Prosodic features

The gradual disappearance of the two most prominent features of traditional SAmE prosody, the Southern Drawl and the shift of primary stress to front syllables, parallels the changes in the set of vowel contrasts. The Southern Drawl typically involves two phonological processes: the extreme lengthening of stressed vowels and the development of ingliding diphthongs with lax vowels that are lengthened. Thus in Drawled speech, MOUTH might be pronounced [mæ:oθ], bid might be pronounced  , and bad might be pronounced as [bæ:εd]. The Drawl is quite recessive in the urban South, confined largely to people born before World War II. Likewise, the shift of primary stress in words like police, Detroit, and pecan to the first syllable is quite rare among younger Southerners in urban areas, although initial syllable stress in insurance, defense, and in some cases umbrella still persists.

Little research exists on other features of SAmE prosody, but one feature of juncture deserves further comment – the syllabification of medial r and l. In earlier SAmE, medial r in words such as MARY and MERRY was grouped with the second syllable. Some time after 1880, the syllabification of medial r began to change so that r was grouped with the first syllable. This development, which entailed a change in the phonetic realization of r from  , seems to have been the triggering event in the merger of the vowels in the MARY and MERRY classes (and latter the MARRY class) discussed above.

The situation with medial and post-vocalic l presents some interesting similarities and some striking contrasts to r. As indicated above, the set of contrasts before tautosyllabic l has been reduced in urban SAmE, just as it had earlier before tautosyllabic r. The syllabification of medial l, however, has not changed. In sets such as mealy/Millie and Bailey/belly, l usually remains grouped with the second syllable and the tense/lax contrast remains intact.