All accents have stories, and University of Georgia researchers are telling them.
Linguists Margaret Renwick and Jon Forrest from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences turned heads in 2023 after publishing a study about Georgia’s fading Southern accent.
The Southern drawl—extending and stretching out vowel sounds in words like taste (tuh-eest) or back (bahyuck)—is disappearing, and younger generations in Georgia are less likely to possess that distinctive twang.
These findings led to an outpouring of media coverage and social media reactions, ranging from, “That makes a lot of sense,” to “Not in my hometown!” According to Renwick and Forrest, both reactions are valid.
“We talk about generalizations like this change, but there are always sub-regional differences and other group differences that matter,” says Forrest, an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics. “We’re painting a picture of what’s happening in the bigger aggregate of Georgia, but we’re also providing something concrete for people to grab onto.”
All the engagement is exciting because it highlights how linguistics impacts individuals on a personal level. For some people, this study explains a phenomenon they hear but can’t quite describe. For others, it highlights a direct connection to language and accents.
“There’s a very human side of linguistics,” says Renwick, an associate professor of linguistics and lead author of the study. “We’re helping to make sense of the world around us.”
This is a portion of a story published first by the UGA Office of Marketing and Communications. Read the full story here.
