Language and Literacy Project

I grew up in a rural area just outside of Carthage, North Carolina. I spent my

summers working on cars and never lived on farm, but spent plenty of time working
on them. I spent most days in the spring and fall fishing, from sun up to sundown,
fishing with my buddies. In the words of the country singer Morgan Wallen, A lot of
people like to make fun of the way I talk. Ive been called all the derogatory names
in the books. Ive been called a hick, a redneck, and a lot of other names that are
far less appropriate for an essay. Just because I add a few as here and there and
leave off a few letters from time to time, doesnt imply that Im uneducated or
anything of the like, the only thing it means is that I was born and raised in the
South, and Im not ashamed of my roots. When it comes down to it, I feel like
southern culture is one of the best at turning boys into men and girls into ladies.
Maybe Im biased, but I feel like being raised on foundations of respect and honesty,
and talking with the same accent as my father and his father before him makes me
the man I am and I wouldnt change that for all of the money in the world.
I definitely speak with a southern dialect. My accent is usually only moderate,
but sometimes, as my girlfriend gets so much pleasure in pointing out, it can be
very heavy. Common characteristics of the southern dialect are things such as
speaking slowly, pronouncing words like they were spelled with more as than
intended, and leaving out a couple of consonants here and there. I often speak
slowly, I have been lead to believe that speaking slowly is more clear, and exhibits
more confidence in speaking. When it comes to pronunciation of words, Im guilty of
butchering many of them. Simple words like dog or frog become dawg or
frawg. Words like roof and hoof are pronounced more like ruf and huf. I
have a lot of similar hobbies with the people I grew up with. Some of these hobbies
are huntin and fishin, never pronounced with the g of the -ing ending.
Everyone in my hometown speaks like this, and being located near one of the
largest golf resorts in the country it makes for clear contrast as to how people from
other regions speak.
My language developed very obviously from those I grew up around. My
grandfather and my father both speak with a southern accent, so it was natural for
me to end up with one similar to theirs. My grandma, however, was an English
teacher for 40 years or so, and as of such often attempted to correct the way that
I spoke. However, I found nothing wrong with the way I talked, so it stuck. I spent
most of my time with my dad and his friends, so I began to talk like they did. So, I
guess a lot of the reason for my dialect is the fact that I was raised around southern,
blue collar types. Very few of my dad and his friends had college degrees, but you
gain a level of respect for a man who works hard day after day to support his family.
This made these men admirable to me, and I felt that their character traits were
something I wished to see in myself. All the while my friends and I combined and
adapted our generations own version of our parents language and it evolved into
the way we speak today.
Its common knowledge that people from the north and the south use
different words and terms to describe the same thing. For instance, what most
people deem a truck, we would refer to as a pickup. What some call an atv, we call
a fourwheeler. Many of the sayings that stand out in my head are too vulgar for a
college essay, this probably something to do with being 19, but one that people
often get a laugh out is the classic sweatin like a woman of questionable morals in
church. Thats obviously not the exact saying but its close enough. Honestly, I think
I could have someone follow my dad around with a book, because comedic
comparisons are a dime a dozen with him, and Im usually just retelling what Ive
heard.
My language affects who I am in many ways. I speak in the way that I grew
up speaking. Since I learned to talk the way I talk based off of experiences specific
to me, no one else in the world talks just like me. Its my own personal style of
speaking and that makes it something that Im proud of. I think that the way I talk
puts some people off at first, making me seem a little unrefined, but that just serves
to shock people who look again and see the respect and manners that come with
my accent. In a world where everyone is so quick to cry prejudice, it almost seems
ironic that these types of stereotypes are never represented in any speech. There
have been many intelligent men and women that accomplish great things, all the
while speaking with a dialect that so clearly shows their small town, southern roots.
Southern culture is sometimes viewed in a positive way, and sometimes not,
but this is hardly ever a grass is greener on the other side scenario. People who
arent familiar with life in the South look down on it. They see a bunch of people
who like obnoxious vehicles that get a little too rowdy on Friday nights. What they
dont understand is the lessons we learn and the morals that are instilled in us at an
early age. We learn early that God is great and to live our lives for him. We learn
that a man always respects a lady, and you should go out of your way to assist one
whenever possible. We get it drilled into our heads that elders are always addressed
as sir or maam so as to show our respect. Its just not something that you find
everywhere. Those who understand southern culture always perk up when the hear
me walk up to a counter and say yessir or yes maam with a little bit of a drawl.
It always seems to earn that smile that I assume to mean something like I like you,
youre a good kid.
While it might not be the yeehaws, yeeyees, git er dones, and similar
phrases that everyone stereotypes with southern culture, my dialect represents who
I am and it is southern to its roots.