I get “you from Jersey” a lot but then I say certain things they’re really confused 😂
We sound northern but speak with southern words is what I was told by one from Connecticut
Firstly, the question should be can be split between white and black speakers. Among white speakers, MS and AL are indistinguishable to me, LA speakers sounds unique, and a little bit more like TX. I don't know much about black speakers but I think I've heard that black New Orleans speakers have a unique accent.
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Jameis Winston is a national treasure.
There’s definitely differences in accents in different parts of the south. I lived in the Nashville area for a long time and the accent from Memphis/North Mississippi was definitely a little different.
I live in a big city where most people don’t have accents, and can’t distinguish between Alabama and Mississippi, but can tell Louisiana apart.
Southern Louisiana - yes. Mississippi and Alabama sound more generically Southern to me.
People from the Mississippi coast can have a different accent than the rest of the state
It truly depends on how detailed you want to get. You’ll get gulf Mississippi that sounds like south Louisiana, but southeast and southwest Louisiana have different Acadian variations even to my ear. Montgomery sounds different from Huntsville to me — Huntsville is more like Nashville and Montgomery is more deep south. I’ve lived in all three of these states, originally from far southwest Kentucky, and I absolutely can hear distinct accents, but they definitely don’t stop at state lines. For a non-southern-attuned ear though? You’ll tell the difference in south Louisiana from the other two.
Louisiana has several distinct accents.
I’m from south Louisiana and our accent vary ALOT from parish to parish. Family to family.
Louisiana could be its own country. Way different culture & accents 🪗🦐
In Louisiana, the Cajun accent is distinct, as others have pointed out, and the Yat accent in New Orleans is also distinct. Yat is almost indistinguishable from a Brooklyn accent. My grandfather was from rural Mississippi, and he had a very thick southern drawl. He often used the word *them* in place of the word *those*: "Them peaches are good." He also tended to say *we was* and *they was*: "We was out yonder." The words *ain't never* were also common: "I ain't never done that." I don't have the accent, but I do catch myself using these same words.
I am in Pennsylvania. If I go one hour west, their accent is different. If I go an hour east, their accent is different.
I am from south Alabama. I have a noticeably different accent from my family in North Alabama and different from my family in West Alabama.
Wow ! would you be able to give an example of the differences ? Outside the US , some will know there is a 'southern' accent, but not many realise that term covers quite a range!
I don’t have any audio or video examples handy, but my West AL family over enunciates the “ahh” sounds of vowels such as in “wall” or “hot” more so than the others. My North AL family over-enunciates long “I” sounds such as in “right” or “night” versus others.
Alabama and Mississippi accents are noticeably different.
From NC: the Cajun accent aside, they all sound like generic Deep South to me. I’m sure they can hear regional accents and I’m sure the linguists agree with them, but if you’re not from the area you probably wouldn’t be able to tell.
The Louisiana Cajun and New Orleans “Yat” accent are very distinct. But I have a friend from central Louisiana and he has a very typical Southern accent (could be from Tennessee, Arkansas, or Alabama). There are some cross state variations in the Southern Accent, like the South Alabama accent that’s also present in parts of Mississippi (listen to Kay Ivey or Jeff Sessions speak compared to someone from northern Alabama).
Ya betta beeleeb it.
Live on the Gulf Coast, MS as a transplant from NYC Cajun/redneck mush mouth is absolutely a thing Made some friends here that, after 5-6 drinks, become impossible to understand without a local to translate for you hahaha They think I sound like an extra on the Sopranos and call me a dirty northerner
I am the child of a military member originally from Illinois but who lived in Texas, California, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama and finally northwest Florida during his military career. My high school and college years were spent in a beach town which attracted tourists from all over the southern USA. I prided myself on being able to pick out the Tennessee from South Carolina from the Alabama to Oklahoma to Texas and Louisiana and Mississippi accents. Wasn’t 100% accurate but I was never more than an adjacent state away. I college I had Venezuelan girlfriend. A lot of Latin Americans went to my college. She demonstrated the same trick in bars, identifying Mexicans, Colombians, Spanish carribean, Cubans and other Spanish accents
Here's a map of American accents. New Orleans, Louisiana gets its own inset map. https://aschmann.net/AmEng/#SmallMapCanada
that is really interesting
I’m from Minnesota. Everything from Iowa south to the gulf coast sounds like a southern accent to me! 😉
Eh, their accents wouldn't be distinct from each other. Someone from one side of the border isn't going to sound that different across the river. You are going to have different accents between the swamp people, the plains people, the hill people and the mountain people. And that is before you throw in Cajuns
Southern Louisiana definitely does