Southern Reputations

According to Rosina Lippi-Green's "Hillbillies, Rednecks, and Southern Bells" she states, "...there is a great deal of diversity in the south." (p. 209) While I was browsing these websites, I noticed that each one had a different perspective on the southern language. Some of them were more extreme than others in their perspective of they way southerners talk. Even though it may not have been the writer's purpose, it appeared that some of the writers exaggerated in their description of the southern language and were almost making fun of it a little. Now, to look at it from both point of views, I can see where some people would get the impression that we may be a little slower in our thinking because we talk slower, draw out our vowels and, and may even combine words such you all, or "y'all" or doing things such as drop the "g" off of endings. In some cases it is quite the contrary though. I know plenty of brilliant and intelligent people who have strong southern accents. Along with Rosina's quote, I do agree that there is a great deal of diversity in the south in our dialects. When I took the "Are you a Rebel or a Yankee?" quiz, my result was 73% rebel, with a "shade" of pink or red on my neck. My results are obviously going to be different from my other classmates. Each southerner has their own degree of southerness to them, but just because we aren't all made the same doesn't mean that we don't have the same things morals in common. While looking at the "A Glossary of Quaint Southernisms" webpage, I couldn't help but notice that some of these examples were a bit exaggerated. I have been to some pretty deep southern places, but some of these phrases I had never even heard of! I am sure that there are some cases of southerners who talk like this, maybe at some Walmarts in the mountains or somewhere, but it is not extremely common. My southern accent may be different from some of my fellow classmates and some of my friends, but we still come from a common background and culture. Also a lot of how strong some people's dialects are depends on where they grew up and how their family brought them up. I grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Atlanta, so I have southern roots in me, southern values, and somewhat of an accent, but since I was sometimes surrounded by the city influence I do not have a thick, southern accent as some might have from say down deep in southern Georgia. Even going outside of the state into other southern states, my southern accent may be completely different from some souther accents in the hills of Tennessee or in Alabama. Some of these sources gave more of a respect to the southern language than others did. I think it is important to be respectful to other people's language and their accent, even if you may not understand them or understand why they say the things they do. It is part of respecting each other as a human race. Of course, since I am from the south, I will say that southerners say it best though!