How to Speak with a Southern Accent | American English

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ABOUT THE LESSON 📚
The southern accent is one of the most distinct accents in the United States. You hear it in movies, TV shows, as well as when you travel to the South.

I'm going to break the accent down for you so that you have a better understanding as to how people speak with a southern drawl, which will help you improve your overall comprehension.

I thank ya'll for watchin'. 😉

LESSON CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro to the Southern Accent
0:56 Slow Speech with Diphthongs
4:34 Syllable Stress (prolonging & changing stress)
6:30 Mixing of Vowel Sounds
7:11 Pronouncing "I" & "my" and the Soft /r/
7:58 Words that End in -llow
8:33 Reductions & Dropping the G in -ing Words

#InteractiveEnglish #SouthernAccent

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Thanks so much for being a part of our community. Learning English is an enriching experience that brings everyone all around the world closer together. Be sure to say “Hello” and write to us in the comments. We love hearing from all of you.

THANKS FOR WATCHING!

[Mikeakapeli]

As a European i love the southern accent, cant wait to visit the southern states next summer and listen to folks talk

[jenniferharris-uxvx]

As someone with a southern accent, I think we are often thought of as "less intelligent, " uneducated and simple thinkers. I also get called "sweetie" and "honey" in drive-thrus. Southern people are perceived as nice and religious. I have been hired based on the way I talk. I have also been dismissed for the same reason.
I applaud your channel, because at the end of the day, it's just a matter of where your peers were. My children do not sound like me. They sound like their friends.

[cp-chipheo]

I'm a foreinger and southern accent is beautifull to me. It delivers more feeling to me.

[DutchVanDerLinde-sxox]

I find it kinda neat that the southern accent is so diverse. There's several variations. I'm from Texas, but I can hardly understand someone from rural Louisiana

[Floydwellian]

I grew up near the borders of Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia. I was raised by folks from southeast and middle Tennessee. In the past I was embarrassed by my accent since many people equate it with ignorance, in fact I grew up with some people who went to speech classes in order to eradicate their southern accent. When I got into customer service and found that I couldn't get New Yorkers and other northerners off the phone because they loved hearing me talk I realized it's all good. And men LOVE it.

[finn]

I am from the U.K. and we like most of the American accents, but by far the most loved is the southern accent. If I had to explain why it is because the southern accent is pleasant to the ears, with a warm & friendly lilt to it. Also, given that southerners usually speak at a slower pace (drawl) it is the easiest American accent for non English speakers. As a high school music teacher, the south also has a special place in music history. This is whereby rock n roll was formed by African American musicians, as well as R&B and Jazz. Just Imagine most of the contemporary music forms that the world listens to today comes from the American south.

[JoshThatMcKoyBoy]

As a born and raised Southerner, I can ALWAYS tell when someone is using a fake Southern accent in TV shows and movies. It’s soooo bad lol. Is that how people from the UK feel about us when we try to imitate a British accent? 🥴😂

[maegonzales]

I love the southern accent. I worked in a call center for American retail companies and I always get excited to be talking to people from the south. For me they're also laid back and are sooo friendly. I like their vibe.

[NOODLE]

As a southern accented person who has both the drawl and twang (as well as a northern accent) watching this video made me happy and giggle a lot

[hopelawrence]

I like how he even caught pronouncing “w” “dub-ya”

[BobWright]

As a life long southerner born in Savannah, GA I have to say your descriptions are pretty accurate. The only pronunication I've not heard often is GEEtar for guitar. The more common pronunciation in the South is GITar.

[ChristysChannelYall]

I was born and raised in the Deep South. Born in southern Mississippi and raised there, southern Louisiana and southern Alabama. I never even thought I had an accent till I moved to Washington state when I was 16. The other kids would not leave me alone. They followed me around asking me to say words 😂. You did a great job explaining how we speak. Just a few exceptions from my perspective. You usually only hear older southern folks say “gee-tar” and “yell-uh”. Those words, my grandma used to say like that, but I don’t and I’m 50 for reference. I think it was taught out of us in school. They tried to make us stop saying “ain’t” too, but that didn’t work.

[JanetPatterson-mu]

I am a Northerner married to an East Texan. It took me awhile, but l figured out why his accent sounds like it does. No matter what the word and how many syllables it has, the accent is always on the first syllable. PO-lice, CE-ment. He even pronounced the state of Vermont, VER-mont. So interesting.

[EngPheniks]

I think Southern accent is the most famous in the United States when it comes to portrayal of Americans in the movies. African Americans also being raised mostly in the south speak in a similar accent.

[BlessYourHeart]

In the Deep South, “can’t” sounds like “caint, ” not two syllables. Otherwise you did pretty well. You nailed the pen/pin lack of difference. Also, not all of us say geetar, some of say it normally. Don’t go as hard on the length of I/ah and many of us say the r sounds at the end of the words, unless it’s more of a coastal accent.

[eschnata]

I just love the southern accent!!! I had a coworker from Alabama, and I was just in loved by her accent.

[Chris]

As a Brit trying to speak in a Texan accent for a show, this was brilliant! Thanks

[airgunningyup]

as a New Yorker living in Texas, this is very accurate. You have obviously studied the english language at great depth.

[RougaRouKJun]

Thank you for actually taking the time to learn our accent and showing us respect. Many other videos I've seen are either generic or inaccurate. Keep in mind y'all we were taught to speak this way from the womb. I've tried tirelessly to water down or get rid of my accent I haven't been able to

[thehayses]

As someone from south Mississippi, you did a pretty good job depicting the southern accent without making it sound ridiculously fake. Guitar wasn't completely accurate though. It's more like Gih-tahr with pronunciation. And I've mostly heard throwin a fit rather than pitchin a fit lol. Ain't and yall are definitely accurate bc I use these words daily lol. In fact if I say can't it comes out as caint lol. The ten tin and pen pin thing is pretty spot on. All in all you did a good job and thank you for not making the accent foolish or fake. I say yellow as yellow though lol