Linguistic Profile

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I'm indebted to Ron Silliman for directing me to this quiz. I'm pleased that so little "Dixie" is in my speech, although I am somewhat surprised. After all, in the words of the quiz, "Y'all just rolls off [my] tongue." I used to use that collective noun with a hint of irony, and would throw in an extra dipthong for good measure. Now, whether I say "You" or "y'all" for the second person plural is a fifty-fifty proposition.

Many consider Oklahoma to be in the Midwest. Some consider it to be in the South. If we understand "Dixie" in terms of its historical connotations, the question is only slighly clearer.

Oklahoma was not yet a territory at the time of the Civil War (aka, "The Late Unpleasantness"), so it could not officially choose sides in that conflict. However, most of those who did choose sides (including a few Native Americans) chose the Confederacy.

Yet, we Okies do not prefer our tea heavily sweatened. Even the more rural parts of our state do not have the same preponderance of dipthongs as Alabamans (as a random example) .