Chris Evert's Florida Accent

[Mike Bulgakov]

I’ve been watching some classic 1980/90s ATP matches on YouTube recently, and the algorithm recommended a 1971 interview with Chris Evert. I was really surprised to hear the strong Southern accent she had back then. Were Southern accents once stronger in Florida? When did Chris Evert lose hers? Maybe I don’t have a good ear for Southern accents—is that a Southern drawl, or is she just being 16?

 

[BeatlesFan]

Obviously you aren't American.

Chrissy has no southern drawl or anything remotely close to it. There is no such thing as as "Florida accent." I'm not being critical, just mildly amused and confused. For clarification purposes, here is someone with a true southern drawl below. There is absolutely nothing In common with this and Chrissy's flat, non accented American English.

To an American ear, the suggestion that Chrissy speaks with a southern accent is just baffling. She does not. A true southern accent:

 

[BeatlesFan]

Another example of a southern drawl.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

I'm from North Carolina, she has a hint of Southernism in some words, but it's more just a slow, lazy way of speaking - like many teenagers do.

 

[BeatlesFan]

I'm from North Carolina, she has a hint of Southernism in some words, but it's more just a slow, lazy way of speaking - like many teenagers do.

There's a huge difference between having a tiny hint of Southern in speech or having a drawl. But OP is not American, so he couldn't be expected to know.

 

[Mustard]

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Chris Evert is from, is hardly deep south territory. It's not the Florida panhandle, such as somewhere like Pensacola. The Florida panhandle is largely like the deep south states like Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana etc.

Roy Jones Jr., the boxer, from Pensacola, Florida, sounds like someone from Alabama, and it's right on the border with Alabama and a long way from the culture of central and southern Florida.

 

[WYK]

I'm from North Carolina, she has a hint of Southernism in some words, but it's more just a slow, lazy way of speaking - like many teenagers do.

So... Floridian?

Also, isn't NC supposed to have the most variances in a southern dialect?

The first video to me sounds Appalachian. The Second was a more typical bible belt accent.

I am a Texan by way of Oklahoma. My father was from Tulsa(Claremore, really), my Grandmother was from South Carolina(a Cherokee native). I also lived a while near the Sierra Nevada's in California, Oregon, and Washington State, as well as a winter in Missouri. I have friends from nearly every state, and have worked as a field engineer in the south and east coast for years. I am told when I am excited or inebriated that the southern really does come out of me, both in accent and demeanor. I currently live in Ireland.
I do not really consider myself southern. I would just say I am Texan.

What I hear in Chrissy's accent is a bit of southern. She does not have any of that west coat or east coast coloration at all, and definitely nothing northern.
Now, I have heard people speak like her all over in places I have lived. Some of the absolutely most hick accents I have heard were from the country in California.
If I ran into her accent back when I was living in Austin, TX, I wouldn't think a thing about it. Unless, of course, it was Chris Evert I ran into

I once telephoned the wrong number in Arkansas, and what came out of the other end of the receiver sounded vaguely English.
One of my best ex-work mates is an Arkansan. He I could understand, though.
What I do find difficult to understand are the local Travelers. Think of the movie 'Snatch'.

Though I learned to speak from my father, who had a rather thick Oklahoman accent(my mother was from Osaka, Japan), I have spent a LOT of time in the service industries as an engineer who has had to communicate clearly over the phone often and I do not consider myself to have a thick accent, but the locals often call me John Wayne. I have a video on here, though I am quiet in it because I did not want to wake up the MIL, and I am trying to speak clearly and flat, you can tell I am definitely not a New Yorker.

 

[Bagumbawalla]

Well, she does not have what we would call a drawl, but there is a bit of accent
there- especially in words like hand, pronounced more like "haend". Apparently
she shed the accent as she got older. I had never noticed it before.

 

[WYK]

Well, she does not have what we would call a drawl, but there is a bit of accent
there- especially in words like hand, pronounced more like "haend". Apparently
she shed the accent as she got older. I had never noticed it before.

Diphthongs and softer Rhotic R's(as in the English countryside accents as well as being influenced the RP version) are a calling card of the southern dialects, of which there are dozens and dozens.
The southern accents were heavily affected by British colonialism. The eastern has a heavy Irish and Scottish influence with some Lancashire thrown in, especially Boston and NY areas. With many northern American and Canadian accents more of a Scandinavian and French influence. Notably, what affects some of the Louisianan dialect also does the same for Canadian - French settlers.
I mean, just watch Fargo and then True Blood. Just, wow, the differences. Yeah, it's often an English actor putting on a Southern accent in TB, but you get the idea.
These are generalizations, of course. Many, many, MANY immigrants made up America(despite what a certain political group might have to say about it stateside).
Add in the local native accents having an affect as well, and though Europeans and especially Brits think there is THE American accent, there really are hundreds.

 

[Bambooman]

She's talking like a teenager.

For reference listen to Bianca Andreescu even today.

 

[travlerajm]

It sounds more Hicksville than teenager to me.

 

[jxs653]

Given the size of America, the differences in accent seem minimal to me. When I was a college student, I had a English teacher who is from Liverpool and his accent was SO different from who is from, say, London. England is far smaller a country than America (meaning places are physicall closer) but the dialect is much stronger.

 

[HBK4life]

I do declare that is one sweet lady.

 

[WYK]

Given the size of America, the differences in accent seem minimal to me. When I was a college student, I had a English teacher who is from Liverpool and his accent was SO different from who is from, say, London. England is far smaller a country than America (meaning places are physicall closer) but the dialect is much stronger.

This is definitely true of most older countries. With the lack of easy transportation for thousands of years, and the busy ports vs the more provincial life, the difference between accents can be massive.

In the States, it can be to the extent where you would have difficulty understanding a fair few of the accents, but in general you would definitely have to travel.
Still, all the locals will know you aren't from there

Here in Ireland, my wife differentiates between her Dun Laoghaire accent and a Black Rock accent and a Bray accent. All are within 15 kilometers.
She has difficulty understanding a friend of mine from the country in Waterford. A friend of mine whom owns a huge property in Tipperary has an RP accent she received from her parents and her schooling.

At 1:20 here I am speaking with a friend from the country in Dorset, England:

You can hear me speaking with a few Washingtonians here:

 

[Mustard]

It sounds more Hicksville than teenager to me.

It's not an Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana or Arkansas accent, the proper "southern accent".

Given the size of America, the differences in accent seem minimal to me. When I was a college student, I had a English teacher who is from Liverpool and his accent was SO different from who is from, say, London. England is far smaller a country than America (meaning places are physicall closer) but the dialect is much stronger.

There's so many accents here in Britain. Even in London and the surrounding area, there's working class London (non-Cockney) and Cockney accents, there's RP accents (like what 1960s British TV actors always did), and a "King's English" (plum in gob) accent. Go out into the British regions well away from London and you have so many different accents. Manchester and Liverpool accents are very different from each other, as they are from a Yorkshire accent, as they are from North East England accents. Welsh and Scottish accents very different too, with their own differences within. The famous Glaswegian accent from Glasgow, Scotland, is the roughest of the lot. I'm Welsh, and our accents have an almost sarcastic sing-song quality to them.

In the USA, the different accents are a lot smaller in number.

 

[WYK]

It's not an Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana or Arkansas accent, the proper "southern accent".

....

In the USA, the different accents are a lot smaller in number.

As someone who minored in linguistics, I would have to disagree. Obviously, there are a great many differing southern accents alone, since you are disagreeing with Chrissy having a 'proper' southern accent(as well as many others here have done).
Not only are there hundreds of different accents in the US, there are also many different languages spoken every day from the various Native languages to Spanish and French and German, and Asians and Easterners as well, etc. These also influence the various English speaking dialects and accents.

As an American with a rather soft southern dialect, I find most English speaking Europeans have difficulty placing my accent.
Many even ask if I am Canadian. Which no American would ever do, or has ever done. To an American, I am obviously not a New Yorker, Bostonian, Canadian, Southern Californian, Wisconsin, Mainer, Etc. But just like with the UK, fi you have a classic style of accent like Cockney or Scottish, you are easily spotted.
The same goes for the US. When I was in Delaware, people were instantly like 'Where are you from'. Hell, I think they might have said 'yous'.
But when I visit the Cherokee reservations stateside, I blend in just fine as I have picked up a good deal of my grandmother's accent.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

When I think Southerner, I think Theodore Bagwell, Bruce Prichard and some others that got vocal transplants so they would be hired by Vince McMahon. I made that last part up although I can't be sure if it's not true.

I can still hear the Southerner in Chris Evert's voice here. Well, OK, maybe it is not Southerner to an American but it does have something about it. Already been covered in this thread.

The most interesting thing is Chris' desire for the one hand backhand. Awk well. I'd say she did just fine with 2.

 

[WYK]

When I think Southerner, I think Theodore Bagwell, Bruce Prichard and some others that got vocal transplants so they would be hired by Vince McMahon. I made that last part up although I can't be sure if it's not true.

I can still hear the Southerner in Chris Evert's voice here. Well, OK, maybe it is not Southerner to an American but it does have something about it. Already been covered in this thread.

The most interesting thing is Chris' desire for the one hand backhand. Awk well. I'd say she did just fine with 2.

At the time, a two handed backhand was a rarity. Connors and Borg along with Chrissy really brought it into the spotlight.
When I was taught as a kid of 8, there was one backhand - one handed.

 

[BTURNER]

At the time, a two handed backhand was a rarity. Connors and Borg along with Chrissy really brought it into the spotlight.
When I was taught as a kid of 8, there was one backhand - one handed.

When I think Southerner, I think Theodore Bagwell, Bruce Prichard and some others that got vocal transplants so they would be hired by Vince McMahon. I made that last part up although I can't be sure if it's not true.

I can still hear the Southerner in Chris Evert's voice here. Well, OK, maybe it is not Southerner to an American but it does have something about it. Already been covered in this thread.

The most interesting thing is Chris' desire for the one hand backhand. Awk well. I'd say she did just fine with 2.

It wasn't so much an expression of her desire to have a one hander, as much as a desire to make her Dad happy with her game. Most of her career at this stage was really a series of decisions designed to make Dad happy. She brought her own desire to win, and an overwhelming passion not to lose, to the table. Seemed to work pretty well for both of them. Did not work out so well for the other players on the tour.

 

[WYK]

She was expressing her desire for the two hander, and it's effectiveness.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

One thing is for sure. The lady is burned with desire.