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Sorry, I credited you w/knowing the Deep South, Appalachia and TX sound nothing like any UK accents Joel Send a noteboard - 29/07/2015 07:42:21 PM

My bad; I should stop overestimating people, but it will not happen again: Promise.


View original postI said the modern southern accent was close to Victorian English, probably much closer than what is poke in England today.

You also said "the" Southern dialect is the "largest" English one, which is dubious at best. When that doubt was noted, you doubled down by switching the topic from dialect to ACCENT (which is a different thing) and saying the Southern accent (which ONE?!) is most like Victorian English and thus probably most like British English (good luck convincing anyone outside or even most WITHIN the US that the British speak "accented US English.)and modern Englishare : ONE Southern dialect.
View original postBut yes it does all come down to how you subdivide the accents and I went with what linguist say but you go with whatever makes you happy. Just treat it the same way you do politics and religion.

When discussing "ya'll" v. "you guys" etc. it comes down to dialect; accent is a(n irrelevant) question of how to pronounce words like "tomato" that are spelled and used the same in all English dialects. It might be wise to consult Wikipedias authoritarian lingual scholars further before proceeding further here. Either way, while majorities on half of all continents use English as a native language (and the majority of at least one more speaks it,) "ya'll" is rarely found outside the Southern US (ironically, the biggest exception is in urban US areas, largely due to the Great Migration from the South.) In terms of accents (once again) only ONE of many Southern accents is even remotely like Victorian OR modern British English, and that particular "Southern" accent is closer to New Englands, Britains and South Africas than to ANY other Southern one.

Just treat "dialect" and "accent" like "patriotism" and "proof," declaring them redefined however serves your preferred worldview.

Edit, because I forgot to mention: Those OTHER three continents where majorities speak English, even if not as natives? Guess which dialect AND accent most of the instructors demand all students use. Hint: NO American one. Also, another example of the difference between dialect and accent it that, while the word has existed for centuries in dialects throughout the UK, Queen Victorias famous apocryphal line is not "We ain't amused," because that word was beneath the lips of even most of her SERVANTS. This is probably a good place to stop digging.

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This message last edited by Joel on 29/07/2015 at 08:08:36 PM
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Y'all, you guys, yous guys, or hey you all? - 25/07/2015 05:38:44 PM 961 Views
Y'all may be the American South's greatest gift to the English language. - 27/07/2015 12:14:47 AM 594 Views
*whistles innocently* - 27/07/2015 04:17:43 AM 728 Views
"Hey, you guys!" is only correct if you are Rita Moreno - 27/07/2015 04:15:07 AM 562 Views
Perhaps, but you're also wrong. - 27/07/2015 04:45:48 AM 795 Views
Both spellings are "correct" to the extent EITHER are. - 27/07/2015 05:04:43 AM 793 Views
Funny.... - 29/07/2015 12:13:35 AM 650 Views
It is also correct if you are Sloth... on a pirate ship... *NM* - 29/07/2015 07:09:56 PM 504 Views
I will defer to you and Jeordam on that one - 29/07/2015 07:45:31 PM 643 Views
well since language is a democracy and the souther dialetic is the largest Y'all wins - 27/07/2015 02:07:22 PM 719 Views
The Southern dialect is the largest by what metric? - 27/07/2015 06:26:20 PM 704 Views
It also the accent most similar to what Victorian brits would have spoken - 27/07/2015 07:45:09 PM 638 Views
Whoa, now: The PIEDMONT accent may be closest to Received Pronunciation, but is not the whole South - 28/07/2015 12:37:56 AM 714 Views
I don't make the catagories but all the southern accents tend to be close *NM* - 28/07/2015 02:12:15 PM 464 Views
Except, as you noted, Virginias accent is closer to Englands (and New Englands, and South Africas) - 28/07/2015 11:00:46 PM 678 Views
that is not what I said - 29/07/2015 02:14:49 PM 697 Views
Sorry, I credited you w/knowing the Deep South, Appalachia and TX sound nothing like any UK accents - 29/07/2015 07:42:21 PM 639 Views
read slower and then read again until you understand what I said - 29/07/2015 08:14:19 PM 906 Views
"The people in the American South were Victorian Brits"?! I must have read that too fast - 29/07/2015 10:39:08 PM 644 Views
Erm. Not really sure what you're saying here... - 29/07/2015 11:35:26 PM 611 Views
Would "UK English" have been better? - 30/07/2015 10:47:53 PM 643 Views
Not really. - 31/07/2015 07:30:41 AM 604 Views
David Crystal estimates proficient non-natives outnumber native English speakers 3:1 - 10/08/2015 02:45:58 AM 592 Views
Interesting stuff. - 10/08/2015 07:12:26 PM 687 Views
Who says "yous guys"? Seriously? - 27/07/2015 07:56:28 PM 631 Views
B-movie mobsters - 28/07/2015 12:40:04 AM 810 Views
They said it when I lived in Chicago - 28/07/2015 02:10:27 PM 618 Views
Scots. - 28/07/2015 02:42:28 PM 662 Views
I have heard it a couple of times. - 28/07/2015 03:13:20 PM 604 Views
Isn't fake culture almos the defintion of hipster? *NM* - 28/07/2015 05:18:53 PM 328 Views
Depends, are trying to sound cool, like a douche, or Joe Pesci? *NM* - 29/07/2015 07:12:28 PM 512 Views
The distinction between the first two is negligible - 29/07/2015 07:52:50 PM 643 Views

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