Vowels and Consonants of Southern American English | Southern American English

Speakers of broad Southern American Pronunciation have easily noticeable vowels. The following are some characterstics (Wells, 1982: 530-552).

 

Schwa often follows the lax front vowels /ɪ ɛ æ/. For example, lip [lɪəp]; web [wɛəb];
rap [ræəp].

Before
/ʃ ʒ g ŋ/ the vowel /ɛ/ may change to /eɪ/, egg, leg (example 5).

The
diphthong /ɑː/ is often monphthongal before voiced consonants rise, [rɑːz] (example 11); buy [bɑː] but a diphthong before voiceless consonants rice, [rɑɪs]; bite [bɑɪt].

Our speaker has post-vocalic “r” unlike many speakers from the South. You can
hear this in centre, poor and other
words. The /t/ disappears in words like center and Atlanta after the /n/ (example 2). Notice the pronunciation of my, leg,
thing, poor, something, Y’all, get.

With regard to distinct vocabulary, we
have the word yonder. In the case of
grammar, notice the redundant use of you in
Come get you some.