T
10 Hillbillies, rednecks,and
southern belles
The languagerebels
aboutputting
OneVirginianwho wentto Harvardin the early1980sfantasized
a signaroundhis neckto foreclosesomeof the questionshe repeatedlyfaced,
or imaginedhe faced:"Yes,I amfrom the south.No, I do not knowyour uncle
in Mobile.... Both of my parentsare,in fact,literate.... No, I do not watch
'Hee Haw' No, I do not own slaves.No, I do not want any."
"What we talk aboutwhenwe talk aboutthe
Quotedby EdwardAyers,in
South"(1996)
Northerners tend to think of the south as a homogenousand somewhat
"twang" or a
mysterious monolith, where English has an indiscriminate
"drawl" and is peppered with funny, pan-regional idioms; nevertheless,
when pressednortherners will divide the south into distinct parts. Geographers have noted a consistent identification of a "core" south or
Southern Trough, which
cuts across Mississippi and Alabama, embracing parts of Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Georgia at the edges. This trough appears to most
Americans as the least desirableplace in the United Statesto live.
Other Southern states cannot take too much grim comfort from such
disparagement of their Deep South neighbors, for the sides of the
trough rise only graduallyuntil they reachthe usualboundariesof what
Americanstake to be the North. the Midwest.and the West.The whole
South appearsto be a vast saucer of unpleasant associations.
(Ayers 1996:62-63)
The conceptualizationof an undesirablesouth moves in concentric rings
outward from this core Deep South or "Southern Tiough," as seen in a
composite "mental map" constructedfrom a study of environmental preferencesvoiced by studentsat the University of Minnesota (Gould and
White 1974:97) (Figure 10.1).Thesestudentsfound the most desirable
areas of the country to be their own native Minnesota and California,
with other high points in the ColoradoHigh region. In contrast,they see
the Southern Tioush as the least desirable place to live.
Hillbillies. rednecks,and southern belles 203
Figure10.1Negativeevaluationof the "SouthernTrough"asa placeto live by
Universityof Minnesotastudents
Reproduced
by permission
of theauthors
fromP GouldandR. White(1974)
Source:
p. 98
MD:Penguin,
MentalMapsBaltimore,
The composite map of environmental preferencesof Alabama students
looks much like a mirror image of the Minnesota map, although these
southernerEtoo, tend to see California as highly desirable (Figure 10.2).
In a range of studiesfocusing on linguistic perceptions,Preston (1986a,
b, and c, 1989aand b, 1993,and elsewhere)found that northerners tend
to draw rough distinctionsbetween the Southern Tiough and other southern states:Tennesseeand Kentucky are the "outer south"; Texasis its own
kind of south, whereasFlorida is hardly south at all in the minds of most
northerners. The "southwest" may include Texas,but may also exclude
New Mexico and Arizona, which are often grouped with those states
which are perceived as prototypically west. In spite of these perceived
differentiations, northerners remain very unaware of what differentiates
one southern variety of English from another, thus producing the onesize-fits-allaccentwhen attempting to "sound southern."
The perceptionsof studentsin Hawai'i about the distribution of mainland varieties makes very clear the schism between mental maps and
linguistic evaluation (Figure 10.3). Here, Preston compares a traditional
composite construction of southern (roughly the Tiough) first to the
Hawai'ian perceptualboundary of the south (which addsTexas,Kentucky,
Tennessee,North Carolina, and the Virginias). The students were then
asked to evaluate tape-recorded samplesof speech from a much wider
geographical range, resulting in the third boundary seen on the map.
i
r.t
204 Consentmanufactured
160
"Southern Tiough" as a place to live by
Fisure 10.2 Positiveevaluationof the
Universityof Alabamastudents
Soarce:Reproducedby permissionof the authorsfrom P Gould and R. White (1974)
Mental Maps. Baltimore,MD: Penguin,p. 101
Clearly,what the Hawai'ianshear as a southernaccentmovesfar beyond
the boundary of what they identify as the south.
Thus, if we isolate those states which seem consistentlyto be marked
as some kind of southern in cultural and linguistic terms (Thble 10. 1), we
are then talking about some79 million people,or about 30 percentof the
total population of the United States.This figure might be seen as too
small, becauseit excludesthose parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and
the southwest where English is perceived as clearly southern in accent.
On the other hand, the figure is clearly too large becauseit assumesthat
all 79 million people in the twelve named states are natives and speakers
of the indiginous variety of English, which is clearly an assumptionthat
cannot bear closeexamination.Finally, it does not take into accountracial
and ethnic diversity in the south which results in another dimension of
language variation, particularly the presence of indiginous language
communitieswhere the core languagemay not be English at all (Spanish'
Louisiana Creole, Native American languages),not to mention the large
population of African Americans and the ways that southern AAVE differ
from other geographicalversionsof AAVE. Thus it is only a very rough
estimate to say that somewhere around 30 percent of the population
speaks US English with an accent which is geographically marked
"southern."
There seemsto be a strong urge to synthesizethe south into a single
population united primarily in the fact that it is distinct from the north.
Hiltbillies, rednecks,and southern belles 205
"soulhern"
Traditionalproduclionboundaryof
"southern"
Hawai'iperceptualboundaryof
"southern"
Sourceof voicesiudged
boundaries
Fieure 10.3Comparisonot perceptual'production'and identification
l.ouih".n,"
respondents
Hawai'i
of
view
of
point
the
from
l"?-itt" "1",
Sonrce:Preston 1989a:129
and reject'
This is a process southerners themselves both promote
according to Ayers (and see Figure 10.4):
of eyi!
The South plays a key role in the nation's self-image:the role
yet to- b-e made'
terrden.ie. ou"..o.",- mistakes atoned for' proglels
set apart as
B"t-"'it .u" plaf thai iole effectively,the South has fo be
As a result'
a distinct ptace that has certain fundamentalcharacteristics'
and reinforced'
Southern difference is continually being recreated
South is
Am"ricu.ts, black and white, somehow need to know that the
belief' This
diffe."nt and so tend to look for differencesto confirm that
insensris not somethingthat is only done to the South by malevolent'
tivenon-Southerners.TheNorthandtheSouthhaveconspiredtocreeagerlydefines
ate eachother'sidentity as well as their own' The South
devoted
itr"ft uguln.t the North, advertisingitself as more earthy' more
turned
to fu-ity values,more spiritual, and then is furious to have things
The South
u.ounO.'tohear itself called hick, phony,and superstitious'
feedsthe senseof differenceand then resiststhe ""nt"Ou""?1t
nU,UU,
206 Consentmanufactured
The Amerioan5ouIh ia ...
dynamia,faotVaced and modern ,,,
oldtimey,charmingand hoaVitable...
,,, and a wonderful place to vislt!
Figure 10.4 How the south seesitself
Sourcz. http://www.webcom.com/-markplag/vs/
Table10. 1 Populationof the southern statesin comparisonto overall
population figuresfor the US
Population
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
West Virginia
4,040,587
2,350,725
12,937,926
6,478,276
3,685,296
4,2t9,9'73
2,573,276
6,628,637
3,145,585
3,486,703
4,877,785
16,986,510
6,187,358
1.,793,477
Southern states
79,39t,394
Total US
Percentsouthern
248,709,873
31.92
Source: l99O census ligures
How the south evaluatesits languageis an important part of this selfperception. In a survey of 798 adult residents of Georgia, individuals
answeredquestionsabout what it meansto "have a southern accent,,,and
were subsequently asked to evaluate their own language (the results
presentedas "heavy" southernor "no" accentas seenin Figure 10.5).In
any such direct inquiry, some people will underreport their own usage
H illbillies. rednecks.and southern belles 207
Zl
I have no accent
I
I have a strongaccent
Have readthe Bible in the last week
Usually watch TV during dinner
Think the Bible is literally true
Were spankedas a child
Have beento a beautypageant
"very important"
Find religion
Drive an Americancar
Have fired a gun on New Year's
Often eat chitlins
Often eat lox
Often eat Moon Pies
Have chewedtobacco
Figure 10.5 Responsesof adults residing in Georgia to the yes/noquestion
"Being southernmeansthat you . . ."
Center,Georgia
by the AppliedResearch
Ap 12-24,1995
Surveyconducted
Sorrrce:
points
+/3.4
Margin
of
error
StateUniversity.
(claim to have no accent when in fact they do) and others will claim an
accent when they are not local to an area and have not successfully
acquired a new phonology.Thus this poll is not one which can tell us who
"heavy" accentsreally are, but it
actually has a southern accent, or how
can tell us !!ra! pqqp.lg attach bundles of social differencesto degreesof
southernaccent.
For that reason, the poll is useful in ways perhaps not anticipated by
the personswho constructedit. In the selection of questionsto be asked,
the pollsters reveal much of the preconceivednotions about connections
"accent."
between certain ways of life and languagemarkers embodied in
But do these questionsconstitute a set of sociocultural distinctions truly
"north" and "south"?
relevant to the construction of definitions of
Between real southern and half-hearted southern?
In this questionnaire,most stereotypesabout the south are represented
one or more times. The pollster is looking for southern/non-southern
distinctionsbasedon religiousand cultural practicesand beliefs,so that
"strong" accents- are
real southerners- those who will admit to having
the ones who eat chitlins and Moon Pies, and drive an American car to
church on Sunday mornings while other, less southern types are at home
eatins lox.
208 Consentmanufactured
;
I
heart.of much of anyone'sconThe fact that a southernaccentlies at the
in a variety of ways'[n an opinion
"State
struction of the south can tl Jo"u*""t"a
sample
construct
tomade
is
piece for a small paper' the-attempt
on
stateshave o-fficialflowers and mottos'
that
way
same
the
in
Questions"
in New Mexico'l In this column'
the basisof legislation'"t"'niry t'ttoauced
humorous' every state included has
which is meant to be lighthearted and
are
on stereotype'brrt the southern states
"a-specific
u q,r"rtion which draws strongly
way, as seenin this excerpt:
distinct from the northern in
-Is it completelyorganic?",
Vermont:
^..
"So. how much did he leave her'f
Florida:
"You got a problem with that',buddy?"
New York:
"You got a greencard' buster"
California:
"You from the government?"
Montana,
"Yuh shure ah cain't carry it concealeoj
Texas:
'Ain't that right' Jimmy Bob?"-.
Alubu.u,
"Mty;f;;yo
irin"r't licenseand registration?"
South Carolina'
"Hunh?"
Mississippi:
(Beckerman1996)
.\ItseemsnecessalytoesrablishSouthernvarietiesofEnglishonthebasis
local history' culture' fashions' or
of phonology and syntax as well as on
and'linguistic
reputation.The ef{ec! 9t. ilt " '" t4,9:1:-t:: :b^t-"*t
fr-qm$a4qqld-accqpted
differencqs,
lv-itharr-addliion the departure'
but important way' Northern
soellinssraises educatro;i;;t
iffi;:';l"ol
in a suLtle
il E;;ii#;o1""t"4
to thewritten
croser
* somehow
is no need to use phonetic cues' The
representationanO tt'"'"tot" it'"i"
- correctly spelled
of languaue
-ani "illiterate"
contrast in the presentatlon-oi t*o kinds
southern
"literary" no.tt'"'n u"noln"o""tiry spelled
and
strategiesof 'condescenston
is also an excellent "*u*pt" of Bouidieu's
- someone
tactic whereby an empoweredindividual
qSi,
a
is
This
O8-7f1.
if
and language-and other
with social legittmacy ln terms of employment
subordinatedlanguage1ol u:h:t'
kinds of authonty - "p;t;;;i;1tt the
opinion piece is in fact a
period of time. In trtrs iase, the author of the
not onlv with traditional
.i'"",itt"ptrtgv' wtrich prouideshim
iltis;;
and speakerof the mainstream
authoriry as a highly toi"tut"J academic
there*tto has studied human culture' and
language,but also u"oti"ln"
degree of understandingof the way
fore is expecteato nuu"'un^"nusual
autlo.rthis author has outer-trappingswhich
human beingsintefact. Thus
j"giiitate and subordinated language'and to
ize him to chooseu"t*""t
a point' Bourdieupoints out that
publicallyappropriate;;'ililt;ake
of
fact i part of a larger strategy
ihis strategy of condesclnsion is in
set up for this study' part
subversion (ibid.), or' *itftit 'tt" frameworli
model'
of the overall languagesubordination
and
linguistic differences between north
Are there cultural' iiti"tit"f'
of these differiopulut consideration
south? Of "ou,t", uno to;"tilt
Hillbillies, rednecks,and southern helles 209
U
Non-southerners
I
Southerners
Gone with the Wind
Black-eyedpeasat New Year'sDaY
Revival meetings
GrandOl'Opry
The Blues
Wal-Mart
Football
Southernhospitality
l0
20
30
40
50
60
'10
80
m
"very" or "somewhat"important
Percentageanswering
which 1,078
Figure 10.6Resultsof a Joumal-Constitutionsouthern Life poll_in
"How important are
question
the
answered
southernersand 507 non-southerners
the followingto your definitionof today'sSouth?"
Soarce:PollconductedinFebruaryandMarchlgg5bythelnstitutefolResealchin
points
Social Science, University of Nortli Carolina at Chapel Hill' Margin of error +/- 3
for southerners and 5 points for non-southerners
ences does come close to identifying some of them, independentof
languageissues(Figure10.6).In this secondpoll, the distinctionsbetween
northernand southerncenterprimarily in thoseareaswhich are not widely
advertised:the tradition of eating black-eyedpeas on New Year's Day,
for example,is little known in the north. In contrast,perceptionsdiffer
very little in matters having to do with stereotype.One notes especially
thai about 50 percent of both groups find Gone with the Wind relevant
to a definition bf the south. This is a clear demonstration of the strength
and durability of stereotypesin delining both self and other'
In real-lifeterms we seewhat instinctuallyand objectivelywe know to
be true: there is a great deal of diversityin the south' Those southerners
who are or havebeenmost prominentin the public eye make this evident:
SenatorsStrom Thurmon and Al Gore; writers William Styron and
Dorothy Allison; journalistsDan Rather and Cokie Roberts;actorsJulia
Robertsand Burt Reynolds.But the southernerswho seemto come most
quickly to the minds of northernersare the fictional ones,and more than
that, the stereotypicalfictional ones: Andy Griffith and Gomer; Pa and
Ellie Mae and the rest of the Beverly Hillbillies; the horrific backwoodsmen and the banjo player from the film Deliverance;JonathanWinters'
210 Consentmanufactured
go over Niagara Falls
portrayal of the benighted southernerdetermined to
and her Mammy'
in t ls pictup truck instead of a barrel; Scarlett'
:vO".' .t tire primary characteristicsof the stereotypical southerner is
- one disassociatedfrom
isnorance, but it is a specifickind of ignorance
education and literacy:
Representativesfrom
..' IWilliam Natcher, a member of the House of
ii;;;ilyi
;;;;i.;
drawlnobodvunderstands'.
in a Mississippi
(NationalPublic Radio' tn'tut"tt'Z:'1994'Reporter:Cokie Roberts)
collegein the
I got an interviewwith an extremelyeliteundergraduate
part of the interviewin
nJrtn"urt. They conductedthe first substantial
well' When they switchedto a questron
i;;;ih;. languageland it went
the interview ' ' '
in English,my htit answercompletelyinterrupted
what waswrong and
t^rt"yu?.t" oui laughi.,gfor quite'a while'.I.asked
"neverwouldhaveexpected"me to havesuchan accent'
they saidthey
accentin .the
ff,JV -ua" a Uig Oeatabout me having a [prestigious
sucha strongSouihernaccent'Of course'I had
,".JnJr"tgu"geiand
-UtanO
standardEngfisn'After-that' I got a numberof
L"ln ui-ln'g tJr
"be comfortable"at their institution'
qt"r,.". about whether l'd
dubtle,but to me it was not ambiguous'
professor'native of the south)
(universrtyiottign-rung"uuge
newscan be
For 37 years,CharlesKuralt hasshownus what network
- calm,thoughtful,perceptive'Beneaththat deceptiveNorth Carolina
drawl, there's a crisp intelligence'
("Dailv Guide," Lansing StateJournal, APril 3, 1994:7)
between language' intelli* Together, these comments on the relationship
in which language
gence, and communlcation demo;rstrate the ways
case'the reporter (notably
barriers are built and rationalizedln ttt" first
a of lifelong politicians and a featured
herself from New orleans, itre crr "southern
Wo-ett in Public Service")
speaker at an annual "oni"'"n""
tl"
p'.o;"",, to her listeners an unwillingness to. understand
::IL"^11
in a position to ascertaln
clearly
is
she
Although
question.
in
l""int
is content to misrepresent
n"f."r"ntuiiu" Natcher's pl-aceof origin' she,
southernerstogether into
iiii f"-pitg all drawling and incomprlhensible
out and ridiculed'
ot ion-"onfo,rn'"t' who d"se'ue to be pointed
;;;"6
which, is at odds
While the first example demonstratesan iriitability
one anecdotal- demon*ltt lournatisticobjectivity,the second.-.this
drawn between intellectual
strates northert Olr"o-foii when a link is
about this exchangeis the
u.rit o.ity und tt " south' What is so interesting
loTrgas he usesa socially
fact that a person may Ue take" seriouslyon!1-12
personbegins
it is not English'once this
;:t;ifu;'i;;;;ii,Lu""though
to the linguistic
1o ,pJar r-,i.oi.t Lnguug",*oiki"g hard to iccommodate samep"Iltl:
the
"-p!"*,i.". of his a'udiince'he is rejected'He remains
his currency ts
but
expressingthe same range and quality of ideas'
-
Hillbillies, rednecks,and southern belles 2ll
devaluedby a languagewhich links him to the anti-intellectualsouth.
While the reporterin the first instancewasirritable about the accentwhich
she found out of place and inappropriate (and hence worthy of rejection);
the searchcommittee membersin the secondexample have nothing to
do with their discomfort but to externalize it as humor. This they find
sociallyacceptable,regardlessof the way it affectedthe job candidate.
In the third example,the author does not deny that a southernerhas
usedlanguagein a clear and perceptiveway. Instead,she specificallydraws
attention to the way that Kuralt's language confounds expectations.
Humor, which can be loosely defined in just this way - the reaction when
reality confounds expectation - often focuseson the juxtaposition of a
certain kind of intelligence with southern language:
*Gov. Clinton, you attended Oxford University in England and Yale
Law School in the Ivy League,two of the finest institutions of learning
in the world. So how come you still talk like a hillbilly?
(Mike Royko, "Opinion," Chicago Tribune, October ll, 1992)
'Federal law requires commercialairliners to carry infants
trained to
squall at altitudesabove two hundred feet. This keepsthe passengers
calm,becausethey'reall thinking,"I wishsomebodywould stuff a towel
into that infant's mouth," which preventsthem from thinking, "I am
thirty-five thousand feet up in the air riding in an extremely sophisticated and complex piece of machinery controlled by a person with a
southernaccent."X
(The Dave Barry 1995Calendar,Tuesday,April 4, 1995)
In contrast to the northern construction of intelliqence which is closelv
linked to a high level of education.there is a stereolypicalsoutherninteiligence which follows from common senseand life experience.Typified
by the characterof Sheriff Andy Thylor in the popular televisionseries
Mayberry RFD and The Andy Griffith Show, this is the southerner whose
intelligenceiSnativerather than acquired.Many plots and comicsituations
in ltrfu:yberrydependedon the construction of southern mother-wit and its
contrast to the less instinctual, acquired northern intelligence.
As was the casewith Disney animatedstories,in this situationcomedy
southernaccentsare restrictedto thosewho fit the stereotype:while Andy
has a North Carolina accent,his son. aunt. and cousinsdo not. Nor do
the philosophizingbarber or the mild-manneredtown accountant,or the
teacher(a seriouslove interestof the main character,and - in line with
the patternsnoted earlier in the Disney films - a speakerof mainstream
English),or the pharmacist.The only southernaccentsin this southern
town are the deceptivelycleverAndy, the dimwitted but good-heartedcar
mechanics(Gomer and Goober),and the occasionalrural characterswho
come into town to make musicor straightenout legal problemsresulting
from clan feuds,illegal stills,or excessiveviolence(e.g.Ernest T. Bass).
212 Consentmanufactured
American characters in this
There are no regularly appearing African
cornerof the south.2
particular
'
to education that northIt is primarily on-ttre basis of intellect linked
their languageis deficient'
erners try hardest to convincesouthernersthat
some sixty million people
in ioeotogicatterms, this is the process,by-which
they speak-is naturally
,." ttppSt"O to accept the faci that the language
stereotypeswhich underlie
subordinateto its neighbors.The fact that the
irrelevant;their power is still
itri, ,.uroning are imaginaryformationsis
successfulwhen the targets of
r.uf, unOthe! are effective.The process-is
process'
these
---Of efforts become complicit in the subordination
However' what is so
.ou.r", this processis not limited to the south'
this caseis that the
particularly int"r"iting about subordination tactics in
il;;;iil;toi."ii5"
in termsof
is a wholenationof people'united
-
or ethnicity more usually
ttiJaty "ta culture rather than in terms of race
attacked as a tool in mainthe case when language is systematically
and processes
ru"rics.ItIs fa'irly easyto conceiveof the,strategies
,*u.ing
population living in
Afri.un Ameri'cans'- 12 percent.of the
;;;;f
susceptibleto language
c|mmunities through the country ire rendered
propagate a languageideology
subordination, and come to embrace and
processis a bigger chalwhich works to therr own disadvantage'But the
as.jnternally diverse as the
i"'n'g" *fr.n ,ft" targeted group is as lirge and.
in the south have no desire
southern US. Many pers;ns born and raised
that threats of exclusion
to live anywhere else' and thus it w9u*ld.1eem
someone living in the heart
"ri- g","tl"pitg would be less effectivb''To
they need to
or Soutft Carolina or Tennessee'the idea that
"ii;?"rgi"
"accentless"variety of midwesternEnglish to succeedmight
u.qui.. in
indicate that northern
,""- tuOi"rour. Nevertheless,iersonal anecdotes
increasingly long reach:
bias and standard languageideology have an
"It's ironic," says[Judith]Ivey [actor]' who is from the Lone Star State'
"that probably tn" one it";eti tttut *itt give me the most exposure [a
my Texas accent'
movie set in the south] " ' it ont that requires
get rid of it' I would have
Particularly since I was iold that if I didn't
v
a very limited career.
(Liebman 1993)
course began when she
School official [X] said the [accent reductionl
interfered with business'
tt"urO p"opt" iomplain ttrat ttreir accents
..Insteadof listeningto what you're saying,they're passingthe phone
'Li"tn to this littte honey from South
around the ottice saying,
humiliattit*r.Or"
Carolina.'It's self-defeatilnglt's annoying'It's
,rn'
SoonafterAtlantawasawardedthelgg6Olympicsayearago'acolumn
"get
exhortingpeople to
"pp"-"d in the Atlanta BusinessChronicle
the expectedvisitors' The
the South out of our -outtt" to impress all
Hillbillies. rednecks,arul southern belles 213
a communicationsconsultantfrom New Jersey,wrote: "By
author, [X],
cleaningup our speech,maybe we can finally convincethe world that
we're not just a bunch of cow+ippingmorons down here."
(Pearl 1991)
s [X], a human resourcesworker at SouthernBell, is trying her best not
to sound like a Southernbelle . . . she is up for a promotion, and she
is worried the decisionwill be made by Northerners.. . . She is also
taking night speechclassesat KennesawState College.Unlessshe can
drop the accent,she fears, the promotion committee "might not think
I'm so sharp."
(ibid.)
In all of these cases,sgrltherners-exhibit.insecurty abo.uttheir language
and a willingnessto accept responsibility for poor communication or bad
language,but they do so only when in contact with the direct criticism of
the northerner. In the third case above, the person voicing the criticism
and calling for acceptanceof responsibilityand changetoward northern
norms is in fact, from New Jersey.But she still claimsthe right to speak
for all the peoplein that region where she lives and works:she wantsthe
world to see her as somethingother than a "cow{ipping moron" in spite
of the fact that she lives in the south. It is unclear whether she rejects
the "cow tipping moron" stereotypeas unfair and untrue, or subscribes
to it and wishes not to be included in that group. In either case, she
believesthat the way to accomplishsucha goal is to convincethe rest of
the south to talk as she does.But here she takes on a Herculean task, for
the south provides,more than any singleethnic,racial,or nationalorigin
group, strong resistanceto languagesubordination.
The newsmedia has been shownto be particularlyenamoredof stories
having to do with accentreduction,and those reports alwaysinclude a
discussionof suchefforts in the south."Hush mah mouth! Somein South
try to lose the drawl!" (Pearl 1991)is not an unusualheadlineor introductory comment in these kinds of reportsoThey often contain some small
commentaryfrom dissentingsoutherners:''"Somebody
was going to judge
me on the way I spoke,then I would judge him as being close-minded"
( A B C E v e n i n gN e w s .D e c e m b e 1
r 5 .l 9 9 l ) .F
The news media does not often report on southern resistanceto
the language-mainstreaming
process.In doing so, however,journalists
still manage to put a decidedly ideological spin on the rejection of
subordination. In a newspaper report on the death of an accentreductioncoursein South Carolinaowing to lack of interest.the reoorter
summarizes:
So why did interest die out? With tongue firmly in cheek, [the
instructor] offered three possiblereasons:Everybody'scured. Everybody thinks the rest of the world talks funny.Or, in a country that now
I
&
2I4
Consentmanufactured
hasa SouthernPresidentand vice president,maybenobody much cares
an'more'
(Riddle 1993)
Clearly it is difficult for northerners and mainstream languagespeakers
to take seriouslythe idea that the south could be content with itself in
terms of language.It is equally difficult to imagine, in spite of professed
wishesto this effect, that southernerswould somehowmagically lose their
"cured" of this disability which is so uniquely
accents,and could be
their own.
The author's final thought touches on some complex underlying issues
of power and its distribution. In a new and unusual situation (both
president and vice president from the south), in which the south has
political dominance (at least in symbolic terms), can the illusion of
northern linguistic superiority survive? The wish or compulsion to assimilate linguistically to a more dominant languagenecessarilypresupposesa
recognition of the social dominance of that language.If there is a shift in
the traditional distribution of power, the traditionally subordinated may
no longer be content to be complicit in a process which disadvantages
them. Riddle raisesthis complex issue,but does not seem to be aware
that she has done so, for she then dismissesit with an appeal to boredom
or laziness.
"Pro-Drawl Movement" in which the resistAnother reporter writes of a
ance is trivialized, and once again the strategy of condescensionextends
to the representationof southern US English in quasi-phoneticterms:
Ludlow Porch'sradio talk show is at the center of Atlanta's Southern
resistance.Mr. Porch, whose voice is as slow and sweet as molassesin
"sweet
January,gets a steady stream of female callers who call him
"mah
friend." When complithang" and male callers who call him
"Well,
or "Bless your
ah'm
tickled"
say,
mented,Mr. Porch is apt to
heart."
But even Mr. Porch concedesthat things are changing.He lives in a
suburb where he goes for weeks without hearing a Southern accent.
"doin' silly
And he admits that, sometimes,he even catcheshimself
'g's."
things-- like pronouncin'mah
(Pearl 1991)
Resistancefiltered through the reporter's standard languageideology and
condescensionis resistance stripped of much of its power. Here Mr.
Porch's language, and his concern about the fate of his culture and
language,are made into humorous objects.He is then made to testify
against himseli in that he admits that languagechanges,even as he
watches.The journalist'sonly conclusioncan be that languageis changing
away from southern norms, and toward northern ones. Thus once again'
resistanceis demonstratedto be useless.
Ilillbillies, rednecks,and southern belles 275
When southernvoicesare heard uncensored,it almost alwaysappears
within southern boundaries,as in this column from the Dallas Morning
News:
The [SouthernLeague]encouragesSouthernersin the exerciseof their
indefeasibleright to be Southern,nevermind Northern reproachesand
sneers.
To this praiseworthy end, a certain JamesE. Kibler, Jr., of Whitmire,
S.C.,exhorts Southernersto speak like Southernersrather than, well,
non-Southerners.
He'd rather we not just blend in but stand out. . ..
Brother Kibler's linguisticpreferencesfly in the face of drasticchanges
in SouthernsocietysinceWorld War II. ... The languageof the older
South is the languageof the small towns in which most Southerners
grew up. Gone with the wind! The cultureof the towns,and sometimes
the towns themselves,have disappeared.
But Brother Kibler is right: The old way of speakinghas charm and
value.Languageis a part of being.To talk one way is to be something
that people who talk differently are not. This means the lords of
languagesometimesmeet with defiancewhen they mandate change.
Brought up saying "ice box" rather than "refrigerator," I would not
now dream of speaking otherwise. I am frozen in solidarity with the
past, on this question anyway.
Particular customs also can command defiant affirmation. A welleducatedTexaswoman I know relateshow in the old daysher equally
well-educatedmother, whenevera black cat crossedher path. would
spit and say "damn."
It's a good custom, the woman still insists - not for any theological
purpose it servesbut rather as a tiny, feeble thread linking generations.
The more such threads we break heedlessly,the more isolated we
becomein a societyseeminglybent on annihilatingmemoryitself.We're
not supposedto love the past, we're supposedto hate it. Modernity
drums this messageinto us relentlessly.
(Murchison 1996)
There is no doubt that in the delineationof the nation. we use accentas
a cultural shorthandto talk about bundlesof propertieswhich we would
rather not mention directly. When a northerner appropriatesa pansouthern accent to make a joke or a point, he or she is drawing on a
strategyof condescension
and trivializationthat cues into those stereotypesso carefullystructuredand nurtured:southernerswho do not assimilate to northern norms are backward but friendly, racist but polite,
obsessed
with the pastand unenamoredof the finer pointsof highereducation. If they are women, they are sweet,pretty and not very bright.3
Focusing on language difference allows us to package the south this
way,and to escapecriticismfor what would otherwisebe seenas narrowmindedness.
Without accent,it would not be possibleto draw the nation's
216 Consentmanufactured
attention to the south'sneed for redemptionwithout specificallyraising
those topicswhich make us nervous.If white southernersare not distinguishableby other ethnic markers,by characteristicphysicalfeatures,or
religion, language is one simple and effective way of distinguishing
between self and other. Becausein this case differencesare historical
and cultural,there is lessfooting for an ideologywhich subordinatesand
trivializesthe languageand the culturesattachedto it.
Nevertheless,the processcontinues.Accent-reductioncoursestaught
by northernersspring up, find some uneasyresponsein communitiesor
individualswith strongnorthern ties,and then die away'Movies are made
in which lhe lazy and narrow minded twang and drawl. Southern students
who come north are taken aside and told that their native language
phonology will be an impediment to true success.Job applicants are
laughedat, and on the floor of Congress,reporterssmirk and report not
position,but on his or her language'
on the Representative's
The south has resourcesto call on, ways to deflect subordination tactics,
but only so long as it keeps itself intact and separate'Thus the institutions which are most responsiblefor the subordinationprocesscoax and
wheedletoward the ultimate goal of cultural and linguisticassimilation,
and are met with suspicionand defiance.