DO YA'ALL HEAR SOUTHERNISMS?

By Olivene Godfrey

A number of years ago I listened to a group of people discus Southern colloquialisms -- words and phrases that are used in ordinary conversation but aren't a formal part of the language.
Actually, every part of our nation uses colloquialisms that can't be understood in another region. But, back to the conversation about Southernisms. I thought I knew all the words and phrases that are considered Southernisms by people from other regions.

Still, from these people, who were from other regions, I discovered that some phrases I've used all my life, without being aware they weren't universally accepted, are considered Southernisms. After listening to the many phrases considered Southernisms, that, as I said didn't know they were Southernisms.
I wondered how I had managed to communicate with my transplanted Yankee friends. I realized then that I must have had them often in a state of confusion.

While the South is still colorful and unique in many ways the shakeup in population that occurred during and after World War !! brought about changes in occupation, diet, and speech that are still in the process of assimilation. The change in speech may seem startling to older Southerners. And among our youngsters speech is changing. The homogenized version of the English language of television performers has obviously influenced the speech patterns of today's youth.

But, there are still Southernisms around. Now to our ears we don't have a dialect. It's the outlander who sounds funny to us. Like many older Southerners I'm usually guilty of pronouncing some words as though they had lost final consonant-- fishing',
dancin'. amd fixin' - you know, I'm fixin to do that. A Yankee Connecticut pointed out to me, I guess I do end sentences with a questioning lilt, even when I'm not asking a question.

Early American colonists carried their English of 17th century to the South and many so called Southernisms are survivals of that period. The South kept many of these native English forms while the language gradually disappeared elsewhere.

Tote (carry) so commonly used in the South, may have come down from the Latin verb "tollit" meaning, "he carries". While the older person may successfully adopt a homogenized dialect, in moments of exultation, despair, passion, pain, love, or rage, the "proper speech" usually gives away to the basic.

I hope we never completely lose our regional speech differences.
And, I don't think I could change my accent now if I wanted to.