When I lived in New Mexico and Colorado, I found that ranchers, cowboys, farmers, and those living in rural areas in the Rocky Mountain west spoke in a very distinct accent; words were spoken slowly, and with minimal mouth movement. The accent sounds quite distinct from any of the variants of a Southern accent.
Considering how the US West wasn’t settled by Anglos until the mid-1800s or so, I’m curious about how a distinct accent could have evolved in such a short time, and how the accent originated.
I grew up speaking that accent and I am not certain why it is I do. I imagine that it has a great deal to do with the interaction with local Native Americans and interaction with more country than people.
Native Americans like the Hopi, Navajo and Utes value silence and studied pauses.
Also, when you are alone with animals like cattle or sheep for relatively long periods of time you learn to think of silence as your friend and when you do break it you take time to do so.
Personally, my father used to say to me, “Think about what you say before you say it. Take your time sayin’ it, and you are less likely to have to take it back.”
Thanks! That explains the brevity I’ve noticed with many rural Westerners.
What about the accent, though, where it sounds as if someone is talking with their teeth clenched shut the entire time? (If I talk in my normal voice, but with my jaw clenched tight, I sound almost exactly like I should be from Wyoming or Montana.) Can distinctive accents like that develop in such a short time?
Coincidentally I was listening to NPR the other day, and a NA woman was talking about the cultural differences between her people and Caucasians. She said that they value silence, whereas outside the reservation people seem to be uncomfortable at silences.