Southern American English is the set of English dialects native to the Southern United States, spanning states from Virginia and the Carolinas through the Deep South to Texas and reaching as far north as parts of Missouri and Oklahoma. It is the largest regional dialect group in the country by number of speakers and remains strongest in rural communities, sharing much of its historical development with African American Vernacular English, which arose in the same region. Its signature feature is the Southern Vowel Shift, which flattens the diphthong of words like ride and fly toward a single vowel, alongside grammatical hallmarks such as fixin' to, double modals like might could, and the second-person plural y'all.
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Regionthe Southern United States, including Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Texas and parts of Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma 1 Speaker Communitythe largest regional accent group in the United States by number of speakers, historically strongest among white Southerners and especially rural communities; African American Vernacular English in the South shares much of its historical development with the dialect 1 Distinguishing Featuresthe Southern Vowel Shift, in which the diphthong in words like ride, lime and fly loses its glide and approaches a flat [ah], so ride can sound close to rod; grammatical forms such as fixin' to for an imminent action, double modals like might could, and y'all as a dedicated second-person plural pronoun; vocabulary such as buggy for shopping cart, coke as a generic term for soft drinks, and tote for carry 1 Classification
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Source Wikipedia: Southern American English
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Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Wikipedia: Southern American EnglishLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, primarily by white Southerners and increasingly concentrated in more rural areas.
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1. Wikipedia: Southern American English
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, primarily by white Southerners and increasingly concentrated in more rural areas.
Variety kind, Southern American English entity page
Southern American English is the set of English dialects native to the Southern United States, spanning states from Virginia and the Carolinas through the Deep South to Texas and reaching as far north as parts of Missouri and Oklahoma.
Descends From: English, Phonology section
One defining feature is the diphthong in prize, lime, fly and similar words losing its gliding quality and becoming a flat vowel in many or all environments.
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