Southern accent (United States)

In the United States, a Southern accent or simply Southern is the sound system of the modern Southern regional dialect of American English.

Most English of the Southern United States, particularly as spoken by white Southerners, underwent several major sound changes from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, during which a rural-originating sound system, including two vowel shifts, expanded geographically through the whole region. This regional accent is fairly unified, contrasting with the more diverse and localized sound systems of the 19th-century Southern dialects. Still, there remains ongoing variation in the Southern accent regarding potential differences based on a speaker's exact sub-region, age, ethnicity, and other social factors.