Southern drawl origin? (non-member query)

[Paul Axel-Lute]

Is there any sort of consensus on the origin of
the U.S. southern states dialect, especially the
drawl?  Is there any evidence of African-American
slave influence on the development of the southern
dialect?   Is there is any publication which
summarizes the state of knowledge/opinion on
this matter?

Any assistance on this question (which comes from
one of our faculty members) would be appreciated.


Paul Axel-Lute
Deputy Director & Collection Development Librarian
Rutgers University Law School Library
123 Washington St.
Newark NJ  07102-3094         axellute at newark.rutgers.edu
(973) 353-3151                http://www-rci.rutgers.edu/~axellute/