Playlist: Do You Speak American? Down South
This program follows Robert MacNeil down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Appalachia, Louisiana Cajun country, and the Tex-Mex border to examine Southern dialects and accents and the influences of French and Spanish on American English. Linguist Walt Wolfram, columnist Molly Ivins, pop country singer Cody James, and others talk about regional differences in vernacular, the steady displacement of Southern coastal dialect by inland dialect, the accents of JFK and LBJ, and the Texas border town of El Cenizo, where Spanish is the official language. Recordings of Eudora Welty and Appalachian storyteller Ray Hicks are included, as well as WPA recordings from around 1940. (57 minutes)
Robert MacNeil and linguist Walt Wolfram observe the language of the South, particularly of the Appalachians. A Kentucky native talks about regional language differences.
America embraces and celebrates dialect differences as part of its cultural heritage. Country music is part of the popular culture that makes "talkin' country" a common way of speaking.
Coastal and plantation speech is losing influence. In Oxford, MS, the enduring language of literary figures such as Welty and Faulkner is celebrated. Jeff Foxworthy jokes about Southern speech.
In the small town of Mamou, LA, people speak English, French, and Cajun. In Fred's Lounge, American English is "smothered in Cajun." The radio station broadcasts in three dialects.
The Texas accent is rooted in the wide-open spaces of cattle ranching. A geographical mix of settlers came to early Texas. Outsiders easily pick up a Texas accent, which is influenced by Spanish.
Researchers study the local African-American speech patterns in Springville, TX. An elderly African American speaks in same dialect once spoken by slaves.
African-American speech changed in the migration of rural Southern Blacks to the cities in the North. White and Black American speech patterns continue to develop along separate tracks.
Kinky Friedman, a "professional" Texan, is popularizing "Texas talk." Kinky's way with words makes him a friend of presidents. Molly Ivins discusses the Texas psyche and language.
John F. Kennedy's Massachusetts accent was accepted in Washington, D.C. Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Texas rhetoric was salty and uninhibited. Presidents Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and Bush speak with various Southern accents.
On the Texas-Mexico border in Laredo, Spanish is primarily spoken instead of English. In El Cenizo, Texas, Spanish is the official language, creating a furor in the United States.
The U.S. Border Patrol heavily patrols the Texas-Mexico border. There are an estimated seven million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Carlos Fuentes says there is a silent effort to "re-conquest" the U.S.