“ Where’s your dad’s accent from?” people ask me.
“ What accent” I say, confused.
“ You know, his accent, is he British or something?”
“ He’s from South Africa” I respond.

People always asked me this. When people meet my dad they always notice something different about the way he speaks. The first time I was asked this, I was confused. As far as I knew, my dad had no accent, he just spoke like everybody else. He had his own unique voice, but I didn’t think it was a different accent. His family is from South Africa. I’ve noticed that they have accents, but I never saw it in my dad. He does say a few words differently, sometimes not pronouncing the “r’s.” Other than that, I didn’t notice anything. For some reason, everyone else heard something that I didn’t hear. I guess living with him all of my life has gotten me so used to his accent that I just do not notice it. Difference is relative. Something can only be different to the people who don’t take part in it. An accent is only a different accent if the person does not speak it, or is not exposed to it.

No one else in my house has a South African accent. I have been immersed in the dialect enough to not notice it, but not enough that I speak with it. My younger brother sometimes says a few words with a slight accent, which he must have picked up from my dad, but other than that my dad is the only one with a real accent.

The rest of my dads family, excluding my American-born cousins, have accents. I notice it more in them than in my dad. I’m not sure if their accents are stronger than my dads, or if I just don’t notice his as much. Most of his family lives in Denver, and they see each other often. My dad isn’t with his family as much, so he has lost some of his exposure to the accent. But when he goes to Denver his accent shows a lot more.

A South African accent isn’t one of the more common accents heard in America. It can be described as a cross between Dutch and British. My dad’s family in particular is more British, but Dutch South Africans have more of an Afrikaans accent. There are different variations of a South African accent. British English is kind of it’s own language. They pronounce certain letters differently, and they have different words for stuff. Elevators are called “lifts,” and chips are called “crisps.” South Africa differentiates from britain by calling chips, “chips” like in America. That is one of the ways that a South African accent has developed, and changed from a British accent.

My mom is from Florida, and she used to have a southern accent. After living in the North for so many years, it is now non existent. She might occasionally say “y’all” but other than that, it doesn’t show. Her family down south is different though. Many of them still have southern accents. My mom has been cut off from southern culture for so long that she lost hers. Exposure to a system of language keeps the individuals within that system speaking the language. Leaving the system changes the individual, they embrace a different system, learn the language, and possibly lose their old language, and dialect.

A Southern accent is a slower, more drawled way of speaking. It could make the person sound slow and uneducated, but these are just stereotypes. Southerners have their own slang such as y’all, and this also is sometimes seen as ignorant. People can be very judgmental of how others speak.

The Documentary “ American Tongues” pointed out that there are different variations of certain accents. There are different variations of a southern accent. Depending on how urban, or how far south a person lives, their accent may be more, or less prominent. Different states have different sounding southern accents. In New Orleans, many people have a southern accent mixed with a cajun accent.

There is some prejudice against southern accents. The southern accent can be seen as a “redneck accent” belonging to someone who’s rural, ignorant, religious and racist. This is a generalization because there are many southerners who aren’t racist, and are intelligent. To some people, southern accents sound unintelligent because they are different, and therefore southerners are perceived as unintelligent. A southern accent can be very different from a northern accent, and therefore seen as inferior by northerners.

The term “redneck” refers to a person living in a southern rural area. When used in this context it isn’t that offensive, but it can also refer to person who is ignorant and racist. When it’s used like this it is considered offensive by southerners. Sometimes it is used lightly within the community, just like offensive words can be used harmlessly by the people they are used for, like African Americans and homosexuals, but when other people use them it is offensive because they are not part of that system.

In order to be part of the cultural system of dialects, one must be exposed to it. The individual must be involved in the system. They must be part of it. My parents have been separated from the systems that the rest of my family is a part of, and as a result, I have never been a part of either of my families cultural systems.

To be a part of a cultural system you have to identify yourself with that culture. You have to act like people from that culture, and live like them. You might practice the same religion, speak the same language, or live by similar principles.

That’s not to say that to be part of a system you have to be the same as everyone else. The uniqueness of the individuals within a system help shape and change the system. Accents branch off into multiple variations, each sounding unique, but having some things in common. Languages divide into many sub-languages. Languages and accents travel, and are different in different parts of the worlds. American English is spoken differently than British English. Languages are created by people, people who are different from the people that their language may come from. They are different cultures, and have a different dialect.

“Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker,” said James Baldwin, (If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?)
English is spoken around the world in many different ways. There is no right way or wrong way to speak it. Each of the dialect systems of English is different. These systems are made up of people who speak that way. The individual forms, and makes up the system.