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This is a Taiwanese song from my grandparents' generation. My grandfather loves this song very much! He passed away when I just graduated with the master degree, I still really miss him.

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洪一峰 - 思慕的人 / The One I Yearn For (by Yi-Feng Hong)

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Linguistic Features of Southern American English

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Linguistic Features of Southern American English

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This is a website from the University of Georgia's (my alma mater) Linguistic Department about Southern American English. This is the regional English that I grew up hearing and speaking. There are embedded videos that show how these features of Southern American English are pronounced.

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Like any language or dialect, Southern American English is characterized by certain features related to how words are pronounced and arranged in a sentence, as well as what words are actually used. These linguistic features can be read about in detail on the following pages:

Phonetics and Phonology: Phonetics is the study and classification of speech sounds, and phonology is the study of the relationships between speech sounds. In other words, how do you pronounce certain sounds? How does that pronunciation change in context?

Grammar: Formally known as "syntax," grammatical structures can vary by dialect as with any other linguistic feature. How do you arrange your words in a sentence? This page also contains information about prosodic features, which relate to patterns of stress and intonation in a language and/or dialect. What sounds in a word or phrase do you emphasize? Do you use specific pitch patterns over the length of a sentence?

Lexicon: A dialect's lexicon is the vocabulary unique to that dialect. What words do you use to describe something? Do you use specific turns of phrase that might not be found elsewhere?

Phonetics & Phonology of Southern American English

Phonetics is the study and classification of speech sounds, and phonology is the study of the relationships between speech sounds. Like any language and/or dialect, speakers of Southern American English demonstrate a particular combination of features that make up what we recognize as their accent. While these are by no means all the linguistic features of SAE, they comprise of a few that are easily recognizable and can also be attested to within the Digital Archive of Southern Speech. Words that are highlighted and underlined in blue open a window to YouTube, where samples of each feature can be heard from the DASS.

PIN/PEN Merger: One of the most famous features of Southern Speech is the "PIN/PEN" merger. Essentially, this feature works exactly as it sounds: there is a "merging" of the vowels in the words pin and pen so that they may basically sound the same. The "merged" vowel is actually closer in pronunciation to pin. Though this feature is so recognizable and stereotypical of Southern Speech, increased education in the southern United States has led to some decline (Thomas 14). The video below provides an example of the merger in action. Which do you hear: pin or pen? In context, the speaker is actually saying "That's a pin," but when the phrase is isolated, it can be difficult to tell the difference. Notice the writing under the transcription: this is an example of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) at work. Each symbol corresponds to a separate sound, and makes it easy for linguists to understand exactly how a phrase is pronounced. This is especially handy when working with other languages, or when the spelling of a word is not intuitive.

All three clips below demonstrate the PIN/PEN merger. Other words affected by this feature include tin/ten, mint/meant, and bin/Ben. Do you display this phonetic characteristic in your own speech?

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Monophthongization: Another heavily-studied feature of SAE, monophthongization is a vowel shift changing the pronunciation from a dipthong to a monophthong. A "diphthong" is a sound formed by combining two vowels into one syllable, such as in nine. If you listen carefully, you can hear the vowel in nine as a combination of the "ah" in Amish and the "e" in me. A "monophthong" instead is a sound formed by only one vowel, such as in keep. This means that when monophthongization occurs, other people might pronounce a vowel as a diphthong, but those who use Southern Speech pronounce it as a monophthong, elongated the first vowel instead of pronouncing the second. Monophthongization can occur in other dialects of English, but is most widely recognized as part of SAE.

In the following video, the first two speakers monophthongize the word five, while the last two speakers do not. Do you hear the elongated "ah" sound instead of a transition to the "e" in me sound? Do you monophthongize in your own speech?

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Triphthongization: Instead of combining two vowels into one syllable as in monophthongization, triphthongization is the changing of a monophthong to a triphthong, with the pronunciation of three different vowels instead of one. This is part of what we understand as the "southern drawl" in words like mouth, dress, etc (Thomas 4). Diphthongization can also occur, which is the same process but with extension to two vowels instead of three.

The video below shows four examples of triphthongization; three with the word dress, and one with guess. Often it is difficult to hear that actual triphthong because of the speed of the speaker, but notice the progressive "eh," "ee," "uh" sounds in the vowels of these words, especially when spoken slowly. Do you have triphthongization in your own speech?

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Non-rhoticity: Non-rhoticity is the lack of pronunciation of the "r" sound. We heard this feature widely in the stereotypical British accent, but it can occur in specific environments in Southern Speech as well. This feature is most common in unstressed syllables, like in letter. It's also frequent in the last part of a syllable, such as word-finally (four and here) and pre-consonantally (hard and fourth) (Thomas 15). Non-rhoticity is most common in plantation regions. It was once the preferred pronunciation (called "prestigious" in linguistics), but is now looked down on (called "non-prestigious"). As with most linguistic changes, women have led this change over time. This increase in rhoticity so that now "r" does get pronounced more often only applies to white Southerners. For African-American speakers, their varieties are largely still non-rhotic (Thomas 16). Alternatively, in the speech of older speakers, some words such as idea and those with the same vowel as goat (the second vowel in hollow, for example) are pronounced as ending in an "er" sound (Thomas 13). This is even documented in the changed spelling of hollow to holler in some areas of the south.

The first two speakers in this video display non-rhoticity on the word four, while the second set of speakers do not. Do you hear how in the first two clips, the speakers pronounce a long "oh" sound instead of the "r"? Is your own speech style rhotic or non-rhotic?

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MARY/MERRY/MARRY DISTINCTION: These three words are pronounced different by many Southern speakers, with the same vowels as play, bet, and cat, respectively. This tendency used to be prevalent among most Southerners, though in the modern day, these words have lost their distinction so that the vowel is pronounced the same as in square (Thomas 15).

Listen carefully to the sound clips in the video. Notice how the speaker pronounces mary, merry, and marry slightly differently. Do you have the same distinction in your own speech? Or do you pronounce these three words the same way?

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WITCH: The sequence spelled as "wh" as in which used to be pronounced as "hw" in the South rather than as "w" as in witch. Better-educated speakers were more likely to distinguish the two (Thomas 19). This feature is now not as a prevalent as it used to be, and is not unique to SAE, but has persisted there longer than in other dialects (Thomas 5). Another feature of Southern American English concerning "w" is its deletion in the words one and was, such as in young'uns and little'un (Thomas 18).

A variation of the which/witch distinction is also called the whine/wine distinction; the "w" and "hw" sounds follow the same pattern, but in a different environment of sounds. The first speaker in the video below pronounces white and wife differently, which you can hear in the first two clips. The speaker in the second pair of clips does not show the whine/wine distinction. Finally, the third speaker in the last set of clips does not differentiate between which and witch, meaning that they also do not have this phonetic feature. Examples of this SAE characteristic can be difficult to find as they gradually disappear from peoples' speech styles. Do you differentiate between which and witch and whine and wine? Or are they homophones?

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"G"-Dropping: A highly recognized feature of white Southern speech, the suffix -ing may actually be pronounced as just "-in". The change occurs at a particularly high rate among lower-class males and in informal speaking styles.

The first speaker in the video below drops the "g" from his speech on the word going. The second speaker does not. Which way do you pronounce words like going, moving, fixing, etc?

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Phonetic variants within individual words are also found in SAE. Get may be pronounced as rhyming with pit, just as the same as gist, and radish more like reddish. These patterns are more commonly found in the speech of older, less-educated speakers. In younger speakers, grease is often used as a verb (as in "grease the pan for dinner") and naked pronounced with the first syllable the same as in the word neck instead of an "a" sound (Thomas, p. 6).

Grammar (syntax) of Southern American English

We're all familiar with grammar, or the way words and phrases come together to make a cohesive sentence. In linguistics this is called syntax. Syntax is another feature of languages and dialects that varies, and the syntax patterns of Southern American English are no different. We'll focus on three major syntactic constructions of SAE here:

Might could: This phrase, used in sentences like "I might could fix the bumper" means "maybe I could do it" to express uncertainty and politeness (Bernstein 109).

Y'all: A famous feature of Southern American English, y'all is a contraction of you and all that distinguishes between singular and plural second-person references. In other words, it is the plural of you, used in sentences such as "Y'all need to be home by seven for dinner." Y'all is becoming more and more popular nationwide because of its practicality. Use by non-Southerners increased from 44% in 1994 to 49% in 1996 and by Southerners from 79% in 1994 to 84% in 1996 (Bernstein 107).

Fixin' to: This phrase, as in "I'm fixin' to go to the grocery store," meaning "about to," expresses the "intentioned to do something within a relatively short period of time" (Bernstein 114). We can find "fixin' to" spoken most commonly in Texas and lower Mississippi (Bernstein 115).

Lexicon of Southern American English

Dialects don't just encompass how we pronounce words and how we arrange them in a sentence; what words we choose also aligns us with a particular speech style. Southern American English has its own vocabulary, called the lexicon. You're probably already familiar with some examples of Southern lexicon: saying buggy instead of cart, the phrase "bless your heart," and crawdads instead of crawfish. We ran across many words like these while listening to interviews, and the table below shows a small sample of the most unique and recognizable ones. This is by no means a comprehensive list of the word choices that speakers of Southern American English make, but there are lots of other books and articles on the subject, including Whistlin' Dixie by Robert Hendrickson.

How many of these words do you recognize?

Website developed by Bailey Bigott (UGA BA 2020, MA 2021).

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Linguistic Features of Southern American English

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Like any language or dialect, Southern American English is characterized by certain features related to how words are pronounced and arranged in a sentence, as well as what words are actually used. These linguistic features can be read about in detail on the following pages: Phonetics and Phonology: Phonetics is the study and classification of speech sounds, and phonology is the study of the relationships between speech sounds.

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فكِّر بغيركَ

وأنتَ تُعِدُّ فطورك، فكِّر بغيركَ
لا تَنْسَ قوتَ الحمام
وأنتَ تخوضُ حروبكَ، فكِّر بغيركَ
لا تنس مَنْ يطلبون السلام
وأنتَ تسدد فاتورةَ الماء، فكِّر بغيركَ
مَنْ يرضَعُون الغمامٍ
وأنتَ تعودُ إلى البيت، بيتكَ، فكِّر بغيركَ
لا تنس شعب الخيامْ
وأنت تنام وتُحصي الكواكبَ، فكِّر بغيركَ
ثمّةَ مَنْ لم يجد حيّزاً للمنام
وأنت تحرّر نفسك بالاستعارات، فكِّر بغيركَ
مَنْ فقدوا حقَّهم في الكلام
وأنت تفكر بالآخرين البعيدين، فكِّر بنفسك
قُلْ: ليتني شمعةُ في الظلام

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Pennsylvania Dutch English is a dialect of English that has been influenced by the Pennsylvania Dutch language. It is largely spoken in South Central Pennsylvania, both by people who are monolingual in English and bilingual in Pennsylvania Dutch and English.

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And, if you are , you might find that there are some common local words and phrases you use that may be confusing people from outside the county.

We have compil ed a list of some of these common words and phrases so that next time someone tells you " it's making down outside, " you don't leave your umbrella inside.

Dr. Mark Louden from the University of Wisconsin who wrote a book titled, "Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language," was consulted to help div e deeper into the history and origins behind each of th ese words and phrases.

"The main ways that languages influence each other is through what are known as loanwords, loan translations and loan shifts," Louden said.

Loanwords are words borrowed from another language with minimal to no changes , Louden said . L oan translations are phrases that are closely translated from one language to another and l oan shifts are words that are modified to match a similar word i n a different language , Louden further explained.

If you're ready to brush up on your Lancaster County slang, check out the list below.

R utsching is another loanword that comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch verb " rutsche ," meaning to squirm. The term rutschin g utilizes the English suffix " ing , " Butch Reigart, the dialect teacher at Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society , explained. Reigart also mentioned that " rutschy " is used as an adjective to mean "can't sit still."

This is another loanword that comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch word " " meaning to sprinkle, spray, squirt, etc. This word can also be found in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary .

This is also a loanword that was taken directly from Pennsylvania Dutch word " ," meaning Shrove Tuesday or a type of prepared on Shrove Tuesday.

"Make down" is an example of a loan translation and comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch verb, " nunnermache ," which me ans almost exactly what Lancaster natives say: "to make down." This phrase is used in reference to precipitation .

This is another loan translation from the Pennsylvania Dutch phrase " ...," meaing "What kind of...," Louden said. Used in a sentence in these parts, one might hear " What for book is that? "

"Read up the room" comes from a Scottish/Northern English dialect verb and was brought to Pennsylvania during colonial times, meaning to tidy up. Louden said it has Pennsylvania regionalism and is likely related to "rid" or "ready."

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10 Pennsylvania Dutch words you didn't know were unique to Lancaster County

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If you call yourself "doplic" after tripping over a curb, you may just be from Lancaster County.

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A beautiful poem

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Guzar Jayega..Waqt Hi To Hai.. गुज़र जायेगा | Lyrical Poetry By Shri Amitabh Bachchan | Sadhna TV

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Una de mis canciones favoritas en español. Como el agua

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Una de mis canciones favoritas en español. Como el agua

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Camaron de la isla y Paco de Lucia   Como El Agua

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Una de mis canciones favoritas de Shakira...

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Una de mis canciones favoritas de Shakira...

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Shakira - Dia de Enero (Official HD Video)

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Today, share with us your favorite song, poem, or story in the language you feel closest to, or your mother tongue. Something that touches you when you hear it, something that your grandmother wrote, sang, or said to you as a child. Connect with the language and the identity it brings you.

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Today, share with us your favorite song, poem, or story in the language you feel closest to, or your mother tongue. Something that touches you when you hear it, something that your grandmother wrote, sang, or said to you as a child. Connect with the language and the identity it brings you.

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BBC World News "Impact": World Mother Language Day and Endangered Languages

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Multilingual education: A pillar of intergenerational learning

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Multilingual education: A pillar of intergenerational learning

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International Mother Language Day 2024 is an opportunity to remind the international community that multilingual education enhances learning when the language of instruction is the learner’s first language. The use of learners’ own languages for literacy and learning provides a solid pillar for education, and for transfer of skills and knowledge to additional languages. Learning in one’s first language facilitates understanding and interaction, and further develops critical thinking. It strengthens self-confidence and self-esteem and stimulates active participation. In addition to boosting learning, multilingual education contributes to opening the doors to intergenerational learning, the preservation of culture and intangible heritage, and the revitalization of languages. It enriches multilingualism on the web and is essential for digital literacy. Multilingual education also helps in acquiring life skills, especially in the context of emergencies, crises and natural disasters. Thus, refugees, internally or internationally displaced people and those excluded or marginalized from quality education, such as Indigenous peoples, are not left behind.