How did Southerners acquire their Southern accents?

It seems to me that since a lot of caucasian Americans decended from the Mayflower group, there would be no Southern accent as we know it today.

How did Southerners acquire their Southern accents?
accents evolve, it's got nothing to do with whether you're black or white. traditional english (as in from England) accents are probably among the most diverse accents among the (native speaking) english world, and they were even more diverse 100 or so years ago (ie before we were a multi-racial society).



Former colonial accents will have been derived from different aspects of these english accents - for example the Australian accent is a mixture of the different english accents - they say their 'a's (pronounced ays) as long 'i's (pronounced eyes) and their i's (pronounced eyes) as "oi", like they do around london (ie ozzies and londoners would pronounce "i say" as "oi sigh" whereas the queen and the north would say "eye say"), but in other circumstances they have a definite northern edge (they pronounce the word castle more like caaaaastle (more northern) instead of the southern english pronounciation of carsle).



And New Zealanders (with a strong scottish heritage) say "fush and chups" in the scottish way instead of the english way of saying "fish and chips".



Likeways Canadians (also with a strong scottish heritage) say "aboot" (about) in a derivation of the scottish way.



I don't know the accent fromt eh southern states, but I would expect it evolved in a similar sort of way as well- possibly from an earlier english accent that has now died out - for example a lot of american english words that are no longer used in the UK were current when the first people went out to the states (apparently) such as faucet and sidewalk.



My theory is that it's a result of the coming together of several different english accent resulting in the creation of an entirely new one.



You may not have guessed, but I find this subject fascinating!!!
Reply:Accents form by the region you live in, and can change if you move. I grew up in the south and have a strong southern accent, but since I've moved up north, everytime I go home more people comment on how I'm losing it, and the more prominent their accents seem to me.
Reply:That's how slaves used to speak, so I guess the people picked up the accent and carried it throughout the different generations.
Reply:They bought them at the Piggly wiggly.
Reply:What do y'all mean accent.We don't have an accent, the rest of the Nation talks funny though.
Reply:Dialects and accents can be traced by linguists to different parts of england...., influenced also by native tongues, french, spanish or other european contacts.
Reply:Accents develop as people mingle within a geographic region - - England had and has several different regional accents, some of which sound 'southern'
Reply:You might as well be asking why Yankees have Yankee accents, or why Northern and Southern accents differ from region to region. A Maine accent is different from a Michigan accent; a Georgia accent is different from a Louisiana accent.



Whatever the case, I'm pretty sure most of the people on the Mayflower had British accents, which are actually much closer to Southern accents, pronunciation-wise, than Northern. Why don't we all speak with British accents then? I wouldn't say, however, that a LOT of white Americans descended from the Mayflower pilgrims; statistically, there are many more Americans who are descended from later immigrants from countries all over the world.
Reply:If an Englishman can intervene. There are theories that the American accent - I'm not sure which one, as I take the point there are many - is closely linked to the type of accent spoken in England in Elizabethan/Jacobean times. Although, I guess, there were as many different English accents then, if not many more, as there are today. And it is true, as someone has said, that people tend to adopt the accent of where they live. My brother lives in Australia and speaks now with a broad Aussie accent. I think accents are easily acquired as we do not want to appear different from the people round us.
Reply:b/c of there ancestors or the way they were raised to be adults...