The Effects of Immigration on Regional Accents An introduction to the impacts of immigration on the New York accent, the Alabama accent and where it will go from here

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Throughout history immigration has been prominent as a driving force for an innumerable amount of change including and very notably in the linguistics of American society. As groups of individuals have arrived to America from a myriad of foreign countries a dispersion of culture, customs and languages have followed suit, all of which contribute to the customs and languages we see today. New York stands out from all of the U.S states as a historical center for immigration and likewise for its distinct accent commonly referred to as the New York accent. According to Sheila McClear in her New York Post article “Why the classic Noo Yawk accent is fading away” the New York accent is slowly disappearing. Plays such as “A View From the Bridge” or even modern TV shows such as “The Sopranos” could be one of the last places where this distinct aspect of New York can be found.

In the article it is stated “Linguists say features of the classic accent are heard less and less in the city itself, especially among the younger generation”(McClear 2010).  In short hand the New York accents slow disappearance can be attributed to the constant change and shifts in population but in reality the situation is far more complex. The question that arises is then how has the New York accent been affected by immigration as opposed to the very distinct Southern accent? Are any differences between these two widely recognized accents due to the difference in influx of immigrants? Through careful analysis of immigration patterns to New York and the southern state of Alabama, as well as the tendencies for these states to accept immigrants one could determine if the larger and more dynamic influx of immigrants to NYC has had a greater impact on the New York accent than has the influx of immigrants to the Alabama southern accent.

New York City has been considered as America’s melting pot of languages, cultures and customs and even today we see the pot stirring as more and more immigrants arrive to NYC every day. It is currently home to over 8.5 million people making it the most populated city in the U.S (US Census 2014). When looking at New York City, with a population ranging from 18% to 40% foreign-born over the last century, Compared to the diversity of the country as a whole with only 12.6% foreign born, it is evident that ethnic diversity of the city has remained persistent up until today (US Census 2010).

Though the development of the New York accent cannot be particularly traced back to its origins, pioneers in linguistics like William Labov have theorized that the variations of the New York accent are a result of the building up or layering of ethnic speech from the waves of immigrants that settled in the city (1966).The earliest settlement by the Dutch and English, followed in the 1800s by the Irish and Midwesterners of French, German, Irish, Scandinavian, and Scottish descent have all contributed and fused in the development of the accent. One key component in linguists is the “R” which helps to distinguish the New York accent from other accents. Not only do New Yorkers drop the R, the R is added where it is not needed, usually when the next word starts with a vowel, which creates “I sawr it with my very own eyes!” and “The sofer in the living room is green”. Stephen Gabis describes the New York accent’s formation as  “New York speech gradually [getting] “a little slower, a bit lazier, and the muscularity was relaxed,” becoming less stiff and leaning toward the heavier “ga’head” (translation: “go ahead”)(McClear 2010).

Perhaps one of the most prominent and distinguished individuals to represent the New York accent would include president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt being a New York native exuded the New York accent including during his first inaugural address where he says “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” On his radio address the distinct New York accent is distinguished, as “We have nothing to feee-ah but fee-ah itself.” From that point on it became considered distinguished to drop your Rs.

New York has a prolonged history of constant migration and immigration and thus the question arises if migration is in fact a major driving factor for the transmission and diffusion of languages/dialects then why is it that only up until recently have we seen the decline of the new york accent? The answer lies in 1965 Immigration Act that put an end to country quotas and opened up immigration to the world. The law allowed for multiple family and employment pathways to the United States that brought another great surge to New York, which would once again put the city on a course to reinvent itself. (One Out of Three: p870-872). The 1965 Immigration Act is considered the seminal piece of federal legislation that has shaped the demography of New York City for nearly half a century and perhaps even the dialectology of New York as this allowed for a greater influx of immigrants from all countries to New York that would have precipitated the diffusion of the New York accent.

To determine the prominence of the New York accent today one could compare Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer’s accent who is also a native New Yorker born in Brooklyn.

One can immediately discern the difference between the FDR’s New York accent and Schumers New York accent. While Schumers New York accent is arguably noticeable there is a wide distinction between Schumer’s accent and FDR’s accent as it is clear that FDR’s accent is much more discernable. In order to determine how immigration has impacted the New York accent it is reasonable to also compare the affects of immigration to other accents in regions of the country where immigration has not been as monumental as in NYC.

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In order to determine how immigration has impacted the New York accent it is reasonable to also compare the affects of immigration to other accents in regions of the country where immigration has not been as monumental as in NYC. As history shows, most settlers arriving to the New World settled in the Northeastern part of the country, rather than in the South. This large gap in settlement was in part because of the difficult conditions in the southern cities, where overcrowding and illness were common. As a result, early development in southern regions differed from that of northern regions and created two socially individual worlds. This distinction can be seen for example in the impact that immigration patterns had on the development and retention of the southern accent in states like Alabama. Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States and is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Mississippi to the west, and Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Alabama’s location amongst the heart of the “black belt” allowed it to remain relatively isolated from newly arriving immigrants for most of its history.

From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. As the southern economic and social development deteriorated and became increasingly isolated, southern states including Alabama, with little economic pull for new immigrants did not experience much of the large-scale U.S. immigration that occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Alabama being the “heart of the confederacy” was especially hard hit in terms of the decay of inward immigration.

The Southern Accent is diverse and though many can’t really hear the difference, the accents from state to state are different in their own ways. Southern dialects originated in large part from a mix of immigrants from the British Isles, who moved to the South in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the creole or post-creole speech of African slaves. Like most other dialects and accents the development of the southern accent cannot be particularly traced back to any one origin and is believed to have developed from a constellation of factors. The Alabama southern accent is widely considered to be somewhere in between a rhotic and non-rhotic accent, meaning that in some words natives tend to drop the R’s while in others it is retained. In a video titled “How to Do an Alabama Accent”, dialect coach Andrea Caban emphasizes some of the main distinctions of the Alabama accent from other southern accents. “i” becomes “ah”. And it’s not a lengthened “ah” like you hear in a Mississippi accent but it’s, “ah”, as in “tiny, mine”, just like that. And then the “a” dipthong, as in “play, take” becomes “play, take”. “Eh” turns to “i”. So, “friend, tend” turns to “frind, tind”(How Cast 2013).

The Alabama accent like other accents has its distinctions that sets it apart from other southern accents but through the years and generations has it changed as much as the New York Accent? An analysis of the recordings from the 1940s in which Joe McDonald a man from Livingston, Alabama is interviewed to discuss how he felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom allows one to hear the distinct accent that Caban speaks of (Lomax 1940).

When compared to a recording of an interview of Alabama state senator Richard Shelby (CullmanCommunityTV55 2012) in which he discusses the prowess of the state of Alabama the similarities in the accent is clearly heard and astoundingly similar.

When comparing the accents heard in these two recording the augmented accent retention between these two individuals living in two very different time periods is observed. It is then reasonable to conclude that accent retention in Alabama is in part influenced by its immigration patterns. In comparison to the the Alabama accent the New York accents retention has an apparent diminished and it is also reasonable to say that this is in part influenced by its immigration patterns.

References

1. 2012. Senator Richard Shelby Interview, Cullman, Alabama. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buLEbSokzQ)
2. Donato, Katharine. 2006. The Changing Face of the Gulf Coast: Immigration to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/changing-face-gulf-coast-immigration-louisiana-mississippi-and-alabama)
3. Federal Writer’s Project. 1938. New York panorama: a comprehensive view of the metropolis. New York, NY: Random House.
4. How Cast. 2013. How to Do an Alabama Accent | Accent Training. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3iouDIA6Dw)
5. McClear, Sheila.  2010.  Why the classic Noo Yawk accent is fading away.  New York Post.  Retrieved April 26, 2015(http://nypost.com/2010/02/06/why-the-classic-noo-yawk-accent-is-fading-away/)
6. Labov, William. 1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistic
7. Lomax, Ruby T. 1940. Interview with Joe McDonald, Livingston, Alabama, 1940. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (http://memory.loc.gov/service/afc/afc9999001/4033b.mp3)
8. One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the 21st Century (Kindle Locations 870-872). Columbia University Press. Kindle Edition.
9. US Census Bureau. 2014. American Community Survey. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (census.gov/acs.)
10. 2015. Southern American English. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English)