[Ads-l] Conversation about accents with Valerie Fridland

[John Baker]

There really was such mingling during World War I and World War II. I know that a lot of slang terms date from those wars, but was there new accent formation?


John Baker


> On Apr 6, 2026, at 8:20 AM, Jonathan Lighter <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> 
> Fridland says that "the" Southern accent  .*..* " did not come around until
> after the Civil War. [The war] brought together people towards a common
> enemy and also a common cultural experience that bonded their speech in
> ways that we find are really conducive to new accent formation."
> 
> How is this even conceivable? Most Americans during the Civil War didn't
> mingle with other accents any more than usual. And what of those
> antebellum, Southern dialect humorists?
> 
> JL
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> 
>> On Sat, Apr 4, 2026 at 2:49 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> <http://goog_231146203>
>> 
>> https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/why-american-accents-endured-while-114500674.html
>> 
>> 
>> JL
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>> 
> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org