the Kentucky accent & dialect

[roseymare]

[QUOTE=Dewey;8082179]
Yes, OP, if you’re going to move to a place characterized by regional dialects, you need an attitude adjustment. You’re not going to win friends or enjoy your new home if you can’t accept the way people talk. It really is a part of their identity.

I suggest you start by watching Do You Speak American? or the 80s documentary American Tongues if you can get hold of a copy. My students love it. There’s actually a section on Kentucky. People have uploaded parts of it on youtube.

The filmmakers traveled all over the country and interviewed lots of everyday people. They asked them questions like, “Who do you think talks funny?” and “How do you like the way you talk?” The results are fascinating: not only do viewers get to hear Pennsylvania Dutch, Cajun, Tangiers Island dialect, the many variations of Boston English, and many more, but most viewers end up admitting their own linguistic prejudices and learning a ton. It’s a great film.[/QUOTE]

I have a short quiz for you that is fun. My husband does not say y’all he says you’ins…two syllables

Want to take a stab at where he most likely grew up?

In one of the first places we lived we were in the tire shop and the tire guy was an amateur linguist. He picked up on hubbys dialect right away and gave two prospective place of origin.

As to the original poster. I think it is possible for a dialect to be “unpleasing to the ear” especially when first heard. I find nasal upper midwest accents to be a bit this way. But once I adjust after a few minutes it is fine and I no longer notice them. Maybe this is what the OP is referring to. Just the fact that an accent is so different that it jars the senses a bit a first.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

Southern accents vary a great deal. When you say you dislike the sound of a southern accent, which one do you mean? Can you give me an example of a famous person who speaks with the kind of accent you’re talking about? Or maybe post a link to an audio clip, just so I know what you mean?

Just curious.

And as the possessor of a southern accent, I take no offense. Me, I find the sound of an upper midwestern accent (think Roseanne Barr on her show Roseanne) really grating. Oddly, when I lived briefly in Kalamazoo, they didn’t like my accent either. It seemed to engender mistrust for some reason. Maybe because it was during the time of Lee Atwater? :lol: In Manhattan, people found my accent charming, but they also assumed I wasn’t the brightest bulb on the tree.

[Superminion]

SmartAlex, I live in Shelbyville (the outskirts) right now and have to agree with you.

I’ve noticed that the longer I’m down here, the more the accent rubs off. Words like, oil, water, fine, aisle, etc. all get a little “lazy” sounding. :lol:

And it’s been a year, but I can finally sort of understand our hay supplier (who is a native) as he has an extremely thick accent. But on the same hand I’ve meet people who have grown up here and have no accent that I can tell at all.

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=Superminion;8082528]
SmartAlex, I live in Shelbyville (the outskirts) right now and have to agree with you.

I’ve noticed that the longer I’m down here, the more the accent rubs off. Words like, oil, water, fine, aisle, etc. all get a little “lazy” sounding. :lol: [/QUOTE]

Send Dad or I to KY for a week, and we’ll come back speaking southern. I can mimic it flawlessly. If I talk to our WV office I switch over because it’s easier for everyone to understand each other. Sometimes I hear myself say Pin for Pen or something like that and phrases like “fixin’ to” are part of my vernacular.

[rustbreeches]

@roseymare;8082513

I have a short quiz for you that is fun. My husband does not say y’all he says you’ins…two syllables

Want to take a stab at where he most likely grew up?

Eastern KY. My cousins say (and text) you’uns

[Appsolute]

[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;8082030]
I thought most southerners don’t speak with accents these days. Maybe mildly. .[/QUOTE]

Oh - there are accents…

@Dewey;8082058

First of all, I’m a linguist, so I just have to mention that everyone speaks with an accent. Just had to get that out of the way.

:yes::yes:

I am from California - I have a “California accent”, I am also a “national coordinator” and regularly speak with attorneys, and other highly educated people from all over the country.

Now, I wouldn’t expect the people I speak with often to be particularly “country” as for the most part they hail from the more urban areas, and like I mentioned, have an advanced education.

But they MOST certainly have accents! I would say Alabama, Louisiana, are areas where I hear the most pronounced accents, followed by regions of Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Then up the east coast it changes, its there, but a bit less distinct (although I can usually tell a New Yorker from Philadelphian).

I don’t notice as much of an accent from people in the MidWest (maybe because the Northern CA’s accent is influenced by the MidWest one?), or the western states like Colorado.

But when I get a call from a southern state - oh I know it! (and I really enjoy hearing some of them speak, I love the way they sound!)

[Dewey]

[QUOTE=roseymare;8082513]
have a short quiz for you that is fun. My husband does not say y’all he says you’ins…two syllables. Want to take a stab at where he most likely grew up?

In one of the first places we lived we were in the tire shop and the tire guy was an amateur linguist. He picked up on hubbys dialect right away and gave two prospective place of origin.[/QUOTE]

I went to grad school in western Pennsylvania. The locals there said “you’uns.” That would be my guess.

[beaujolais]

“And note that I’m not the only one who reached that conclusion.”

Very, very wrong conclusion and much reading into, NSP, and others who decided to get all hot and conclude that! Would a possible non-preferred accent trump an area that seems great for equestrians? Most likely not, I’d think.

[roseymare]

Southern Il - very much Kentucky LOL

The Eastern Ohio and Western PA is the other place although it is more of the uns than the ins I believe.

Yay everyone wins!

Accents and phrases are so much fun! But with the internet and moving people are more likely to “steal” words and phrases that they find appropriate or like and use them!

[Appsolute]

@roseymare;8082513

I have a short quiz for you that is fun. My husband does not say y’all he says you’ins…two syllables

Well Yinz… is Pittsburgh (where my dad and family grew up), but Yinz is one syllable

Opps! Posted at the same time!

So what is the answer RoseMare!?

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

My dad’s side of the family says “yu’uns” instead of “y’all.” And then there is the even more plural () “yu’unses.”

They’re all from South Carolina. But the far northwestern corner, in the Appalachian foothills. There is an Appalachian dialect that is very distinct from other southern accents.

[bluemooncowgirl]

@roseymare;8082513

I have a short quiz for you that is fun. My husband does not say y’all he says you’ins…two syllables

Want to take a stab at where he most likely grew up?

Appalachian area? My dad is from way far western NC and his relatives all say “you’ins”.

We say “y’all” and “all y’all” – central NC.

I <3 my southern accent.

“If you like southern accents, raise your glass. If you don’t like them, raise your standards.”

[HPFarmette]

[QUOTE=Dewey;8082063]
Well, bless your heart.[/QUOTE]

you beat me to it.

[Jealoushe]

I just wanted to say, that I love all the accents in Ky. They make me so happy when I visit

[spotted_draft_x_fill]

I hate to tell you this but there’s more than just a southern accent in Lexington. You have people there from all over the country and world. So if you really don’t like accents other than yours, you going to be in a world of trouble.

By the way I have a Boston accent, married a KY country boy and now I have a southern Boston accent. Good luck trying to understand me :lol:

[mht]

Try taking a ‘Canadianized’ Aussie with you when visiting Lexington.

[mht]

[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8082274]
When I visited Kentucky a couple of times (Rolex and The Derby) we had a mutual admiration club going. They loved my accent and I loved theirs.[/QUOTE

Ever taken a ‘Canadianized’ Aussie with you for a visit to Lexington?

[beaujolais]

“So if you really don’t like accents other than yours, you going to be in a world of trouble.”

Now, who in the world said that, Spotted Draft? How did you come up with that? I did not say that and that is completely false. Please read for accuracy and do not read things in.

If someone says they don’t like “x”, do you assume they don’t like a-z? That just doesn’t work.

We certainly are imagining and reading in way too much on COTH here today.

[californianinkansas]

[QUOTE=shakeytails;8082431]
I’m disappointed. I did the survey expecting it to tell me where I’m from, but I have to click on individual maps.[/QUOTE]

Did you click on the green button in the lower-middle of the page that says “Take the Survey”?

[roseymare]

Hubby is from Southern Il but it is really Kentucky LOL