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The '''Tidewater accent''', also known as '''Tidewater English''', '''Tidewater Dialect''' or the '''Chesapeake Accent''', is a specific ] of ]. While the dialect is said to have roots up and down the eastern seaboard, it is primarily concentrated in the southeastern part of ], otherwise known as the ]. This region consists of the ], parts of the ] of ], and parts of the eastern shore of ], ], and Southern ].
The '''Tidewater accent''', also known as '''Tidewater English''', '''Tidewater Dialect''' or the '''Chesapeake Accent''', is a specific ] of ]. While the dialect is said to have roots up and down the eastern seaboard, it is primarily concentrated in the southeastern part of ], otherwise known as the ]. This region consists of the ], parts of the ] of ], and parts of the Eastern shore of ], ], and Southern ] and also remote peninsular areas of ]David A. Fahrenthold, "Bays Dialects are Slowly Dying", Washington Post, Page A01, Feb 19, 2005, Washington Post Staff Writer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36333-2005Feb18.html on the Western shoreDavid A. Fahrenthold, "Bays Dialects are Slowly Dying", Washington Post, Page A01, Feb 19, 2005, Washington Post Staff Writer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36333-2005Feb18.html.
This dialect of American English has evolved over a period of four hundred years from the English that was spoken by those who initially settled the area. Given that language is an entity that is constantly changing, it is accurate to say that the English of the colonists was much different than any variety of English being spoken today. The colonists who initially settled the Tidewater area spoke a variety of English known as Early Modern English. (This is not to be confused with the form of English spoken today known as Modern English or Present-Day English, or with the English of Chaucer, which is Middle English.) Even within Early Modern English, there was immense variation among its speakers. This variation could have been due to several factors such as geographic location, social class, age, race, etc. within England itself.
Chesapeake Bay islands
While the speech of the region has evolved and changed over time, it is worth noting a distinct "other" in the group, spoken on the small, marshy islands of Tangier and Smith Island in the lower Chesapeake Bay. These dialects are unique in that they seem comparatively untouched by linguistic evolution, still bearing characteristics of the 17th-century western English dialects of their original settlers. Geographic isolation and a historically small population have meant that these close-knit communities have been able to retain a significant amount of their native dialect through the centuries.
Features of Tidewater English
One of the traditional features of Tidewater English is that it is non-rhotic. This may be heard in such words as Norfolk pronounced by many natives as /ˈnɔːfɪk/. Many visitors to the area may pronounce the city's name as /ˈnɜːrfoʊk/ or even /ˈnɜːrfɪk/, the "l" being silent. The latter of these two is even appearing in younger generations native to the Tidewater area.
Another traditional feature of the area is the use of /oʊ/ for /aʊ/. For example, words such as "house" and "about" may be heard in the Tidewater area as "həuse" and "abəut" respectively, especially among older speakers. Given that there are over 2.8 million people in the area, it is difficult to account for all variants. Also, the area is home to several large military bases such as Naval Station Norfolk, Little Creek Amphibious Base, Oceana Naval Station, and Dam Neck Naval Base. Since a significant portion of the area's inhabitants are actually natives of other areas, there is constant linguistic exposure to other dialects. This exposure could be a reason why the younger generations do not exhibit as many of the traditional variants. These variants can, however, still be found in the youth of the more rural areas of Tidewater as well as many of the adults throughout the Tidewater region.
Current projects
There is currently a linguistic survey and study occurring in the Tidewater region. A project devised by Old Dominion University Assistant Professor Dr. Bridget Anderson entitled Tidewater Voices: Conversations in Southeastern Virginia has recently been initiated in the area. In collecting oral histories from natives of the area, this study offers insight to not only specific history of the region, but also to linguistic phonetic variants native to the area as well. This linguistic survey is the first of its kind in nearly forty years. The two variants being analyzed the most closely in this study are the /aʊ/ diphthong as in house or brown and post-vocalic r-lessness as in /ˈfɑːðə/ for /ˈfɑːðər/.
