Hans Kurath
Dialect regions were not given names until the 1930s when the famous linguist. Hans Kurath wanted to conduct a mass study of the variations of speech in different regions of the country. He and his team of linguists were able to identify three majors dialect areas. Those areas were broken up into the Northern, Midland, and Southern region with sub regions in each of the three main areas.
http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/17
http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/17
Origins of the Gulf Southern Dialect
Picture from google
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.
A large number of features distinguish southern dialects as a group from their cousin dialects in the American north, as well as from modern British dialects in the south of England.
--the classic Southern drawl, caused when vowels become long or diphthongalized: house = ha:wse, eggs = ai:gz; some words even contain triphthongs: flowers. [fla:ierz]
--loss of final t, d after another consonant: an(d), tol(d)
--first syllable accented (rather than the second) in such words as: guitar, insurance, July, police, elope, etc.
--yall for you all
--bucket, not pail
Influence on General American--
Southern English has contributed and continues to contribute to General English a variety of highly colorful idioms: Mad as a rooster in an empty henhouse, Don't get crosslegged (Don't get mad.), tearing up the peapatch (on a rampage),kneewalkin' drunk, He's three bricks shy of a load. (dumb)
Other southernisms that made it into general American include
--snickerdoodles; tacky; varmint, from vermin, vittles > victuals.
--spitting image of > spirit and image of
--fink, ratfink > Albert Fink, an unpleasant railroad detective after the Civil War.
What is the origin of certain features of Southern English that cannot be traced back to dialectal differences among the original immigrants from the British Isles?
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/AmericanDialects.htm
A large number of features distinguish southern dialects as a group from their cousin dialects in the American north, as well as from modern British dialects in the south of England.
--the classic Southern drawl, caused when vowels become long or diphthongalized: house = ha:wse, eggs = ai:gz; some words even contain triphthongs: flowers. [fla:ierz]
--loss of final t, d after another consonant: an(d), tol(d)
--first syllable accented (rather than the second) in such words as: guitar, insurance, July, police, elope, etc.
--yall for you all
--bucket, not pail
Influence on General American--
Southern English has contributed and continues to contribute to General English a variety of highly colorful idioms: Mad as a rooster in an empty henhouse, Don't get crosslegged (Don't get mad.), tearing up the peapatch (on a rampage),kneewalkin' drunk, He's three bricks shy of a load. (dumb)
Other southernisms that made it into general American include
--snickerdoodles; tacky; varmint, from vermin, vittles > victuals.
--spitting image of > spirit and image of
--fink, ratfink > Albert Fink, an unpleasant railroad detective after the Civil War.
What is the origin of certain features of Southern English that cannot be traced back to dialectal differences among the original immigrants from the British Isles?
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/AmericanDialects.htm
Origins of South Midland Dialect
The south midland region has dialect features of the Appalachian region and dialect regions further south because of human migration patterns over time. In the early times people migrated southwest from the Appalachian regions and settled in the south midland region. Then over the course of two world wars and a depression people migrated from the south to the north in search of work. These migrations have caused the south midland dialect to display southern vocab and Appalachian characteristics.