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Phillip Hunter
Professor Meaghan Rand
UWRT 1103
24 September 2014
Acceptance of the Southern Dialect
Language is a system of communication that has evolved and spread throughout
various branches within the world. This is extremely evident in the melting pot of the
United States, where there are many varieties of dialects and lexicons utilized by people
located in different regions. These variants of English often help establish ones identity,
immediately connecting him or her to certain aspects of their regions past. Many times,
however, these connections bring about misconceptions regarding the true nature of a
persons culture that arise from superficial knowledge about a region that may be out of
date or extremely generalized.
Almost every region of the United States has its own unique form of English. This
may involve a different variety of words as an addition to normal English as well as
different types of spoken accents. Many of these accents, such as a Minnesotan or New
England accent, are immediately identifiable to almost anyone within the nation. People
within the midwestern United States also have completely different words for various
things compared to those in other parts of the country. For example, a person in the
Southeastern United States would most likely call a carbonated beverage a soda.
However in the midwest, nearly everyone identifies this drink as simply pop. This trend
shows how language has evolved through separate branches within these areas in
order to become a landmark for the identity of the people that live there. One of these

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branches, the Southern American family of dialects and lexicons, has a particularly
interesting identity attached to it.
Southern American English procures many preconceptions with many people. As
it contains the largest accent group within the United States, this take on English is
often regarded by those in other countries as an American Accent. I have seen this
first hand within my personal life, as when challenged to vocalize an American accent,
several friends of mine from the United Kingdom emit an extremely strong, stereotypical
American southern accent. Within the United States however, the accent is identifiable
to the specific area in which it is from and the history behind that area. One inference
that many Americans make when meeting someone with a Southern Accent is that the
person works within the agriculture and farming industry. This, however, is impossible
as no amount of farmers within this country could actually match the amount of people
who express this dialect. This stereotype arises largely from superficial historical
knowledge of the South, relating to the large population of farmers in the area hundreds
of years ago. Now, due to the urbanization of the country within the last hundred years,
there are much more people living in large cities. The combined population of some of
the largest cities in the South, such as Atlanta, Houston, and Charlotte vastly outweighs
that of those living in rural farm areas. Another preconception made regarding the
Southern American dialect is that it is an amalgamation of English derived from
laziness. While many words used within the language clearly couldnt be used within a
professional setting, such as youngns, many word structures within the segment of
English could be highly beneficial to the mainstream English dialect, even within
professional applications. One such of these structures is the contraction y'all. This

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contraction should be considered perfectly acceptable as it is just as normal as any

other contraction. Whereas most other forms of the pronouns have one word varieties,
there is no clear way to say you all. This contraction serves to optimize the spoken
syllables of you all into one efficient phrase. If I were, for instance, in a business
meeting and addressed my colleagues with the term y'all, I would most likely be
frowned upon as informal if I were somewhere outside of or even possibly within the
Southern United States. Another one of these infamous contractions is aint. While this
contraction is somewhat harder to justify as it does not really have a specific pair of
contracting words, I believe it should still become accepted as a formal, professional
contraction in all dialects and contexts. The non-acceptance of the Southern American
dialect into mainstream English is even apparent within modern professional software
programs. Microsoft Word, an application with an expansive dictionary with an amazing
hold on the grammar and customs of the general English language often does not
identify words from the Southern dialect such as yall and aint as even existing.
Dictionaries often list words with origins in the Southern dialect as being slang. The
definition of slang is language that is regarded as very informal. Because of this,
children in grade school are taught to never use words such as aint within their
submitted writings, or even in general everyday speech. However, with words such as
selfie, chillax, and bromance being added to mainstream dictionaries, the question
should be asked; Will these eventually become acceptable words to use professionally
before simple contractions originating from the Southern dialect?
Many of the facets of the version of the English language spoken within the
Southern United States shouldnt be considered lazy or informal. These pieces are

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simply more efficient and optimal ways of communicating messages. While much of the
outside United States may look down upon the dialect of the South as being informal
slang, pieces of it would be beneficial to the English language as a whole, both within
the United States and even within areas elsewhere in the world such as the United
Kingdom.