Prosodic features

Two prosodic features of rural Southern English are commonly remarked upon: the “Southern drawl” and the tendency to place stress to the initial syllable of particular words. The Southern drawl is defined variously, and it has even been dismissed by some as nothing more than a stereotype. It is probably best described as prolongation of certain stressed vowels and diphthongs, often accompanied by breaking of and exaggerated pitch rises in those vocoids. Although the phenomenon has not been studied as extensively as it could have been, there seems to be adequate evidence that it exists. It is widespread in Southern white English. Nevertheless, it seems to be more observable in the speech of Southerners born before 1960 than in the speech of those born afterward, though published evidence for such a trend is lacking.

The exaggerated pitch peaks that have been noted as a correlate of the Southern drawl are the main intonational feature noted for white Southern English. These peaks occur in heavily stressed syllables. In other respects, Southern intonation patterns seem to be similar to those in other forms of American English, though little research on them has been carried out.

The other oft-noted aspect of Southern prosody, placement of primary stress on initial syllables, occurs for some speakers in words such as cement, police, hotel, pecan, July, December, Detroit, and Monroe for which other varieties of English do not show primary stress on the initial syllable. This feature has become a stereotype of Southern English, both white and African American. As a result, it is recessive for most words, but for at least one, insurance, it has become a marker of Southern identity and is still common. In a number of additional words, such as theater and peanut, many Southerners show a secondary stress that is absent in other varieties of English. This tendency is also stereotyped and recessive.

Other features of stress and rhythm, such as the relative degree of stress timing and syllable timing, have not been investigated in Southern English. Dialect-specific voice quality features also deserve some attention.