Where did the southern drawl come from?

[SanDiegoTim]

The U.S. was initially/largely populated by Western Europeans, none of which spoke with a drawl. As time went by other nationalities came here, but none of these immigrants spoke with anything like a drawl. Over time this drawl developed in the South. How/why?

[smiling_bandit]

@SanDiegoTim

The U.S. was initially/largely populated by Western Europeans, none of which spoke with a drawl.

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I don’t claim any expertise, but I wouldn’t be quite so bold as to claim that. In fact, there’s good evidence that southern accents (note: accents, because there are different ones) developed perfectly naturally from the people who moved there. If anything, they may be closer to how English was spoken in, say, the 17th century.

Different regions tended to have different settlers, which is one reason there’s something of a divided. Particularly important were that many of the people who moved in coastal areas in early American colonial history were relatively well-off. On the other hand, many of the Scots-Irish settled in the Appalachian foothills.

[Colibri]

@SanDiegoTim

The U.S. was initially/largely populated by Western Europeans, none of which spoke with a drawl.

In fact, many of the features of the main Southern US accent, characterized by the lengthened vowel sounds which are referred to as a drawl, are derived from the accents of southeastern England at the time, which also had lengthened vowel sounds.

[igor_frankensteen]

Also, you need to be careful about what you think a Southern accent actually IS. With all the films and cartoons that have been made, there are a number of “classic southern accents” which are actually entirely fictional.

[Beckdawrek]

I think Scots/Irish/ Welsh influences the southern type accent more than any thing. Then there’s that Louisiana thing French and Arcadian accents. Wow, what a hodge-podge!!

[Alessan]

Not to mention a strong African influence.

[Gary_T]

@Beckdawrek

Then there’s that Louisiana thing French and Arcadian accents.

That would be** Acadian**. Arcadian is a whole nother thing.

[Evan_Drake]

@smiling_bandit

.
If anything, they may be closer to how English was spoken in, say, the 17th century.

I’ve seen this as the go-to assertion for most English language accents, ranging from Devonshire * to Scots to New England to Newfoundland etc. etc…

Anyway the modern Southern Drawl is sufficiently distinctive, and sadly not immediately associated with professional acuity, to be sui generis.

• I have my doubts if the Cecils and the Bacons of James I & VI’s court sounded like Robert Newton.

Even about Drake and Raleigh I have my doubts, and they were Devon men, stout and true. And scoundrels.

[Beckdawrek]

OMG. It was a mispelling. You people are brutal! BTW 'nother’is not a word.

[Colibri]

@igor_frankensteen

Also, you need to be careful about what you think a Southern accent actually IS. With all the films and cartoons that have been made, there are a number of “classic southern accents” which are actually entirely fictional.

Here’s a summary of dialects of American English that includes information on the development of the various Southern accents.

Major Southern accents include:

Tidewater, or Coastal Southern

From 1642-1675 the Royalists, also called Cavaliers, fled from the south and southwest England with their indentured servants and settled in Virginia when the English Civil War against Charles I began. They brought with them their south England drawl (a drawing out of the vowels); they also brought such phrases as aksed (instead of asked), and ain’t (instead of isn’t). Royalists later settled the Carolinas as well. Southern English speech laid the foundation for the development of American Tidewater speech, or Coastal Southern English.

In addition to the drawl, a characteristic of this accent is the loss of “r” before consonants.

Appalachian English, in the mountains

From 1718-1775 English speakers left North Britain and Northern Ireland and settled in the Appalachian backcountry. These people are called the “Scots-Irish.” These were mostly Anglo-Saxons refugees of the Norman Conquest who had settled within the Celtic fringe of Britain. …

One island of early Scotch-Irish English speech was left behind and preserved during the push west. This special, archaic variety of English is known as Appalachian English. It preserves many archaic features that date back to earlier stages in the development of English in Britain. Forms thought to be substandard today are actually the outmoded standard of yesterday.

In contrast to the Tidewater accent, this dialect preserves “r.”

Black English

Black English developed in the Southern states when speakers of dozens of West African languages were abruptly forced to abandon their native tongues and learn English. Slaves from different tribes couldn’t communicate with one another–in fact, masters deliberately tried to separate slaves who could speak the same language. Since the Africans had to communicate with one another, as well as with the whites, a kind of compromise language evolved on the basis of English and a mixture of the original West African languages. Such a makeshift, compromize language, used as a second language by adults, is known as a pidgin. When a pidgin becomes the native language of the next generation, it becomes a creole–a full-fledged language. The African-English creole in the American colonies evolved into today’s Black English.

Black English was most influenced by the speech of the southern whites. …

Black English, in turn, gradually influenced the speech of southern whites–especially the children of the aristocratic slave owners.

These three major threads contributed to what we recognize as “Southern” accents, but still preserve some of their own unique attributes.