A Life Less Ordinary-- Voices of Tangier Island 

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

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.

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.

As a born resident of the island, I really enjoyed this.

Being Australian, this sounds like a rural English accent mixed with an Southern American accent like Forrest Gump.

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.

The accent literally sounds like it can’t decide what to do. They add so many extra vowels

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.

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.

I still live on this island.

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.

You all have something very unique and special, well worth cherishing.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

My great grandmother had this accent. This brings back memories. Thank 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 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'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.

That was so interesting I am going to listen to it again with the other ear!

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.

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.

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.

I'd love to visit Tangier Island.

Lovely documentary. You have captured the culture so nicely

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.

I liked this. The accents are really old. Reminds me very much of the islands along the coast of Maine.

Just came across this and really enjoyed it!

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.

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.

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

to English ears they drawl a bit like West countrymen. like Cornish or Devon. They also say 'oi' for 'i'.

I hope they get to keep their accent. It's an excellent American heritage. They are true ancestors to the first settlers..awesome.

Thanks for this, my Great Grandmother was a Charnock from Tangier. I grew up in Baltimore.

If Canada had a southern accent this would be it!

THank you so much for sharing this super video

Really interesting. I think the young people have more prominent accents than the older people actually.

So interesting! I'd love to see a follow up.

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.

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

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..

[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] 🇺🇸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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

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!

This is impressive

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.

I used to work with guy at 8:45 at DBY. Hope you're well.

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.

West Country English mixed with American southern drawl.

The old fisherman with the black baseball cap and cigarette sound very Cornish! Lovely documentary.

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.

This is how communities and schooling were supposed to be like.

This is America. This. Dont know what the hell is going on in this country but we are lost. This island is perfect.

I never knew this place existed. So cool! Sounds like an Irish mixed with southern accent.

I'm from Georgia. I hear southern accent & a bit of Irish/Scottish influence.

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?

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.

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 want to know how many Davey Crockets are on the Island?

Love everyone

Island sounds like Iowaland when the kid says it near the beginning

“It’s really to explain to everyone that we live on a owuland.”

What is the probability that two alleles of a resident of Tangier are identical by descent if everyone is related?

There lots places in Australia where kids can cycle to school cept they dont. Great accent. sounds like Cornish or west country,

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.

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

It sounds like a southerner who grew up in northern England trying to do a balmer accent

I wonder if Sir Walter Raleigh and Capt. John Smith would have sounded a lot like these islanders?

This sounds like every English speaking dialect rolled into one.

What year is this from

looks like they drive on the left there?!

not hearing this distinctive dialect, what is the presenter referring to?

Is their law enforcement on the island

HI I'm from Tangier and speak Arabic (City in Morocco)

It would have been in interesting documentary if the background music wasn't so obnoxious and loud while people where speaking.

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

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.

I wonder how they did through the covid ? Do they have a hospital on the island?

They sound like Newfoundlanders, but with a southern twang.

Some of them speak quite similarly to Newfoundlanders.

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!

If I win the lottery I might move there and be King of the Island

Gerald Wheatley.. I think his accent is probably most similar to most of the colonists at the time of the American Revolution

Idk if anybody else feels this way, but it kind of reminds me of a Newfoundland accent

Interesting

Taffy Marshall for Mayor!

Thank you for representing these people and their Christian religion in a positive light. It's so good to see in these dark times, this sense of community really warms my heart.

It sounds like a mix of southern American and a type of British dialect.

That first young kid sounded like Tommy Wiseau

Definately hear like a 50/50 blend of stereotypical american and british accents.

They sound like Ruairí McSorley

I hear a combination of southern twang, French Canadian and some time of English.

It's incredible to know this is what our forefathers would have sounded like

Dude, straight up admitting to being the island drug dealer.