Southern American English

E55707

regional dialect of American English variety of English

Southern American English is a major regional dialect of American English characterized by distinctive pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar features prevalent across the Southern United States.

Aliases (2)

Coastal Southern English ×1
Inland South English ×1

Statements (57)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	regional dialect of American English → variety of English →
hasCharacteristic	distinctive grammar → distinctive intonation patterns → distinctive pronunciation → distinctive vocabulary → double modals such as might could or might should → drawl in some subvarieties → monophthongization of /aɪ/ in many areas → multiple regional subvarieties → pin–pen merger in many speakers → regularization of past tense forms in some speakers → rhotic or non-rhotic variants depending on subregion → use of a-prefixing on verb participles in some rural varieties → use of anymore in positive polarity in some subregions → use of anymore with present tense to mean nowadays in some areas → use of bless your heart as pragmatic expression → use of buggy for shopping cart in some areas → use of carry meaning take or transport someone → use of coke as generic term for soft drink in many areas → use of done as auxiliary for emphasis in some varieties → use of done gone or done did for completive aspect in some varieties → use of ever-which or ever-what compounds in some areas → use of fixin to for immediate future → use of fixin to with progressive meaning about to → use of habitual be in some African American–influenced varieties → use of liketa or like to for nearly did in some varieties → use of maam and sir as politeness markers → use of might can or may can as double modals in some speakers → use of perfective done in some African American–influenced varieties → use of plural you all and yall with possessive yalls → use of real as adverb meaning very in some speakers → use of right as degree adverb as in right good → use of yonder as deictic term in some speakers → vowel breaking in stressed syllables in some areas → was leveling such as we was instead of we were in some speakers → yall as second-person plural pronoun →
hasPerception	associated with Southern U.S. cultural identity → often stereotyped in American media →
hasSubvariety	African American Vernacular English influenced Southern varieties → Appalachian English → Coastal Southern English → Inland South English → Lowcountry Southern English → Ozark English → Southern Louisiana English → Texas English →
influencedBy	African languages via enslaved populations → British English dialects → Native American languages in some lexical items → Scots-Irish English →
spokenIn	Southern United States → United States →
studiedInField	dialectology → sociolinguistics →
usedBy	millions of speakers →
usedSince	19th century →

Referenced by (10)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
California English → Chicago English → Nevada English →	distinctFrom
Southern American English ("Inland South English") → Southern American English ("Coastal Southern English") →	hasSubvariety
Scots-Irish Americans →	associatedDialect
Western American English →	contrastedWith
Northern Cities Vowel Shift region English →	contrastsWith
Upper South →	dominantDialect
African American Vernacular English →	historicalInfluence