This story is part of a partnership between the Montgomery Advertiser and the Living Democracy program at Auburn University. Now in its 13th year, the program disperses students across rural Alabama to spend 10 weeks learning more about the inner workings of the community and writing about what they observe.
ELBA − “Fixin' to," "y’all" and Thanksgivin'” are distinctive words of the South that reflect cultural identity. Those distinctions caught the ear of Anna Head Spence while she was growing up in the Wiregrass region.
She followed that interest into graduate school at Auburn University where she studied linguistics. With her advisers’ guidance, she pursued her research into accents, one of the definitive features of the South, in her doctoral studies.
They encouraged her to base her research in her hometown. She compiled information on vowel usage and other distinctive speech patterns from 2002 to 2003.
Noting that accents can vary from region to region across Alabama, Spence focused her research on Southeast Alabama, especially Coffee, Pike, Dale, Houston, Geneva and Covington counties.
What she found helped shape her future as an English educator and administrator. Now the dean of instruction at Enterprise State Community College, she still listens intently while visiting friends and family in Elba.
Her expertise was highlighted In an episode of “Journey Proud” on Alabama Public Television where she shared knowledge of Southern speech patterns with folklorist Joey Brackner.
Today, notable differences remain between word choices in different regions, she noted. For example, residents in some areas call one insect “red bug,” while others use “chigger.”
Digging deeper, Spence said the pronunciation differences can be seen in Southern variants of “I,” “oi” and “ing,” known as sociolinguistic variables.
For example, Spence noted that “oi” can be pronounced three different ways. In standard English pronunciation of “spoiled,” the “oi” sound is pronounced similarly to “boy.” The two Southern pronunciations change this, with one variant makes the “oi” sound in “boiled” closer to “bald” and the other closer to the vowel sound in “mull.”
Spence added that it is common for speakers to use the "in" variant of "ing," sometimes referred to by non-linguists as "g-dropping." She noted that Southerners more commonly use the "in" variant both in formal settings and with nouns, turning a word like "Thanksgiving" to "Thanksgivin'" and “fixing to” to “fixin' to.”
She found other common variations in the Wiregrass region, such as saying “greazy” instead of “greasy,” “mirra” instead of “mirror” or “guf” instead of “gulf.”
Possibly the most iconic phrase of the South is “y’all." Spence said “y’all” has recently become a word sometimes used in the singular. “All ya’ll” may be an indicator that “y’all” can refer to one person.
Jennifer Amlong, director of the Elba Library and Elba native, said Spence’s research on Southern accents is confirmed for her daily. Her own speech, Amlong said, is a source of pride. “I’m not afraid of my Southern accent,” she said.
Amlong said she believes there is a stigma around Southern accents. “Other people sometimes perceive it as ignorance,” she noted, adding it can fuel stereotypes that portray Southerners as “innocent or dumb.”
Spence agreed that different word choices and pronunciations can be stigmatized by some. However, she added, “Many are fascinated by Southern speech with its unique features and cultural identifiability.”
For Amlong, growing up in Elba with a Southern accent was more than the way she talked. It was a form of identity that tied her to where she was from. “It connects us like a family,” she said.
Pronunciations and the use of vowels can vary by regions across Alabama and the South. “Even my friends from Georgia say I say things differently,” Amlong said, admitting her pronunciation of the “I” sound does fit Spence’s research findings.
Unlike Amlong, Donald Vandervoort lived in Brooklyn, New York, for 60 years before coming to Elba in 2022. He works at the Rabbit Hole, a restaurant in downtown Elba, where he became familiar with local accents. “It’s definitely different than up in New York,” he said.
However, he said it is similar in that it varies by where you live. “A Brooklyn accent is very similar to a Bronx accent, but a Queens accent is more similar to a Long Island accent,” Vandervoort explained. “They’re similar in that you know it’s from New York, but it’s different.”
He has noticed different Southern dialects as he works at the Rabbit Hole, too. He said that as people move, they often adapt their speech to those around them. On the plus said, he said, “Since I’ve been down here, I’ll say ‘yes ma’am' and 'yes sir’ a lot more than when I was in New York.”
Where Amlong says “y’all," “Coke” and “buggy,” Vandervoort will say “yous guys,” “soda” and “shopping cart,” both reflecting clues about home and identity by the way they speak.
Spence said that while definitions of the South vary, most recognize the region as a distinct place with distinct features that can be traced to settlement history. The development of a Southern accent, she said, may have been impacted by such things as country stores and railroads creating connections with others, subsequently mixing people from various cultures.
Elisha Oyola, aLiving Democracy student at Auburn University, is living and learning this summer in Elba, Alabama, as a Jean O'Connor Snyder Intern with the David Mathews Center for Civic Life. The nonprofit program, coordinated by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, prepares undergraduate college students for civic life through living-learning experiences in the summer.
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