A Life Less Ordinary-- Voices of Tangier Island
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2024
- A documentary on Tangier Island. Tangier Island is located on the Chesapeake Bay and consists of less than 800 people. Residents speak a unique English Restoration dialect of American English. The only way on and off the Island is either by boat or airplane. Residents get around on the Island by golf cart.
oh hey everyone! I did this documentary as a school project when I was in college at the journalism school at the University of Maryland and just now realized people have actually watched this lol
Katherina Katherina It's really good. Thanks.
Brandon Burrell thank you :)
I'm a language nerd and speak several different languages in addition to various English dialects. This was awesome. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Katherina. Not sure if you'll get this in a few years or sooner :-) but I wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed your video. I am reading Chesapeake Requiem and it's really interesting to watch a video from 12 years ago when the islanders did not seem concerned about the eroding land. It's a sad situation and I wish Tangier Islanders the best outcome. Thank you for sharing your work!
Did you add the music while people were speaking? I wanted to hear their accents and hear what they were saying but music was playing over it.
I'm from london, I can definitely hear some undertones from old English Devon/cornwall crossed with early American. It's great, I'd love to visit this beautiful place.
I was thinking this sounds a hint of Cornwall and southern English accent. Especially with words like home and house.
As a kid I grew up hearing tales of the people of this island and the accent as my dad and I fished where the Potomac empties in to the Chesapeake. He would point out towards the water “Out that way”. Recently rediscovered through my work dissecting dialects and accents. Can’t wait to study this more, may even in corporate it in a production one day.
The accent literally sounds like it can’t decide what to do. They add so many extra vowels
The don't add them, they accentuate them and use inflection.
Being Australian, this sounds like a rural English accent mixed with an Southern American accent like Forrest Gump.
iggytse I’m English and agree with you
I’m from US and that’s exactly what I thought
That's what my friend Colette said!
Yes! That's what I thought!
That’s exactly what I said. I’m American, born and raised in the south lol this accent is a good mix of English and southern.
As a born resident of the island, I really enjoyed this.
Had the pleasure of sailing to Tangier this summer… Mr Parks (the owner of the only marina) unfortunately passed away the week before we arrived. We docked our boat and enjoyed exploring the island and learning about its history.
This accent undoubtedly originates from the early settlers brought here by John White. There is an identical dialect here on the West coast of England in a town called Appledore. The similarity is astounding. John White's expedition was subsequent to Sir Richard Grenville's settlement on Roanoke Island. Sir Richard Grenville sailed from Bideford, less than 2 miles from Appledore in Devon.
Appledore is just typical Devonian, not restricted just to Appledore! To my westcountry yurrs, could easily be influenced by Brixham, Plymouth or Looe. A lot of these settlers cam from Padstow in north Cornwall in the 1680s. From Cornwall, UK
I thought John White had settled in America many decades or so before people started settling on Delmarva and the surrounding areas (which is what Tangier island is a part of). And it was farther down than Tangier Island and Delmarva, at Roanoke Island near the outer banks.
@Rick Vis no it's not
@Rick Vis are you English? There are hundreds of regional accents here? You're trying to tell me we all changed our accent to sound posher? Don't talk wet. Our accents haven't changed at all. Words have just been dropped from old english.
@@drpepperbee6305 they actually have apparently over the past few centuries. BBC actually did an article on this :)
I had this accent for the longest time. I was born in Nassawadox, VA on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I loved it. Still slips every once in a while lol.
+Natalie Pruitt Let it slip. Seriously... I kept bein' told that I talked wrong and talked funny without even knowing I talked like a hillbilly. It's who you is. It's your claim to history survived.
Let it all out. And be proud of it.
It's perfect! My grandmother was from Pocomoke City area.
I'm from UK, North Essex - the mayor (2.45) sounds just like the Essex / Suffolk accent of the 1950 - you still hear it among the elderly.
I still live on this island.
not for long ;)
I remember when I visited back in 2013!
Everyone knew right away we weren't locals 😂😂😂
I was there back in early 80s. McCready family was nice enough to have me.
TurtleDuck it was such a nice little vacation! We stayed at "Miss Nellie's" house right across from Spanky's and there were some teenage boys handing me booze 😂😂😂
TurtleDuck I just went yesterday
These people should do one big Shakespeare production on their island for fun! It'd be cool to see one of his plays done in an accent so close to the Elizabethan accent that they would've been performed in.
Absolutely nowhere near a Shakespearian accent. It's like comparing German to Russian. I'm trying to pick out 'British' sounding words and so far I'm struggling to find anything of any note. There may be a few words with similar accents to the West and East of England - but it's literally a few words. It most def sounds American rather than British!
@@ianroberts8249 actually it is, us Americans actually speak in a very old accent, but this accent is closer to cornwalish accent of the 1600s.
@@ianroberts8249 The modern pretty sounding British didn't develop until after the revolution. The English of the revolution was rhotic.
@@ianroberts8249its very close to 17th century Cornish accent. Shakespeare did not speak BBC English because it didn't exist.
I lived on Deal island Maryland for a while. Similar accent and history. Loved every minute of it. Embrace our history . Respect the people. Live and learn.
You all have something very unique and special, well worth cherishing.
As a Brit, I found this very interesting. I can detect a mix of English-derived accents, but the predominant strain coming through is Cornish, though often with distinctive American twang mixed in. Loved the examples given like 'yars' for ears. Now that really is old English. Great shame if Tangier eventually loses its distinctive dialect and identity through depopulation, mainland influence or whatever.
This is how we used to speak, our accents changed, not the Americans.
@@pendergastj do you not think their accent has evolved over the hundreds of years aswell 🤔
My father was from Tangier. I grew up on Smith Island, Tangier's neighbor to the north. We have similar accents. czcams.com/video/J2-O-cdA9dU/video.html
Your comment reminded me about how posh people say yes, sounds like "ears" 😂
@@milkmanUK it's not likely to have changed much, since they've been so isolated compared to the rest of the world
Accents are charming it gives a place and carry a history to them.
Such a nice documentary you have made! My Grandmommy and her siblings have a very similar accent and some of their words and emphasis with some words are exactly the same. My dad has some it too, growing up in VA. She was born in Gum Neck, NC and has lived there and in Richmond/Williamsburg/Chesapeake Bay during her life. Neat how the accent has traveled and you can hear much of it in those who’ve not grow up on the island. Such a great little island and people.
I visited and admired y’all. I was amazed at how you worked, your ethics and culture. I enjoyed riding my bicycle there and touring the beautiful place. I never even thought stupid people, but I am a southern and people think we are stupid as well. God bless y’all. I admire y’all.
When I was younger I had a boat and visit my friend Norwood Evans . Norwood showed me what Tangier Island life was like , I was always sad to leave . I hope Norwood and his family are well
Norwood and his family are doing well I can assure you
Was looking at flood predictions in 2050 and apparently this island will most likely cease to exist by then.... so sad. Seems like such a lovely and safe town.
this accent clearly originates in the West Country (Somerset, West Gloucestershire and Cornwall. This would suggest Bristol and Exeter as the departure points for the Tangier community. Characteristics that make this obvious. Owt instead of out. owers instead of hours. dawwrr instead door. dropping of H's, Rolling R sounds. Dropping letters (Wess instead of West) Come over year instead of Come over here (very Bristolian). Yeers instead of ears. Aye lead good life instead of I lead a good life. Sez instead of says. Tanjeer instead of Tangier. Summit instead of something. Stoopid instead of stupid. Sizjun instead of decision. Sumair instead of somewhere. Sumun instead of Someone. Loife instead of Life. replacing words with similar words "I'm understandable of other people" instead of "I understand other people."
You can still hear the unique characteristics of the west country dialects but it has clearly become massively corrupted over the centuries due to interactions between the island and the mainland. As a Bristolian i could talk with a Heavy Bristolian or West Country accent and these islanders would understand it instantly where other Americans would "look at I as if I was stoopid:)"
If you listen to the Cornish and Somerset accents, which i am very familiar with you will hear the similarities instantly . Incidentally, Cornwall has always claimed to be separate from England so technically they would say its restoration Cornish not restoration English:) By the way, The flag associated with Tangier Island contains the Baner Peran or Saint Piran's (Cornish) flag. The Much heavier West country accents and their usage of low German and old English and Medieval English words and phrasings and the lighter Breton influenced Cornish accent is far closer to what Walter Raleigh or Shakespeare would have spoken than this but this dialect is probably the closest that america has to restoration English. By the way, Jack, John Smith was born in Willoughby so he would have had a Lincolnshire accent.
A lot came from Padstow in north Cornwall from what I have read in the 1680s. Interesting, as at that time, Cornish was still widely spoken in Cornwall, so I suspect the settlers, may have had some Cornish language knowledge, and if not, their speech would have been influenced by Cornish. I believe Crockett was a common name, which is Cornish. Seems to have lost much of the westcountry characteristics though, e.g. diphthongs in 'mate' is a vowel pronounced 'meht', and in 'sea' is a diphthong 'say', also diphthong in 'boy' is more like 'booee', can be 'bay'. I didn't notice the use of 'to' as we tend to say where are you going to, rather than where are you going? It sounds like a southern US accent with some westcountry cadence/prosody. If the settlers had come from elsewhere in England, or indeed Britain, the older speech of those areas would have affected this American speech. So the westcountry influence is obvious. From Cornwall, UK.
Americans came from three major places in England: West Country (Cornwall), East Anglia, and the Ulster-Scots (lowland Scots from Ireland). In the American south, the Cavaliers had the most influence on the coastal areas (such as Virginia) while the Scotsmen dominated lots of the rest of the south.
This makes sense. I noticed a slight similarity to some Newfoundland accents. And they have West Country antecedants as well.
This is the comment I was looking for. Thanks for detailing everything for people like me. This is interesting.
Don't lose that great accent! Most of us Southerners are considered dimwits based on our accents. To hell with those who think so. Stay who you are.
One thing I've noticed about the Tangier people's speech is they have the Canadian "rising". About (aboot) House (hoose). It makes me wonder if the Canadian "rising" is not Canadian at all, but was common in the colonies as a whole.
That was so interesting I am going to listen to it again with the other ear!
My Family came to Accomack County in 1660 from England. Pretty cool to see how they would have talked and probably had ties to this island.
Wow, how awesome is this!! A group of loving caring people in America. These people are so blessed. Drugs on the island, so sad, busted my happy bubble. God bless y'all.
My great grandmother had this accent. This brings back memories. Thank you.
I'm from the mainland but had several friends on Tangier, I've been there many times. I actually fish near the Island. I can tell you one thing the town I'm from had a population of 788 people when I was growing up and half were my kin so if I did anything out of line my Momma knew it before I got home. I remember when the new Pocomoke River bridge was being built. I worked with plenty of Tangier and Smith Island guys and they would fit right in to my little town. Good people. I hated to see my little City grown up but it did ,now you see more people in Walmart parking lot than lives there,of course Walmart was the woods back then.
Just came across this and really enjoyed it!
Very well done documentary. Planning to visit Tangier Island this week, and I'm taking my son. I hope it's around for my grandchildren.
Lovely documentary. You have captured the culture so nicely
This is fascinating...I’m from Cornwall in the far south west of U.K and there’s definitely similarities to their accents and ours.
I often wonder how the American accent diverged from the English. Yes, we had a lot of European immigrants but the American accent doesn't have much if any infections of French, German, italian, etc that I can detect.
@@Automedon2 The north east probably had been influenced by alot of European accents, including Italian, Irish, Eastern european, german and of course british, etc...Maybe the midwest with germans as well, there are weird accents in Minnesota and the Dakotas that you could assossiate with Nordics
If Canada had a southern accent this would be it!
Detecting heavy Letterkenny vibes for sure.
Newfie’s
Growing up in the Appalachian mountains, I can totally hear how this early American accent turned in to the accent we have in this particular area of the south.
THank you so much for sharing this super video
I liked this. The accents are really old. Reminds me very much of the islands along the coast of Maine.
to English ears they drawl a bit like West countrymen. like Cornish or Devon. They also say 'oi' for 'i'.
according to historians this is the accent of Early Modern English, which would explain why it sounds that way.
+Bobsuruncle Mum maybe although England has so many regional accents and they are all so different. I think a 17th century Yorkshireman would sound more like modern Yorkshiremen than anything else for example. The Tangiermen sound Celtic. Maybe West Country.
We don't say 'oi' in Cornwall or Devon, never did, we aren't Bristolians, even they don't say 'oi', just a strongly pronounced 'ai' diphthong. Bit of a misconception. I am is 'ah am', and 'like' is 'lak'. Even oi in 'boy' isn't an 'oi', it is more like 'booee'. But I can here some westcounty influences. From Cornwall, UK.
Exactly, the older regional accents/dialects in 16-17th C England were already present, except modern urban accents like Scouse, Brummie and cockney, which didn't yet exist. Though I did once hear a recording of an old Yorkshireman from the York area, from the early 20th C, his speech was rhotic and the accent sounded slightly Scottish. Not like a modern ee by gum, aye up, trouble at t'mill type accent. I think the various westcountry and east Anglian accents are probably those that have changed the least as they weren't as urbanised as much of England.
As a Canadian they sound like less Canadian Newfoundlanders.... XD
I hope they get to keep their accent. It's an excellent American heritage. They are true ancestors to the first settlers..awesome.
I imagine that was town life all over the country when towns were spread out and before cars and after that as well. Even today. I met a guy from Maine here for a construction job. It was the first time in his 35 years that he had ever been out of his town of 300 people.
I love Tangier ever since my sister took me their over 5 yrs ago and I absolutely love the people and my friend Darlene and her family. I can't say enough about their accent and their kindness. Smell day I will buy property their and retire their no doubt in my mind
Love u Tangier Island
I'd love to visit Tangier Island.
Sir Thomas You can visit. There are daily boats from Crisfield, MD and seasonal boats from Reedville, VA. Boat trips cost around $28 per person round trip. The islands (Tangiers & Smiths) have shops, restaurants, inns, and tours.
So interesting! I'd love to see a follow up.
Americans from the South that spend years living in Australia often end up speaking like this.., as do some Australian's that move to the US.....a lot of the vowels are identical...but the drawl is different.
snap shot from a few hundred year back..
Really interesting. I think the young people have more prominent accents than the older people actually.
Thanks for this, my Great Grandmother was a Charnock from Tangier. I grew up in Baltimore.
The guy at 10:50 has the accent super strong so must have grown up on the island but looks Native American whereas the other residents look English, I wonder if he descends from the original Native American tribes the pilgrims met
people always ask if im from the south. i now just say yea. i have lost the "yous guys" as i got older but im a die hard maylander/delmarva and i so miss the chesapeake and st michaels. been in connecticut for 27 year.
I was born and raised on Delmarva. Part of a family who’s been there for hundreds of years. Not one person in my family or anyone who’s family has resided here for multiple generations says “youse guys”. We all say y’all or you all. And I speak with a watered down kind of Tangier accent, as do most people on “main land” Delmarva.
My dad and uncle were raised here. And my grandmother was born and raised on Tangier, so i used to come here very often when I was younger.
What's real funny is, when my dad's talking to someone from the island, his accent slips out and he don't even notice. 😂😂 it's the greatest thing to watch, lmao
Do cookie & jack still live on the island?
@@michellelovesanimals2237I honestly don’t know. I wouldn’t know who they are and I haven’t been on the island since before COVID started. 😅
[thank, you for you're video. I've. never been over their but some of my family visit you're place. I'm on the Chesapeake bay] 🇺🇸 🏴
Such an interesting documentary. And I was wondering about the drug thing being a recovering addict myself. I'd imagine the young people would be bored and seek out drugs and alcohol and according to the people in this video, I wasn't wrong. This was a really good doc. 👍 👍 Thank you!
There are orangutan's in the jungle that have about 5-6 methods to get off their monkey heads. You don`t have to be a Tangier Island f*ckwit to need a reason to want to alter your consciousness, its already inherent within nature, being bored is a crap excuse for using drugs and alcohol. ..Also the same excuse Sherlock Holmes used for taking cocaine & drinking lots of french wine
This is impressive
West Country English mixed with American southern drawl.
My neighbor was married to Jeffrey PARKS .. she used to visit once a year with her husband to visit his family where his family ancestors come from!
I used to work with guy at 8:45 at DBY. Hope you're well.
The old fisherman with the black baseball cap and cigarette sound very Cornish! Lovely documentary.
I'm from Georgia but to me it just sounds southern. I don't find it too different from the southern accent here. My friends and husband from Florida love to mimic my accent.
Love everyone
Island sounds like Iowaland when the kid says it near the beginning
That's cute. I imagine Washington and his cohort sounded something like this. I always wondered about how far back one could go and communicate with other English speakers and be clearly understood. If these people are somewhat frozen in time then 1600-1700s it is.
Washington and them probably sounded like the Boston Brahmins, which had a very posh British sounding accent.
The island where i was born was also very old fashioned and not modernized but now its modernizing quite a bit , you people should not leave your island go study on the mainland and come back to your island to keep rebuilding your island open new businesses and keep modernizing your home with a touch of your culture. Combine the old with the new. Never give up on the place you were born.
I live on an island myself , in the neighborhood where im living my father also lived in this neighborhood when he was a kid. He told me that when he was a kid this neighborhood had only a few houses and all there was all around this neighborhood was trees and bushes nothing else , yet still he tells me that he and his friends use to play and say that this neighborhood is the capital of the island. And gues what today this neighborhood is the most central one and the one with every type of businesses fast food restaurants and you can find everything right here in the neighborhood whithout having to go far away from your home. Never give up on your island , nevér abandon it or speak bad of it. speak good of your island and those good things will come to pass. Islanders many times talk bad of their island saying its boring but with a little more faith we can transform the island and make it very modern and prosperous yet still keep it very cultural.
“It’s really to explain to everyone that we live on a owuland.”
I'm from Georgia. I hear southern accent & a bit of Irish/Scottish influence.
There lots places in Australia where kids can cycle to school cept they dont. Great accent. sounds like Cornish or west country,
I love the accent. It's like country mixed with Irish. They need to record more stuff like this for posterity. Also, I really want to hear what they sound like when they've been drinking.
@Ethan O 😂😂🤣
They sound nothing like Irish people 😂
@@livturner5696 To you
This is how communities and schooling were supposed to be like.
This sounds like every English speaking dialect rolled into one.
HI I'm from Tangier and speak Arabic (City in Morocco)
Different Tangier
@@DumbShortsChannel i know it's in morocco
I wonder if Sir Walter Raleigh and Capt. John Smith would have sounded a lot like these islanders?
Well, since they were enclosed from the outside world, I would say so, something similar
Sir Walter Raleigh was a Devonian, he spoke with a broad Devon accent all his days. It is a matter of record. So yes, it would have been similar, but a lot broader, and the vowels and diphthongs would have been broad Devonian. John Smith came from the east of the country, so no, he would not have spoken anything like this. From Cornwall, UK.
They sound like Newfoundlanders, but with a southern twang.
I love their accents, sounds very similar to Appalachian. Maybe even a little NS accent mixed in there. Can you make a video about the language and just how close it is to the original English accent?
Edit check out a Devon accent it's near identical, but instead of Southern American it's blended with southwest England's accent 👍🏼
I never knew this place existed. So cool! Sounds like an Irish mixed with southern accent.
It would have been in interesting documentary if the background music wasn't so obnoxious and loud while people where speaking.
Alright, so how do they accept the outsiders, by that I mean not only from outside of VA but also the ones from outside of USA? Do people go their to visit or is there anything worth visiting or just the houses?
I can't imagine it's more than a day trip - probably a bike rental for touring around, a seafood restaurant or two.
I want to know how many Davey Crockets are on the Island?
They definitely sound more American to me, some of the men I can't hear anything but a Southern US accent though the lady at 4:17 definitely has a lot of Southern English sounding twangs in how she speaks and I heard some in the man speaking before here but the other men I can't hear it in
Yes from Chicago here. I keep kearing southern accents. Did you look this up from a 20 weird small towns article?
@@anastasiamay2852 yep I did indeed 😂 I was curious about hearing the accent as I am English but I'm from the north end of Midlands, I see a lot of comments saying they can hear accents from the southwest of England but just sounds general southern to me, like the "O" sound for "I" also makes them sound like Londoners to me which is southeast
Gerald Wheatley.. I think his accent is probably most similar to most of the colonists at the time of the American Revolution
This is America. This. Dont know what the hell is going on in this country but we are lost. This island is perfect.
All white people 😍✨
@@rythnuhh I was being sarcastic I promise
It sounds like a southerner who grew up in northern England trying to do a balmer accent
What is the probability that two alleles of a resident of Tangier are identical by descent if everyone is related?
Some of them speak quite similarly to Newfoundlanders.
It is related. The settlers from the Smith Islands came from Cornwall in the 1680s, many of the settlers in Newfoundland came from the neighbouring county of Devon. Particularly from the towns of Newton Abbot and Teignmouth, due to the local recruiting of fisherman for the Summer cod fisheries, in the 1700s (has a similar accent/dialect), and some from came from SE Ireland for similar reasons. From Cornwall, UK.
They seem to have a mix of old irish and old scottish accent to me. I wouldn't say they talk like Southerners even though we have some southerners of irish decent who talk a bit like that. The South actually has multiple dialects within itself. People in Appalachia don't talk the same as Creole people in New Orleans. People in Alabama and Mississippi don't talk the same as people in North and South Carolina and people in Georgia sound more like Alabamans or Mississipians than Carolinians and Floridians sound more like a New Jersey transplant than a southerner.
Thank you for the documentary. My name is Leroy. Me and my wife Shaquanda and our 9 children are thinking of moving onto the island to raise our family. A few of my cousins also want to relocate their families to the island. I hope we can be welcomed as new members of the community.
KingOfKings Glad you enjoyed it ):)
You certainly would be. These people are INSANELY warm-hearted and welcoming. It’s just difficult to find homes for sale and difficult to find a job to support a lot of kids as a newcomer. I would suggest you come with a lot of savings ❤️
@@nickvelasquez914 Im on food stamps and government assistance
I hear a combination of southern twang, French Canadian and some time of English.
Definately hear like a 50/50 blend of stereotypical american and british accents.
Interesting
Taffy Marshall for Mayor!
looks like they drive on the left there?!
So basically what you’re telling me is that everyone on this island is related to eachother? That might be why they sound like that also
I wonder how they did through the covid ? Do they have a hospital on the island?
There's a firehouse/ambulance on the island. For medical emergencies you're flown off to a hospital.
Is their law enforcement on the island
To my English ear i detect the distinct current West Country (Wiltshire, Somerset, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire). It seems as though it's filtered to many colonial places. A good word to use as an example is "time" and "out". In current West Country it's pronounced "toym" and "oh-t", just as it is on Tangier Island, Australia, and New Zealand today. If anyone is interested, check out the Berliner Lautarchiv British & Commonwealth recordings of British soldiers recorded in 1915. The accents are incredibly thick, much thicker than today. Some of the West Country words of that time sound more Irish, too. They do bare resemblance to parts of the Tangier Island dialect although the islanders accent has obviously watered down over years of interaction/migration to and from the mainland. Compare these to the accents of southern civil war veteran recordings that sound less rhotic. Either way, it's all fascinating. Thanks!
What year is this from
If I win the lottery I might move there and be King of the Island
You'll have to hurry. The island is sinking.
I'm not gonna lie, we came here and there were native americans and it reminded them of tangier africa.... shhit what happened to those native people man. now it looks like an island with a bunch of suburbia god bless im sure there's mad "new history" bbut imagine what was erased. and so quickly barely regarded that kind of hurt.
Idk if anybody else feels this way, but it kind of reminds me of a Newfoundland accent
It sounds like a mix of southern American and a type of British dialect.
They sound like Ruairí McSorley
The kid talking at 1:25 is undoubtedly really laying it on thick and exaggerating his accent.
not hearing this distinctive dialect, what is the presenter referring to?
Wow the mayor sounds Cornish. His inflection is the same as back home in Penzance.