Imitate a Texan Accent

The drawn-out drawl of a Texan accent is one of the best known accents in America, through its unique sound and popularization through western TV and movies. The varieties of Texas accents are similar to other country mid-west accents, and also shares similarities with a Southern accent. Of course, there is no single “Texas accent.” Texas is a large state, and each region has a distinctive manner of speech. If you want to imitate some of the most well known features of Texan accents, you’ll need to understand the sound and vowel distinctions of Texan speech, and learn some common Texas vocabulary.

Steps

Altering Vowel Sounds to Sound Texan

1. Change the “i” sound to an “ahh”. Like most vowels in a Texan accent, move the pronunciation of “i” to the back of your mouth, where it will lose the “ee” sound of a non-Texan “i” pronunciation, and take the aspirated “hhh” of Southern and Texan speech. In general, Texan vowels are homogenized and made to sound like one another.
   • For example: “I’m taykin’ a look” becomes “Ah’m taykin’ a look.” To get to “ah’m” sound, just draw out the letter “i” and shape the vowel in the back of your mouth. It also helps to aspirate (breathe out when pronouncing) the “h” sound in “ah’m.”
   • Use “ah” instead of the long “i” when pronouncing the first-person pronoun.
2. Pronounce “ing” in the back of your mouth when it’s found within a word. You can’t just drop a “g” sound when it’s part of a multisyllabic word, so to sound Texan, change the “ee” sound to an “aahh” sound. When the “-ing” is found within a word, say ‘-ang’.
   • For example, “singing” would be pronounced: “sang-in’.”
   • Do not drop “middle” g’s, again: “swinging” is “swayng-in’.”
3. Pronounce both “i” and “e” like “ay”. This is a classic hallmark of a Texan accent—and of Southern accents in general. In a Texan accent, the open vowel sound of “i” (pronounced in the front of the mouth with the front of the tongue), and the “eee” sound (made by pushing your tongue up and forward) both move to the back of the mouth and tongue.
   • To this effect, the words “pen” and “pin” should sound identical. Both are pronounced like “pin.”
4. Subtly draw out the “y” sound at the end of the long “a” sound. In what is often the most over-exaggerated aspect of the Texan accent, the “a” vowel (and others, when pronounced similarly) is drawn out into a soft “y” sound in the famous Texas drawl.
   • If you want to practice the feeling of the pronunciation, pick a word with a long “a” sound, like “brain.” As you pronounce the “a,” lift your tongue back and up in your mouth, so the word sounds more like “brayyn.”
   • Even in multisyllabic words like “toothpaste,” linger on the “ay” sound in the middle of the word: “tooth-paayste.”
   • When imitating a Texas accent, avoid focusing solely on the drawl. This effect is often stereotyped, and sometimes used for negative comedy or to make the Texas accent sound unintelligent or uneducated.

Adjusting Your Pronunciation

1. Tighten your jaw and raise the back part of your tongue. This is the most effective means to alter the shape of your mouth and the placement of your tongue, in order to achieve the almost-nasal quality of a Texas accent.
   • This jaw and tongue placement will also make your vowel pronunciation sound more Texan, as it will flatten the vowel sounds (make them all sound more alike).
2. Drop the g’s in words ending in “-ing”. People with a heavy Texan accent almost always drop the g’s in their speech. Part of the reason for this is due to the drawn-out vowels of Texan speech; it’s hard to pronounce a strong “g” at the end of a word with a long vowel.
   • For example: “I’m taking a book” becomes “I’m taykin’ a book.”
3. Get used to flexible pronunciations. Due to Texas’s function as a linguistic “melting pot” and strong regional differences in accent and pronunciation, the same words will be pronounced differently across the state. The Spanish language influences both vocabulary and pronunciation in the southwest part of Texas; Spanish terms like “Gracias” and “amigo” are liberally used in Texan English.
   • Texas speakers add and drop sounds from words, for example: “bowie” is pronounced like “boo-wie.” The best way to learn which pronunciations to change is to listen to Texans speak and imitate their inflections.

Learning Texan Slang

1. Combine compound words. An important part of a Texan dialect and accent is the slang that Texan speakers use—more specifically, the means by which Texan speakers create their dialect and slang. To some, Texas slang may sound mashed together or slurred.
   • For example, in what is perhaps the most well-known Texan/Southern slang term, say “y’all” instead of “you all.”
   • The polite replies “yes, sir” and “no, sir” are shortened in to “yessir” and “nosir.”
2. Prepare to hear—and speak in—more metaphors. Texan speech, even aside from its pronunciation and vowel inflections, is rich and imaginative. Speakers often replace literal statements with country-tinged metaphors, which results in humorous and expressive phrases. You can say things like:
   • “I wouldn’t trust [person] any farther than I could throw him!” This simply means that you don’t trust the individual.
   • “I’m madder than a wet hen!” This means you’re furious.
   • “More [object] than you can shake a stick at.” This means that you have large quantities of the stated object.
3. Get used to hearing and saying “fixin’”. “Fixin’” is used in two senses: the common use of “to repair” (“This weekend I’m fixin’ my car.”) and the Texas-specific meaning of “intending to do something.” If someone has a plan to complete a future activity, they’ll use “fixin’” to indicate their intent: “I’m fixin’ to visit the lake this weekend.”
   • “Fixin’” is also commonly used to refer to food, specifically dressings and sauces. If you order your hamburger with “all the fixin’s,” you’ll receive onions, relish, cheese, tomato, ketchup, and mustard, among other options.
4. Pronounce technical words without focusing on the Texas accent. Especially among younger and well-educated Texans, the majority of technical, academic, and business terms are learned in school, so the pronunciation will match up with standard American pronunciation.
   • “Home spun” wordings from childhood are more likely to fall into the categories of colloquialism or jargon. Vegetables are commonly referred to as “produce,” but pronounced “perduce.”
5. Expect local variations. Since Texas is a large and well-populated state, influenced on its east side by the dialects of the South, on its inland areas by the Midwest accent, and on its south and west by Mexican Spanish, it’s no surprise that there are major accent dialect and accent differences within the state.
   • Dallas, as one of the largest Texan cities, also has a unique accent.
   • Since all major Texan cities have seen large amounts of international (and inter-state) immigration in recent decades, many traditional accent and speech patterns are no longer frequently found among people under 40.

Tips

• The “r” is always heavy and strong like “ahr,” or “awr.”
• “s” and the “x” are pronounced clearly and sharply. Think of pronouncing these as you would pronounce “ss” and “xs.”

Warnings

• Make sure to be personally and culturally sensitive when practicing a Texan accent. If you over-pronounce the accent or do it around strangers, it could sound like you’re mocking the accent.
• Not all Texans have an accent. The educated, urban young people usually don’t have as much of an accent as do older, more rural generations.

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Sources and Citations

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