Same thing happened, but prolly worse in Raleigh. You still hear a few older folks who have the distinctly Raleigh accent, but IBM moving down in the 60s closed that window.
Like half my 6th grade class (1988) was born in upstate NY or PA.
All of that said, some of what you’re noticing may be you shifting to a newer/younger Southern Accent, which is not as heavily marked, but is still distinctly Southern.
Even in places where Southern accents weren’t socially undesirable, TV had a *HUGE* leveling effect. An oft repeated phenomenon.
I always get the “but you don’t sound like you’re from Tennessee” and I’m like “yeah that’s because mass american culture when I was a child convinced me I had to bury my accent, and now that I know better, I can’t get it back, but thanks for thinking I don’t sound as dumb as you think I should”
I had the most interesting conversation with a friend whose husband is from Louisiana. Apparently there was such social pressure between the 20s to the 70s to stop speaking French and Americanize, that the whole accent sort of shifted. He said his grandparents had "Real" Cajun accents.
He also described getting beaten up in school because his parents spoke French. He doesn't speak or read a word. He said people in New Orleans sound a lot more like folks from elsewhere in the south now, and remarked that Acadiens in my neck of the woods sound more like Cajuns used to (naturally).
Kind of a fascinating friendship, given the cajun-ness of his family, the Acadien-ness of mine, and the vast distance and many years between us.
Very interesting to contrast the same people (deported Acadiens being the ancestors of Cajuns) experiencing differing outcomes in the fight for language.
Brother I feel you. It took an effort of will to actually bring my natural accent happen. But it goes back to what I was talking about. I don't hear people talk the way they did when I was a kid and I fucking hate that. Dude Appalachian vernacular is worth saving
Fully agree. I’m a bit fiery about it right now cause I’ve been writing about it a little bit in the novel I’m working on. It’s partly about the slow creep of fascism in a southern Appalachian town at the turn of the millennium, including how external forces conspire to steal their history
My mom and step dad sound like hillbillies but I traveled a bit as a kid to see my dad so I suppressed it to keep stewardesses and whoever I met wherever from making a big deal out of it. Now that I'm older, it's creeped back in, but I'm more Foghorn Leghorn than Earnest T Bass.
In first grade in Alabama in 1978, the PE teacher called me up in front of everybody to answer a question. Then she said “you sound like a Yankee!” because I’d learned to talk from watching Sesame Street
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Like half my 6th grade class (1988) was born in upstate NY or PA.
Even in places where Southern accents weren’t socially undesirable, TV had a *HUGE* leveling effect. An oft repeated phenomenon.
Very interesting to contrast the same people (deported Acadiens being the ancestors of Cajuns) experiencing differing outcomes in the fight for language.