The odd accent of Tangier VA - American Tongues episode #3
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- čas přidán 21. 02. 2008
- Is this the strangest accent in the USA? Watch more at bit.ly/amtongues
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The isolated island of Tangier, VA has one of the most unusual regional dialects in the United States. Although it's not Elizabethan English, it probably sounds a lot like the way people spoke two hundred years ago. From the documentary AMERICAN TONGUES by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker.
This hands down is one of the best CZcams videos of All Time.
B L
But, Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. 👁👁
👄
This is a particularly interesting part of the internet.
This is good content for sure.
of course there's the Bonackers
It is because Virginia is for accent lovers.
You can hear how this slowly turned into the southern accent. Amazing.
If you move all the vowels back in the mouth and hold the lips tight, you have Inland Southern, one of the dominant forms of US English.
Also clearly an influence on the Maryland/Baltimore accent.
ll forreal it sound like if, the baltimoreans spoke english in the middle ages lolol @@bobsnow6242
I can't stop listening to this. It's like old Southern counties English. Almost like hearing the voices of the seventeenth century settlers, incredible.
Tristan woodford I’ve lived to Tangier island me whole life
I can hear Cornish and West country accents in there.
This is a British West country accent.
@@oscarj0231 of course it is melanage of accents, but I can definitely hear the West country and Cornish accents.
This is baffling, is anyone commenting in here actually from England? These people sound thoroughly Southern US, nobody in England speaks like this at all, it's nothing like Southern, West Country or Welsh, at all, not even remotely.
I demand that a major network use these guys as anchors for evening news.
Anchors?
@@CAT-2323 Anchors are people who do the news for a living
Why not; they sound just like Walter Kronkite. /s
😂😂😂😂 Just make sure subtitles are added. They sound like people from the West Country of Britain.
At first they sound like they have marbles in their mouths, very hard to understand. After some practice, with the help of closed captions, it gets easier. They sound like the the farmers of the North Country Dales as portrayed in the TV series All Creatures Great and Small.. Another thing is they talk so very fast!!
I'm indigenous Cornish. These boys sound like they'm from just down the road. Keep hauling they nets boys!
The local accent is not unlike that of the "Hoi Toiders" of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, also settled by English settlers, many of whom still have descendants living on the islands today. Before bridges were built in the 1930s, the only form of transport between or off the islands was by boat, which allowed for the islands to stay isolated from much of the rest of the mainland. This helped to preserve the maritime culture and the distinctive Outer Banks brogue, which sounds more like an English accent than it does an American accent.[citation needed] Many "bankers" have often been mistaken for being from England or Ireland when traveling to areas outside of the Outer Banks. The brogue is most distinctive the further south one travels on the Outer Banks, with it being the thickest on Ocracoke Island and Harkers Island. Locally, the accent is called "Hoi Toider", in that the term "High tider" is pronounced with a distinctive "oy" in the hard "i", in common with the Westcountry dialect found in Southwest England.
You can type without an accent you know
Fellow pixie here! Agreed!!!
My 8th Great Grandpa was a Cornish Sailor. Last name Traywick. One of my favorite historical romance series is set in Cornwall and Devon and I will always remember the saying by Tre, Pol, or Pen ye shall know Cornishmen.
I’m from Tangier. The accents strength isn’t quite are strong now as it was then but that’s due to outside influence. Less isolation but I still have it and when I’m talking to British/Irish people they always tell me that I’m easier to understand than some other Americans! Very great place to have grown up in.
It sounds like a British guy trying to do a Southern accent.
+Baville Southern Accents are based off "British" English. They lacked the infusion of old German speakers that show back up in the Americas. Like the Dutch, Germans, Swedes, and Irish. It seem American/Canadian English took on the accents of the whole family!
+Thomas Paglione Actually no, their accent is pretty much a British accent circa 18th century.
DeepSpaceBass1 Sure! But learn to read
while he is drunk
To me it sounds kinda like a southerner trying to do a pennsylvania german accent (like think amish or mennonite or whichever it is)
I knew a guy from Tangier briefly. It took me a while to figure out if he was a weird guy or just had an unusual accent to me. Turns out it was both. Nice guy.
Sounds near identical to a Cornish/West Country English accent, though with a Southern flair.
Yup, like okay maybe not identical but the way it rolls is very similar, absolutely.
I'm from North-East Somerset and there are some similarities there even.
apprently this is identical with the southern flair to 17th century northern england. They apparently had what we would identify as a southern flair to their accent that was lost over time as it began blending more scottish. So if you got in a time machine and went to lancashire in the 1600's this is what it would sound like. They say parts of Virginia have the closest to old english even more than england itself today. Has to do with how isolated some of the communities were in virginia.
Also traditional Sussex accent
Yeah, sounds like some farrmers from Devon/Cornwall. I can also here tinges of Irish and Norfolk accents (in some vowels and intonations) here and there.
@Samí Warrior I bet you sound like these guys in the video
Never stop talking like that guys, never
They'll stop talking like that pretty soon, the island is going to be underwater. www.businessinsider.com/trump-tangier-island-disappearing-sea-level-rise-2017-6
Unfortunately the way we speak is not usually a conscious choice.
@Star Trek Theory Oh you can certainly choose to mimic any accent, sure. But the accent you use naturally is not really your choice.
Sadly tiny regional accents often have a limited lifespan.
Too late. They already sound like Walter Cronkite.
Sounds like a mix of Southern Dixie accents and a rural West Country accent from the UK (and maybe a tinge of Irish thrown in). It's like a window into 17-century England.
+adi87tya I suspect that the truth of the matter is that Southern accents are older and less affected by foreign accents (and thus closer to this) than others in America.
This is exactly what I heard in this clip.
I knew someone would say they sound "Irish". No, they sound like English folk from the south west counties.
@@yvonnewalesuk8035 we are all Oirish
@@yvonnewalesuk8035 You knew someone would say irish because it does sound irish
As a Brit, I can hear a few regional accents. Cornish, Shropshire, (Light tones) of a Geordie. The heaviest leaning towards the West Country. However that’s where most English from the UK came from/departed from.
I hear overwhelmingly broad Norfolk dialect and pronunciation
norfolk and cornish are very similar accents but i m baffled by the geordie comment, i dont hear that at all.
Sounds like country English mixed with hillbilly and a touch of New England fisherman. Really fascinating!
I have a fairly strong New England fisherman accent and I can definitely hear it in this!
Henric von Winklebottom I can also hear a bit of the Scouse accent in there
Dendy
My Nan is from Nova Scotia which has very strong cultural ties to New England, and I too can discern a familiar strain within this accent. Definitely mixed with the more prevalent Southern accent, though.
You hit the nail right on the head Henric von Winklebottom
Oh it does, indeed! I'm from Nova Scotia and happened across this and thought it sounds just like the way people speak upon parts of the Bay of Fundy and Southwestern Shore.
Holy hell, it's an island of Boomhowers!
+Stephanie Ruple That's a good dang ol' comment.
Juuuust wet my knickers....
+flipsternip lmaoooo
Stephanie Ruple lolll I showed my dad this video and told your joke -- he got a good laugh out of it.
omggg
You can only get to the island by a ferry that runs twice a day, or by private airplane. I have flown there several times. The first time I went, I had no idea they had this accent, and I thought I flew through a wormhole into the past or something. I also noticed that they tend to speak this way to one another, but not when I spoke to them.
it's code switching. it's actually very polite. they figure outsiders are dingbatters and need to be spoken to like small children, not familiar with the language :-)
@@stevedavis8329
What the hell is a dingbatter?
@@BillSikes. something apparently that autocorrect comes up with when it doesn't recognize "dingbat" as a word. 🙂
The Pennsylvania Dutch are the same way.
@@stevedavis8329 Auto(mis)correct will go down in the history as a great crime against language and legibility.
It's so important to preserve and continue these accents. So sick of everything becoming generic. It's diversity in accents and language that makes humanity special.
There's plenty else to make humanity special without stifling the natural progression of language/accents....
@@dogfat. No, regional accents are a beautiful thing and things are a lot more generic than they used to be. No one's stifling anything, it's just that a natural progression can also be sad
@@9to5Drone Don't worry, new accents will form as things change, as they always have. Everyone will never sound the same, they'll just sound different than they did 50 or 100 or 200 years ago.
@@dogfat. This is not a natural progression of human accents, since in nature we wouldnt have tv, phones, and mass media melting our accents together. The natural progression would be to keep becoming more different until we are mutually unintelligible region to region.
@@aethulwulfvonstopphen8013 that's bad, it is better for people to be able to communicate no?
The interesting thing about this accent, is that these people sound exactly like an original West Sussex UK accent, even here in the UK this accent is only found in really old folks, who grew up in the area, now replaced with a standard London accent... I personally feel the linage of this VA Islander accent comes from West Sussex in the UK.
That's funny you say that- I'm from Cornwall and to me this sounds like a Cornish (or Devon for that matter) accent, especially 1:38 - 1:54. That could almost be a few fishermen speaking in my local town! Or at least it *sounds* familiar to me and I can understand what they're saying clearly. Looking at the history of Tangier a little bit, it even says the majority of original settlers come from the southwest of England... so that doesn't surprise me at all.
So I'm not so sure about West Sussex - the accent is not as strong as in the west country (I was in Southampton recently- ok not west Sussex, but fairly close and hearing some of the old locals speak there, I could detect a "kind of" west countryish accent or more like the stereotypical 'pirate' accent I suppose, but again compared to the southwest nowhere near as strong (again perhaps the London influence or standard English influence)- to me this Virginian accent is closer to the southwest of England).
mgkernowek Interesting stuff regardless... the original Sussex dialect is very Cornish sounding believe it or not, its very weird, for a southern county, most elderly folks around here who I've spoken with I had thought they were from Cornwall.... I know many Sussex pilgrims went to Pennsylvania and Maryland.... however, wherever the accents origins are from it is fascinating none the less.
Paul Messis I am from this area of Virginia, and from the research I've done on my family, we came from Essex.
Paul Messis It is certainly interesting- I didn't know that about Sussex- I don't think its a strong west country accent though (people in Norfolk have a kind of west country accent, slightly different though, but again not as strong).
I was going on what I heard, their accents sound familiar to me and given that most of originals came from the southwest, just makes sense to me.
But very interesting stuff- on a different note, I think its really important that all the regional accents/dialect continue- we don't want the whole country to end up with a London/estuary English accent- that would be sad.
According to the cultural history "Albion's Seed," by David Hackett Fischer, a great many 17th Century Virginia settlers came from the West Country.
I live in the West Country in England and had very little trouble understanding it, this explains a lot actually.
Well West Country accent stayed the same during the rhotic non rhotic shift.
There have been multiple linguistic studies that point to the isolated Southern accents, particularly those in the Appalachian mountains, as being the closest to 18th and early 19th century British English. The accents have been so isolated and secluded since people settled that the accepted academic theory is that English in Britain evolved while these secluded accents have remained relatively unchanged. One must distinguish the isolated Southern accents from those in populated areas.
"errerderrr naer derr merr" -guy at beginning of video
Trueee
Oh, this accent definitely needs to be preserved. We've lost a lot down south in the UK, and it's really sad. Where I was born and I live now we have a sort of country accent (mine has been moulded into one over the years) but like most places, it's turning into Estuary English. At the very least we need to record the accents before they die out.
Thought I'd let you know that there is actually a database that linguist developed so that this accent has been preserved, along with many others around the globe. I live not far from Tangier Island and, while in college pursuing linguistics, we had a conference about the database and the professor picked this one (and smith island's) out of hundreds of samples to play for us. It was cool to hear everyone's reaction to an accent from home! Sadly, most of the younger residents sound like us locals since most of them travel to the mainland for college etc.
Something they don't cover in the video is 'backwards talk' which is common here (I'm not sure if it's common elsewhere, I haven't heard it) where someone will say, "She's slow, ain't she?" when talking about a fast car etc.
Jaclyn Duverte that’s so good to know, thank you!
Received Pronunciation is cancer
Unfortunately, it's really hard to preserve regional accents and dialects that are only spoken by a handful of people. Think about how many UK accents died out long before most of the standard modern English accents that we are familiar with even began.
@@robwalsh9843 sad but true.
Bit of Northern Ireland, a fair bit of English west-country and just the slightest tinge of Dixie in there.
This accent is brilliant. Long may it continue.
No Northern Irish. That's wholly west country accent.
@@yvonnewalesuk8035 There was a little bit of the Ulster thwang to it, but for the most part you're on the ball. Very East Anglian, Devon and Cornwall in there but a bit of the deep south of the US thrown in there as well. Would love to have a few pints with these lads and their families.
Visited this island a year ago. Felt more foreign than many European countries I’ve been to. Great experience and kind people.
When they say "The past is another country", I think this is as close as you can get to its literal meaning. Hard to believe that somewhere like Silicon Valley or NYC is in the same country as Tangier Island, and that Tangier is in 2021 along with the rest of the US. I wonder what it'd be like to visit an island that hasn't changed since, say, the Roman era?
@@aaronodonoghue1791 Parts of Sardinia supposedly have an accent similar to the Afro-Romance vulgar Latin of North Africa.
@@aaronodonoghue1791 Well, it sorta wasn't "the same country" originally, it was supposed to be more kinda EU-ish - literally the name "the united states"('united'/'union' both meaning basically the same thing). There wasn't even supposed to be an overarching federal government in the way we know it today, this is just where all the politicians succeeding the founders took the government(s) within the framework.
And the god forsaken 'interstate commerce act' destroyed any semblance of individual state autonomy.
Honestly, it seems like it was just kinda chance that the US doesn't have multiple 'native' accents, considering the variety of settlers and their own native languages. Like a primarily french speaking Louisiana or something LOL.
Wikipedia says their accent has been so isolated and unchanged that it may very well be the accent closest in resemblance to the early colonists.
I hear the watermen from Tangier and Smith Island talking on the radio when fishing out of Point Lookout on the Western shore. Their fishing spots are always safe because no one can understand a damn thing they say! It makes me happy to hear it each and every time.
It's like a blend of SO many UK accents.
What an awesome accent--very original British, really....nice to hear the varieties of English spoken regionally in the USA!
My family migrated from the outer areas of North Carolina about a century ago to Tennessee, and I could understand this 100%. Most of the older folk in my family would talk like this although the heavy accent has been lost over the years. It's nice to hear that there's a specific name for the accent. :)
I lived in VA (not on the island) for over 20 years, I can barely understand what half of these people are saying. It's so incredible how someone can speak the same language, live within 50 miles of you for years and years yet the dialect is so very different. Facinating. Thanks for a great video.
I've lived in VA my entire life, and honestly... sounds like mountain mumble to me. It honestly sounds like the way my relatives talk up in the mountains, just with some odd word choice thrown in. Also, the way the video was cut together and has low audio quality made it difficult to follow as well.
It's because they've somehow managed to preserve their 17th century version of English.
The same can be said about Texas. Every city is radically different out here. As an Ohioan transplant, not everyone has the generic "Texan" accent. In El Paso (where I live now), "Spanglish" is pretty common around here, similar to how French is bastardized along the French-Canadian border towns. Odessa and Midland are very different culturally and with dialect and accents like El Paso is.
Bloody hell, I'd heard they sounded Cornish, but they genuinely sound like most of the fishermen in Cornwall. :o
I'm from the Gloucester, VA area and I can understand them just fine, my husband who was born and raised in Alaska can't understand a word. It was quite comical when he came down to visit and was trying to talk to them. LOL
AK Aqua funny, as the people on this video sound like they’re from Gloucestershire, England
That’s because here in Gloucester Va, we’re used to hearing the Guinea Men who also have a unique dialect quite similar to this. Lol
Strange, there are probably some villagers in Gloucestershire, England who sound very like that too.
Haha yeah I'm from Gloucester, England and I can understand them fine. There are definitely differences but some notable similarities too.
…I’m from Europe and English is my second language, but I can still understand them without any difficulties 😅
Up until recently I lived in south-west England and coming from the north this sounds like almost exactly the same accent but with the odd southern American drawl thrown in for good measure
It is also very similar to the Newfoundland accent here in Canada.
Malcolm MacLellan I really believe it decended from the same accent, but the Americans are too proud to admit or even acknowledge it lol.
angelakitou
Of course it did, the european, mainly English, colonisers
The Newfoundland accent is from an Irish accent. Specifically from Wexford, where there were a huge amount of immigrants to the island. Im from West Cork in Ireland and I ended up in a hostel with a Newfoundland guy when I was traveling. We completely just 'got' eachother. Identical drinking culture and sense of humor and even our childhood was similar because they even eat the same type of food as we do in Ireland.
@@lornafarrelly7797 You aren't wrong but not entirely right either. It's both! Up until the early 19th century, majority of immigrants to NL were from the English West Country. Some Irish in there too. Then by the early 19th it flipped. More Irish than folks coming from West Country. But pretty much at all times people were coming from both places all seeking a better life.
Christian MacNamara Oh yeah? I'll go back and listen to the Newfey accent again with that knowledge in mind!
My dad is from an island in NC where they have a very similar accent. I loved this video and I sure wish they could keep the accent alive forever! I loved hearing my dad and his friends talking after coming in from crabbing!
Ocracoke Island
Probably further south since Okracoke has so many tourists. Hyde and Dare County. Carteret has remnants of it
Ocracoke is in Dare, though those areas are very isolated in weird ways
You're thinking of Harker's Island, they sound just like these folks
That's funny hearing the Tangier accent. So weird ! I'm from western Cornwall, UK. Sounds like the local fisherman at my harbour ! Or pretty close anyway. It sounded very familiar to me straightaway, the older men speaking. It's great that they have preserved the roots of their accent after all this time.
I'm American but have traveled England and extensively and I have to agree. Obviously my ear for English accents wouldn't be as keen as an Englishman but it reminds me of what I heard of Cornwall and even Devon.
I grew up on the Eastern Shore of VA (Cape Charles to be exact), I can tell you all, 100% that the accent is REAL, the dialect is REAL, the people are REAL, not staged for the camera at all...They are good people on Tangier Island!!!
Naw, they stole that land from my ancestors. 🖕🏽 them
@@MochaMaknMoney All land is stolen from someone, except certain lands, if any. Doesn’t excuse anything, but everyone’s land has been taken by someone else’s.
@@boochie-yj7un stfu
@@MochaMaknMoney what a calm and respectable reply to a reasonable person who agrees with you.
@@boochie-yj7un You had to edit that little ass paragraph? 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️😂😂😂😂
I watched this video in my linguistics class the other day. The islanders were isolated for about 300 years, so their accent hasn't changed much from the original settlers. So if you are wondering how shakespear speaks, that's pretty much it.
So how did you make out with that linguistics class? I think this the oldest comment I ever replied to on CZcams.13 years ago now!. It's about the Tangiers accent. It sounds like accents; here on the east coast Canadian Maritime provinces, especially Newfoundland. Have you made a trip to East-coast Canada yet? Or Canada? It would be great to hear back from a random comment like this, all these years later? I hope you do.
He would of sounded West Country British which hasn't changed either. This accent however has been mixed with modern American, the guy even says so at the end.
Shakespeare wasnt from the west country... Stratford Upon Avon is in the Midlands.
You’re pretty much wrong as hell
I'm from western Cornwall, UK. They sound like local fisherman at my harbour ! Or pretty close anyway. It sounded very familiar to me straightaway, the older men speaking. It's great that they have preserved the roots of their accent after all this time. The accent in southwest England/Britain hasn't changed very little in 400+ years.
The accents sound the same as the rural ones in south lincolnshire, norfolk, north cambridgeshire and suffolk. People often confuse those accents with the south-west of England, but they are not the same. The place Tangier where they are interviewed is near Norfolk Virginia, and Suffolk, Virginia so it's likely the first settlers were from there hence the same accents.
The residents are descended from Brits from the county of Cornwall so this is just an older style of the Cornish regional accent.
Seriously? Do they keep Cornish hen on their farms?
no shit
I agree, I live here in Cornwall there are plenty of people here in the rural areas with a very similar accent
@@robertjubb5546 like the guy on Time Team
I grew up in Maryland and Virginia and I visited the island a couple of times.
I'm told that the Tangier accent most closely resembled Cornish and West Sussex.
I’m from the Delmarva Peninsula which is where this island is located off of. We have the same accent as these Tangiermen do, it’s the local Delmarva dialect and you can hear it in most people who are multiple-generation locals, including myself. It’s less prominent amongst the younger generations of course. But some of us young ones do retain it. This is why it’s weird how the media has become so fixated on Tangier and Smith island for their accents, because you’ll find it all over mainland Delmarva too, to varying degrees just as you do on these islands.
I know, right? like i've lived on Delmarva my whole life and most men talk exactly like this, just a little less thick, its more prominent in fishermen, though
@@starfrog1696
Right, being self-aware of it now, I notice that it’s often thicker in local men for some reason. It really seems to be disappearing in the younger women, probably because of a heightened social consciousness if I’d have to guess. Just curious, where are you from on this peninsula? I’m from Laurel, Delaware.
they're indeed descendents of Cornish or Devon people. (usually anyways)
I actually dug up some articles that explain that in fact, southern accents in general are descendants of southern English accents (the drawl, some odd vocabulary, etc are apparently developments of feature in southwestern english accents).
i hope they can preserve there accent. sounds very much like suffolk or norfolk in UK
wow that makes sense because suffolk and norfolk are two cities on the mainland of virginia, usa.
I live in suffolk and i wouldnt say that at all
I would love to see a native of Ocracoke, NC and a native to Tangier, VA get together and try to communicate. I think there would be a lot more similarities than many realize. Of course they are both unique and have developed their uniqueness over centuries but there are still many similarities.
I heard about Tangier, VA a few months ago and wanted to hear the dialect and it's absolutely amazing, I'm from the southern US myself and I can hear a bit of that southern style mixed in but if I just met a guy from Tangier on the street I'd swear he was from somewhere in England. It's like a time capsule just instead of little trinkets and things we've collected it's a very old, distinct way of speaking. Hopefully their manner of speaking can be preserved because it's just a very interesting connection to our nations past.
I'm British and it reminds me of the west country accent mixed with southern American.
That's because their accent comes from South West England, and what has become the 'pirate accent' in people's minds first came to be when an American actor tried to give his pirate character a South West English accent. Here in the UK certain SW accents (Cornish especially) also are associated in our minds with farmers, so this Tangier accent makes me think of farmers more than anything else, haha.
Arrrrrrr
Eastern shore Island girl here! I still get asked “where are you from”.... like I’m from Mars or something lol. I can always tell who isn’t from here but I still welcome them as my own! That’s culture for ya.
A lot of people aren't aware that this is believed to be the closest to how they spoke in England believe it or not in the old days, pre 18th century. The island was isolated for so long that the accent stayed preserved largely. If you went to Northern England in the 17th century the accent would sound almost southern united states in ways. Over time in England the accent in the north began to blend more scottish which is the way it sounds now but back then this is how it sounded.
I'm actually from the area around Tangier Island, and we can definitely tell them apart. Then again, we can also tell people are from certain towns by their accent.
Their pronunciation of the sound "ow" sounds Canadian.
At 1:46 one of them says, "Where's he at?" which is also used in Newfoundland, and it means, "Where is he". I'm sure I've heard this here in the UK in more isolated communities. The accent is truly fasinating and just sounds like it is from Devon or Cornwall here in the UK.
@@horsenuts1831 that's also become a common one in the DC area and so are a few others here, some even say "ow" like that including me on occasion! I am talking about native DC, Maryland and Northern VA residents most regardless of race but some even have it even if their accent still sounds like their parents (like if they are first generating East Asian, Indian, etcetera, that may be a hit or miss on having the family's accent or may develop it with exposer or it just being slight enough to notice to some depending on your exposer to others from where they are from but it's so slight that even with it peeking through here it just sounds so much like our regular thing you go meh, their just more "local", even if they say they aren't native!) LOL!
Sounds Cornish/ West Country too
They sound......drunk.
They sound West Country English.
No they don't you fucking idiot
Dallas Elgin take a chill pill you dude it isn’t serious at all
@@dallaselgin2636 No they do and it's hilarious! Get a sense of humor!
Parts of my family grew up on Tangier. My great great grandmother created the Chesapeake House bed & breakfast if any of you are familiar with it. I don't speak in their accent but sometimes I have moments where I unintentionally do. However, I understood every word they said.
+PokanaPlaysGames I grew up a Marylander (near Baltimore) but most of the family grew up on the Eastern Shore. So this accent is not really foreign to me. (The mid-Atlantic region is home to so many dialects.) When I was stationed in the Shetland Islands it did not take me long to become accustomed to their language. In fact, when my tour was up, as I was passing through London on my way back to the States, most people thought I was from Wales. It's odd how that happens. 40 years later and I still spit out words from the Shetland dialect and accidently spell some things the according to UK spelling rules.
I live der Tangier Island
1:33 to 1:45.
"Used to be, like, like Claude and them said, you could follow the crabs right on down. Now they don't, they don't do that no more. I think they get on top of the water and swim when they get ready to load. Swim over top of the pots instead of, uh, in 'em." I understood about 95% of all of what was said, so if I were wrong, Infoplz!
Oh! I get it now..they are talking crab pot fishing! My husband and sons were all commercial fishermen back in the hey day of the highliners in the gulf of Alaska. Thank you!
This is what we need more of. “Reality” TV is bogus. Beautiful channel. Thank you for sharing.
Omg it's like the long lost missing link between Irish/Celtic/Gaelic accents and southern drawl USA accents!
Sounds more like a link to the west country of England tbh. I mean that's where alot of the sailors of those times came from anyway. A lot of the west country still sounds like this.
The local accent is not unlike that of the "Hoi Toiders" of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, also settled by English settlers, many of whom still have descendants living on the islands today. Before bridges were built in the 1930s, the only form of transport between or off the islands was by boat, which allowed for the islands to stay isolated from much of the rest of the mainland. This helped to preserve the maritime culture and the distinctive Outer Banks brogue, which sounds more like an English accent than it does an American accent.[citation needed] Many "bankers" have often been mistaken for being from England or Ireland when traveling to areas outside of the Outer Banks. The brogue is most distinctive the further south one travels on the Outer Banks, with it being the thickest on Ocracoke Island and Harkers Island. Locally, the accent is called "Hoi Toider", in that the term "High tider" is pronounced with a distinctive "oy" in the hard "i", in common with the Westcountry dialect found in Southwest England.
Well louistodd5 that accent actually does come under the same category, since the west country folk are largely connected to the Celtic/Gaelics in their roots. Same with Norfolk and Wales.
That's really interesting Alek Hidell, thanks for the info, I'll have to check it out.
Not at all, this is super English, i.e Anglo Saxon. Not Celtic/Gaelic.
I agree with pumpSho , my mother and I were on Tangier Island in Sept,, We absolutely love the people of the Island and especially you guys accent!!!! Love to you all.
According to the BBC, this is probably the closest surviving accent to Shakespearean English in the world. In the UK, our accents have changed more over time than they have in isolated areas like this.
How has West Country or any of the regional accents changed? Upper class London, Received Pronunciation, has changed. Regional ones have not.
@@anaussie213 All regional accents change, just at different rates. Listen to the CZcamsr who does Suffolk accent training demonstrate the difference in the accent she heard in the elderly when she was young.
I live here in Cornwall South west England and there is quite a similarity to a Cornish accent.
this is a general southern England accent from many years ago including East Anglia and Cornwall - still heard today but slowly dying out in a lot of areas in the south
Wow...you know its hard to tell from modern English that it's even a Germanic language, but when I heard these people talk I at first thought they were speaking the Amish dialect of German (aka "Pennsylvania Dutch"). I'm kind of glad it stayed around this long because it really shows how much "English" differs between the different centuries. Also, in the 22nd century, whatever is called "English" then would probably need subtitles to be understood by our time and vice versa.
Apparently this island was settled by 14 Cornish fishing families! Wow! Really fascinating, I’m Cornish - born, grew up and live there and would love to visit this place :)
An island of Boomhauers (King Of The Hill show). I can imagine the fun when they give directions to folks that aren't familiar with this accent (like me!)
I know this video is over a decade old. Do they still sound this strong in their accent? I love it!
Fantastic. I am fascinated by these different accents and dialects. It's so interesting.
They are amazing I hope they maintain and keep their culture and language
I'd say this is kind of a Somerset/Cornwall accent with a Southern American touch. Really fascinating, and I'm not even a native English speaker.
Interestingly enough, the mainland county closest to Tangier is called Somerset County, MD.
I think it's awesome that the accent still exists!
Sounds like the Old pub on saturdays
This accent is an English westcountry accent originating from the south west of England meaning Somerset Devon Cornwall Plymouth I know plenty of people who sound just like this as the Australian accent comes from Sussex this accent comes from wessex
+Greg Searle Australian accent is a mix from all over the UK it has a lot of northern sayings.
+Greg Searle The Brislington, Bristol and Bath folk have the same twang. I know that accent anywhere. Very similar to the Barbados accent too....especially of the 'Red Legs' (white people).
Australian surely has a large dose of cockney, mate?
As an Australian I know we have a wide variety of accents, but these guys reminded me strongly of Queenslanders, especially the ones from inland rural areas I know - the rhythm and drawl is spot on. And as a rural West Aussie I know I don't sound much like this at all, I have been told my accent is very "gentle" and I am often asked if I'm English - I am at the least 5th generation Australian.
very interesting. yes, they sound like they hail from the West of England. But of course that accent was the dominant accent in the 1600s in most of England roughly speaking. The oo sound we hear in the word 'wood' or 'could' for example today, was also used in words like blood or shove. When you do a Shakespeare play today you find that many of the words in the rhyming couplets don't rhyme, but as soon as you speak with this earlier accent (now known as OP - 'Original Pronunciation' as against RP - the posh sounding 'received pronunciation') the rhymes work. It's also much quicker. A Shakespeare play performed in OP will be much faster than one in RP. Romeo and Juliet for example - in the opening speech the chorus describes the play as the "brief two hours passage of our stage". For years we have thought this was just an approximate idea, until we spoke it again in OP, an experiment conducted at the Globe Theatre in London by linguistic experts. Suddenly, the play was two hours long again, as it would have been when first performed in the 1590s. Amazing stuff, and a wonderful piece of history.
Also, that sort of somewhat relaxed/lazy "r" sound.
When you move there you have to go through a ceremony where they bestow upon you a trucker hat and plaid shirt.
A really odd thing happened to my ears/brain while I was listening to this video. First, I could not understand anything that was being said, and I heard a Scots/Irish/Welsh accent, but then all of a sudden, I started hearing them speak in a southern (US) accent with added flair, and I was able to understand everything they were saying.
that's exactly what happened to me
Me also. It was so weird at first. Now, I don’t really hear their accent.
Same here thank you for explaining it to my brain!
I was stunned how it was just like an English West Country accent from the start!I didn’t think it would sound so similar.
They do have a noticeable Westcountry twang don't they? Remarkable their accent has survived this long. I hope it doesn't sound disparaging when I say they're almost like the missing link between England and America - it's very likely many of the first English settlers spoke like that though obviously 300 years of separation has meant there are some differences too. I'd say British English has changed far more radically than American English (I blame the Victorians!).
That's because British English did change more radically during the Victorian period. For some reason they were intent on emulating the French even more, for whatever gods forsaken reason you would want to do that. Had things not changed so dramatically between them (especially with the southern vowel shift) it's likely that several varieties of West British English and Southern US English accents would sound remarkably similar.
It sounds like back home - makes me miss my Delmarva.
When my submarine was in the Newport News (Va.) Shipyard for a few months, some of the local shipyard workers sounded just like this, and it was a real struggle to understand what they were saying.
Just one more thing about Tangier. If you are a daughter and you have a sister then her name is "Sister." If you have four sisters and are talking to any of them her name is still "Sister" and I think that's quite sweet.
Holy crap, I could barely make out a word of what the group was saying! o_O I understood the old man pretty well...how crazy! :-)
What the fuck are they saying.
If the first dude would spit out that hot potato he's keepin' warm in his piehole, maybe people would understand him.
Juan Redcorn they speak American
I understood what they were saying and if they got together with some West Country folk from England, they'd have no difficulty understanding each other. Home from home!
I seriously started to think this was some sort of bizarre Monty Python skit for a moment.
Gunny, nope, this place exists. I've been there and it's for real. Tangier Island is not the only place you hear this accent. Also in the coastal counties of North Carolina about 150 miles south of Tangier Island VA.
Remarkably similar to a West Country English accent; the elongated "au" or (like nautical or now) is just like it. Fascinating.
I live in northern England and have made a study of accents. I understand their accent word for word perfectly!
The accent sound to me a slightly archaic Somerset, or at least West country!
I am amazed that some Americans have difficulty understanding tham! (deliberate typo) Ha!
I had a bit of trouble with that guy at the beginning relating the story to his mates. That was one heavy accent. But the other folks are perfectly understandable.
I'm American and this sounds like gibberish to me
There's a similarity to Newfoundland, a little bit.
I remember visiting this island when I was in the eighth grade my whole class went we came from Richmond. I loved this little island and thought it was real nice and unique. Def a fishing town and that's how they maintain there economy there is next to no cars almost everyone rides bikes, walks,or drives golf carts. they really do talk like this lol. It never seemed that odd to me just a Virginian southern drawl that's slightly different. The locals were really nice and the food of course is amazing if your into Sea food ,can't get much fresher . I'm def gonna make it a goal to revisit now that I'm all grown up.
Mix between American southerner and modern British accent
I like how they sound. But then again, I like all things different.
I live near Tangier, and even I have trouble understanding them sometimes. I swear there's a unique accent for some of the towns around here.
Most people will relate this accent towards Somerset Devon and Cornwall but in truth more of the southern half of England had that kind of what's in the UK referred to as the Farmer's accent up until the age of TV. When I listen to Icelanders their accent points to a variety of places. A mix of people from a mix of places causes accents to centralize on it's own.
i cannot understand them when theyre talking to each other! that is so cool!!! your accents are kickin!!
I’m from northern Virginia outside of DC. This is awesome!
I agree. I am from Cornwall (England) and there are definite similarities. The chap who does most of the talking even looks Cornish.
actually its quite funny you say that cause here in England there are a few dialects where you can tell the difference between towns a couple miles apart! I love how dialects are such an intrinsic part of who we are :D
The accent is something very special and it's the first time i did hear about it but what really surprising is the island is named Tangier as the Moroccan one.
I live a little further north from tangier and i can 100% confirm that people do still talk like this
I think it's kind of funny that the people in remote areas with weird accents are probably the ones with the most normal accent.
TIMExBANDIT no such thing as a "normal accent"
Isolated areas retain their accents longer, but most accents like this are fast going away. Kids are merciless in attacking other kids that sound different.
What's 'normal' is just what you are used to. I remember being very surprised to hear people from Hull in England say 'herp' when they meant 'hope' and 'Jer' when they meant 'Joe'. Then I realised that they probably just think that is normal. They probably think the entire rest of the English speaking world talks funny.
This accent is literally part of my childhood. 😂 my dad and uncle were raised there and my grandma lives on the island.
It’s real funny when my dad is talking to my uncle or someone from the island on the phone, his accent emerges. He doesn’t even ever realize it. He hides it pretty well now, but it’s always amusing when his old accent peaks out.
Don't try to hide it, preserve it as long as it can! This is a fantastic accent.
Please adopt the accent, if only when you're hammered.
I wish others wouldn't try to program people into dropping their regional accents. It's sad because these accents are really cool.
love your channel!
I saw the BBC video re: this disappearing island. I'm incredibly fascinated by regional accents, but I'd never heard of this one. Strikes me as a combination between Irish Brogue and Coastal Marylander. Thanks for upload!
the most wonderful people on earth
Both very weird and very interesting .I definately detected Somerset uk accent in there, to listen to this and know that its lasted 4 centuries is trully fascinating.I wonder if there are any groups of isolated Scouscers(Liverpool people) in USA Now that would trully flip my brain lol.
I remember fondly The (non-American) English Accent and VA Ham with Apple Sauce....the charming folks of Tangier left good memories to remember them by.
This is so cool. One of the things that make America so awesome. Hang on to this.