# Southern accents: Dropping the L in the middle of words **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987 "2012-08-19T18:53:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/1 "2012-08-19T18:53:01Z")
Back in my second year of Americorps, [some of our teammates](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=517822&highlight=americorps) were making fun of myself and **C-Rae-sy** for the oft-times perplexing way we said certain words. Keep in mind that I am from Mississippi and that **C-Rae-sy** is from Arkansas. Our teammates got a big kick out of the way we said words that happened to have an L in the middle, following a vowel. Although our states are not immediate neighbors, and our Southern accents are not identical, **C-Rae-sy** and I both pronounced these types of words the same. We tended to drop the mid-point L out, like so: Wolf: Wuf Gulf: Guff (as in Guffa Mexico) Talk: Tawk Calm: Cahm (actually, the vowels elongate to the point where it can sound like Cahomb). The major exception I make to this is ‘Milk’, which has an L, even if its very short. However, **C-Rae-sy** pronounces it as Meeyuk! Is this a known phenomenon of Southern accents? Do only some Southern accents do this or most or all? Is this a feature of non-Southern English language dialects? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/2 "2012-08-19T19:05:38Z")
I’m from California, and I’ve never heard anyone with any accent pronounce the “L” in “Talk.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/3 "2012-08-19T19:16:46Z")
n.m. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/4 "2012-08-19T19:17:45Z")
I think Tawk and Tahk sound different. Even if you don’t make the “L” sound, you can feel the difference in your tongue. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/5 "2012-08-19T19:21:02Z")
I pronunce the L in “wolf” and “gulf,” but I pronounce “talk” as “tawk” and “calm” as “cahm.” (I’m in Montreal but my mother tongue is English.) A few years ago the guy who was the head of the Canadian army never pronounced the “L” in the word “soldier.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/6 "2012-08-19T19:38:58Z")
People make fun of the way I say “wuff” too. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/7 "2012-08-19T19:48:09Z")
I think there’s not so much regional variation that “hey, fuck you” would be terribly difficult for undeservedly smug yankees to understand. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/8 "2012-08-19T19:58:14Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > I think Tawk and Tahk sound different. Even if you don’t make the “L” sound, you can feel the difference in your tongue. When you listen to someone say a word, what difference does it make what you feel in _your_ tongue? And how do you know how they spell a word when you hear them say it? ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/9 "2012-08-19T20:07:53Z")
I’m from Georgia and I hear this all the time in my little corner of the south. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/10 "2012-08-19T20:37:21Z")
In this part of the country, you cannot hear the difference between “stalk” and “stock”. It seems that the Midwest accent flattens the short “o” so that it approaches a short “a” sound, but further west, that distinction gets lost. Sometimes you will hear the “l” in “caulk” pronounced, just to avoid sounding vulgar. Or, in reference to logger’s boots, the work actually becomes “cork”. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/11 "2012-08-19T20:47:32Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > I am from Mississippi and that **C-Rae-sy** is from Arkansas. > > \ > Although our states are not immediate neighbors, Well, I don’t know how you define neighbors, but Arkansas and Mississippi do border each other. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/12 "2012-08-19T20:53:48Z")
I find it strange that while dropping the L from some words, like bulb, people here in south Georgia pronounce the L in walk, talk, chalk, and… salmon. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/13 "2012-08-19T21:15:11Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > I think there’s not so much regional variation that “hey, fuck you” would be terribly difficult for undeservedly smug yankees to understand. We were visited by a rep from our Fargo ND facility, so of course someone asked her about the movie. “Whee HAYTE dat moo-vee! Whee don’t TWAWK like dat!” I don’t know how we managed to contain ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/14 "2012-08-19T21:22:50Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > We were visited by a rep from our Fargo ND facility, so of course someone asked her about the movie. > > “Whee HAYTE dat moo-vee! Whee don’t TWAWK like dat!” > > I don’t know how we managed to contain ourselves. Interestingly enough, she must have totally missed the fact that almost no part of that movie takes place anywhere near North Dakota. Most of it was set in Minneapolis and near Brainerd, which is on the opposite side of Minnesota from Fargo. Perhaps the opening scene was in or near Fargo, but the rest was eastern Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/15 "2012-08-19T21:31:43Z")
> [@For You](#): > > In this part of the country, you cannot hear the difference between “stalk” and “stock”. It seems that the Midwest accent flattens the short “o” so that it approaches a short “a” sound, but further west, that distinction gets lost. Sometimes you will hear the “l” in “caulk” pronounced, just to avoid sounding vulgar. Or, in reference to logger’s boots, the work actually becomes “cork”. I guess I have a Midwest accent, then? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/16 "2012-08-19T21:55:59Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Well, I don’t know how you define neighbors, but Arkansas and Mississippi do border each other. Fair 'nough. I suppose I shoulda said, ‘our communities don’t neighbor each other’, as I am from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and she’s from central Arkansas. We grew up almost five hundred miles and an eight-hour-drive from each other. Y’all brought up a few more examples: Chalk: Chawk. Caulk: Cawk or even CAHW-k with an emphasis on the first syllable to make sure it’s not mistaken for… well, you know. So it appears L is blending into W, at least in my dialect. Interestingly, ‘dialect’ I’d pronounce as “DIE-lect”, but it’s not a word you’d use in everyday speech. If it were, I could see it morphing into “dieyek” or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/17 "2012-08-19T22:37:10Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > Y’all brought up a few more examples: > > Chalk: Chawk. Where do English-speaking people pronounce the L in “chalk”? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/18 "2012-08-19T22:41:32Z")
I do, in Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/19 "2012-08-19T22:59:36Z")
In my upper appalachian dialect, word-final /l/ has become labialized (ie, more like /w/). I considered naming my son something that had the nickname Cal, but people thot i wwas saying Cow. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987/20 "2012-08-19T23:32:57Z")
My wife (born in Boston) insists that the “l” in “palm” is silent. I was born in New Jersey, and I insist the “l” is pronounced. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-accents-dropping-the-l-in-the-middle-of-words/631987.md?page=2)