Posted on 09/25/2012 4:03:14 PM PDT by nickcarraway
J.R. and Sue Ellen had it on "Dallas." The Texas twang. The "y'all" and the "howdy" -- that slow drawl that is part Southern charm, part Western swagger and pure Texas.
Yes, oil is still king in Texas, and it's easy to find a Longhorn (cow or football player), cowboys and a rodeo if you are in the mood. Neil Armstrong's first words from the Moon were "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed."
Barbara Voyce is a transplant from Illinois, and she quickly learned how to say "y'all." "It replaces the Midwestern 'you guys,'" she says. Her two children grew up saying "y'all." At her favorite coffee shop, pretty much everyone she meets has learned to adapt.
But the accent is fading, as people move here from elsewhere, and as media homogenize all regional accents into one American English sound.
Stephen Murdoch, a Rice University professor who once ran the U.S. Census Bureau, understands the demographics of what has happened in Texas.
"The population in Texas has exploded because of migration from other states and other countries," he said. "It most certainly affects the Texas twang because so many of the newcomers are Hispanic and live in the urban cities of Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Yep, the further away from the big cities, the thicker it gets!
I am the same way.
I tend to pick up the local color and accent.
It depends on the area of the state. There is a distinct difference in accent between people in West Texas and people in East Texas. The West Texas accent is most like the stereotypical Texas drawl. The East Texas accent is more Southern.
I have been told that there is a distinct South Texas accent, but I am not fluent enough in Spanish to tell the difference between South Texas and Mexican.
Its much more than a twang, its a way of expressing yourself that is hard to imitate. The twang you can imitate, the rest of it is bred in the bones.
The twang comes from Tennessee like Texas’ founding fathers. It’s a mountaineer accent.
I’m from East Tennessee...Worked with a guy from outside Dallas....He sounded just like us East Tennesseans....
You hit that nail square, Mamzelle...*L*
Austin and Dallas have a higher percentage of those with accents.
It will never go away.
Anything Fort Worth and west, and south excluding Austin has and will always have a country drawl, and believe me they only exaggerate it when making fun of themselves.
Anyone else who does is trying to act Texan.
Thankee, much obliged.
Shore....
Used to really tick me off when GW insisted that Texas wasn't really part of the south, but was southwestern. I guess that confederate flag carved into a wall of the Capitol didn't catch his eye when he was gov.
He was just a Yankee snob when all was said and done.
Indeed.
I am originally from the Hill Country, but I lived in Houston for several years and still have many relatives in the Hill Country and East Texas. When I moved to this part of the state, I immediately noticed the difference in the local accent. “Texas Drawl” depends greatly on where you are.
I live in South Texas, and among the whites, I notice no drawls or distinctive Texas way of pronouncing words.
I’ve lived near Dallas and same thing.
One of the things we noticed when we moved to Texas is how they pronounce vowels. Farm sounds like form, and vice versa. Oil sounds like all.
I have the neutral accent that TV has forced on us all.
If I visit my relatives in Louisianna then I will have a thick drawl for about 5 or 6 weeks, before it goes away again.
TV and movies have destroyed our regional accents.
We are all the same now.
I grew up in Dallas, but have lived in California since the mid-80s. Some people notice my accent still.
My accent will come right back after going to Texas. It’s always strong when I’ve been drinking.
I still always say “I’m fixin to “ do things and drop my end g’s.
I think East Texas is more southern than west Texas drawl.
This is the other thing that I noticed about a difference between Texas and California.
When my kids were little in California and doing homophones, they were told that the following were not homophones:
tin, ten
pin, pen
ben, bin
mint, meant
In Texas, they are homophones. You say pin and pen the same way.
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