Southern U.S. accents disappearing?

Kinsao said:
This kind of debate has been held about English regional accents for donkey's years.

I have heard it said that it is impossible for one Englishman to open his mouth without causing another Englishman to despise him.
 
Awwww, I quite like southern accent(s),They're charming. My late Granny had one. And she was the coolest granny on the block.
 
Hey, used to live in North Carolina before i moved to the middle of the country. People kept teasing me about how I said certain words. I listened closely to their words, and I was able to mimic most of them. i learned to speak like them, but every time i go back to North Carolina, I subconsiciously switch and find myself speaking with a slight twang again. Now, i can hear the difference in all accents, and i adjust to it after a little while. I don't even do it on purpose, but I know I'm doing it.
 
I agree that much of the regional differences in US pronunciations, especially the various ones of the South, are starting to wither away. I think that Cable/satellite/network TV had much to do with it, as did the work force being much more mobile than in the past. Whole companies picked up and moved south, bringing boatloads of northerners there.

It is disappointing, since it is a pleasure to speak to someone and be able to ask if he or she is from, say, Texas or Suffolk Virginia just because you were able to pick it up in their accent. Those who have been in the US Military tend to have the greatest range of exposure to the regional styles. I myself, though from central northern New Jersey, have most of my mother and father’s accent (Bronx and Brooklyn New York).
I have taken more than my fair share of good-natured abuse because of that, both at home and away.


 

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