View source for Drawl

{{short description|Perceived longer vowel sounds and diphthongs in speech}}
{{wiktionary}}
<!--- one may drawl in ANY language. Translations exist for the word. Worse. Doestevsky refers to this many times in Brothers Karamazov. If you can drawl in Russian with no vowels, you can drawl in ANY language! :)--->
{{IPA notice}}
A '''drawl''' is a perceived feature of some varieties of spoken [[English language|English]] and generally indicates slower, longer [[vowel]] sounds and [[diphthongs]]. The drawl is often perceived as a method of speaking more slowly and may be erroneously attributed to laziness or fatigue. That particular speech pattern exists primarily in varieties of English, the most noticeable of which are [[Southern American English]], Broad Australian English, Broad New Zealand English, and [[East Midlands English]]. The word ''drawl'' is believed to have its origin in the 1590-1600s Dutch or Low German word {{wikt-lang|nl|dralen}} {{IPA|nl|ˈdraːlə(n)|}}, meaning {{gloss|to linger}}.<ref>"drawl." Merriam-Webster.com. 2018. https://www.merriam-webster.com (8 May 2011).</ref>

The most commonly-recognized ''Southern Drawl'' features the [[diphthongization]] or [[triphthong]]ization of the traditional short front vowels, as in the words ''pat'', ''pet'', and ''pit'', especially at the end of sentences. They develop a glide up from their original starting position to {{IPAblink|j}} and, in some cases, back down to [[schwa]].

== Southern drawl ==
{{Redirect|Southern drawl|the album by Alabama|Southern Drawl (album)}}
The Southern drawl is a common name for, broadly, the [[Southern American English phonology|Southern accent]] of the United States or, narrowly, a particular feature of the accent: the articulation of the [[front vowel|front]] [[pure vowel]]s with [[vowel length|lengthening]] and [[vowel breaking|breaking]] ([[diphthong]]ization or even [[triphthong]]ization), perhaps also co-occurring with a [[markedness|marked]] change in pitch.<ref>Montgomery, Michael (993). "[http://www.jstor.org/stable/44376397 The Southern Accent—Alive and Well]". ''Southern Cultures'', 54.</ref><ref>Farrington, Charlie et al. (2018). "Vowel dynamics in the Southern vowel shift". ''American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, 93(2), 187.
</ref> Across a sentence, this phenomenon results in the "prolongation of the most heavily stressed syllables, with the corresponding weakening of the less stressed ones, so that there is an illusion of slowness even though the tempo may be fast."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McDavid|first=Raven I.|date=1968|title=Variations in Standard American English|journal=Elementary English|volume=45|issue=5|pages=561–608|jstor=41386367}}</ref>

=== Characteristics ===
The major characteristic of the Southern drawl is [[vowel breaking]]: the shifting of a [[monophthong]] into a [[diphthong]] or even a [[triphthong]]. In the Southern accent, the short front vowels {{IPAslink|æ}}, {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, and {{IPAslink|ɪ}} may be somewhat raised (or become an up-gliding diphthong, or both) before finally centralizing towards a [[schwa]]-like off-glide {{IPA|[ə]}}. See the examples below:<ref>{{Cite book|title=Singing and Communicating in English: A Singer's Guide to English Diction|last=LaBouff|first=Kathryn|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0195311396|pages=268}}</ref>

: {{IPA|/æ/ → [æ(i)ə)]}}; thus ''sat'' {{IPA|[sæt]}} can become {{IPA|[sæi̯ət]}}
: {{IPA|/ɛ/ → [ɛ(i)ə)]}}; thus ''set'' {{IPA|[sɛt]}} can become {{IPA|[sɛi̯ət]}}
: {{IPA|/ɪ/ → [ɪ(i)ə)]}}; thus ''sit'' {{IPA|[sɪt]}} can become {{IPA|[sɪi̯ət]}}

=== History and social perceptions ===
Drawling was established in [[older Southern American English]], surviving into 20th-century Southern American English, though declining in speakers born since 1960.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Thomas
|first=Erik R.
|year=2004
|chapter=Rural White Southern Accents
|editor-last=Kortmann
|editor-first=Bernd
|editor2-last=Schneider
|editor2-first=Edgar Werner
|title=A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool
|place=New York
|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter
|pages=290
|isbn= 3110197189
}}</ref> 

The drawl is often associated with social stereotypes, positive and negative. Studies have shown that American adults tend to attribute Southern accents with friendliness and humility. However, the drawl is also perceived as slow and (mistakenly) attributed to the hot Southern climate or the laziness of its speakers.<ref>Dorrill, George (2003). "Sounding southern: a look at the phonology of English in the South". In S. J. Nagle & S. L. Sanders (Eds.), ''English in the Southern United States'' (pp. 119–125). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 124.</ref>

== Broad Australian ==
Broad Australian likely emerged from [[New South Wales]], in southeastern [[Australia]], in the early 1800s, when the population was significantly increasing by the importation of convicts. Many of the convicts came from Britain and Ireland, the origin of Broad Australian. However, the area was relatively isolated from outside influences which fostered the growth of a new dialect. In the late 1800s, people from New South Wales began to move to other parts of the continent because of increased overseas immigration, gold rushes, and other factors.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yallop|first=Colin|date=2003|title=A. G. Mitchell and the Development of Australian Pronunciation|journal=Australian Journal of Linguistics|volume=23|issue=2|pages=133–136|doi=10.1080/0726860032000203146|s2cid=62980203 }}</ref>

=== Vowel changes ===
*{{IPA|/oʊ/}} has a [[lowering|lowered]] first target and a lowered and [[fronting (sound change)|fronted]] second target
*{{IPA|/u/}} is lowered
*{{IPA|/i/}} significant onglide – The degree of this onglide is affected by age and is less marked by younger speakers than older speakers
*{{IPAslink|ɜ}} is fronted
*{{IPA|/aʊ/}} has a fronted and [[raising (sound change)|raised]] first target
*{{IPA|/eɪ/}} has a [[Relative articulation#Advanced and retracted|retracted]] first target
*{{IPA|/aɪ/}} has a retracted and raised first target
*{{IPA|/ɪə/}} has a diminished offglide
*{{IPA|/ɛə/}} has a diminished offglide<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harrington|first=Jonathan|date=1997|title=An acoustic phonetic study of broad, general, and cultivated Australian English vowels|journal=Australian Journal of Linguistics|volume=17|issue=2|pages=157|doi=10.1080/07268609708599550}}</ref>

The "cavalry drawl" was a phenomenon of English-speaking officers in England, which was noted around 1840. Officers in certain cavalry regiments considered to be fashionable would affect a drawling delivery in their speech.{{clarify|date=May 2016}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Lawrence James|title=Warrior Race: A History of the British at War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQFJIMQgALoC&pg=PT190|date=2 December 2010|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-0-7481-2535-7|page=190}}</ref>

== Broad New Zealand ==
Broad New Zealand, much like Broad Australian, began taking hold in the late 1800s when people from the [[British Isles]] brought their varieties of English to [[New Zealand]]. Its drawl in is caused by vowel shifts and diphthongization.<ref>{{Cite book|title=New Zealand English: Its Origins and Evolution|last=Gordon|first=Elizabeth|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|isbn=9781139451284|pages=100–101}}</ref>

== Sources ==
*{{cite book |editor-last1=Sanders |editor-first1=Sara L. |editor-last2=Nagle |editor-first2=Stephen |year=2003 | title=English in the Southern United States | pages=(pp)19,26 | location=Cambridge| publisher=Cambridge University Press }}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:English phonology]]