The odd accent of Tangier VA - American Tongues episode #3 

This hands down is one of the best RU-vid videos of All Time.

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.

You can hear how this slowly turned into the southern accent. Amazing.

I demand that a major network use these guys as anchors for evening news.

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.

I'm indigenous Cornish. These boys sound like they'm from just down the road. Keep hauling they nets boys!

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.

It sounds like a British guy trying to do a Southern accent.

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.

Sounds near identical to a Cornish/West Country English accent, though with a Southern flair.

Never stop talking like that guys, never

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.

Holy hell, it's an island of Boomhowers!

I live in the West Country in England and had very little trouble understanding it, this explains a lot actually.

Sounds like country English mixed with hillbilly and a touch of New England fisherman. Really fascinating!

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.

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.

Visited this island a year ago. Felt more foreign than many European countries I’ve been to. Great experience and kind people.

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.

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.

"errerderrr naer derr merr" -guy at beginning of video

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.

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.

It's like a blend of SO many UK accents.

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

Bloody hell, I'd heard they sounded Cornish, but they genuinely sound like most of the fishermen in Cornwall. :o

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 is also very similar to the Newfoundland accent here in Canada.

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. :)

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

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!

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.

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.

What an awesome accent--very original British, really....nice to hear the varieties of English spoken regionally in the USA!

i hope they can preserve there accent. sounds very much like suffolk or norfolk in UK

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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!!!

The residents are descended from Brits from the county of Cornwall so this is just an older style of the Cornish regional accent.

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.

Their pronunciation of the sound "ow" sounds Canadian.

I'm British and it reminds me of the west country accent mixed with southern American.

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.

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!

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

I live here in Cornwall South west England and there is quite a similarity to a Cornish accent.

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 :)

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.

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!).

Omg it's like the long lost missing link between Irish/Celtic/Gaelic accents and southern drawl USA accents!

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.

This is what we need more of. “Reality” TV is bogus. Beautiful channel. Thank you for sharing.

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.

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'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.

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

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!

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! :-)

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.

I know this video is over a decade old. Do they still sound this strong in their accent? I love it!

They sound......drunk.

It sounds like back home - makes me miss my Delmarva.

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.

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.

Sounds like the Old pub on saturdays

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.

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

There's a similarity to Newfoundland, a little bit.

Remarkably similar to a West Country English accent; the elongated "au" or (like nautical or now) is just like it. Fascinating.

I'm from the Delmarva peninsula and I can confirm most of the fishermen around here talk like this. It's real funny to watch my dad start talkin to a tangier man, though, cause, like the video says, his accent gets at least 5x thicker. its not as common in younger generations, but anyone with a waterman, or maybe even a farmer in their family is likely to retain at least a little of it. I know kids teased me for how i said "warsh" and "wadder" in school

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.

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.

100% sounds like an English West Country accent. It’s like a culture snapshot, probably how the 17th century English settlers sounded like.

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 agree. I am from Cornwall (England) and there are definite similarities. The chap who does most of the talking even looks Cornish.

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.

I can hear what is/was similar to the Old New England accent. I remember as a kid there were still a few old timers who spoke with it. They must have been the last of them 'cause you never hear it anymore. At least where I live in Vermont. I can't understand a word the they're saying when they're talking among themselves.

I live a little further north from tangier and i can 100% confirm that people do still talk like this

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.

Dang ole I’ll tell ya hank that dang ole tangier accen man, sounds like me when I talk man

I think it's awesome that the accent still exists!

I like how they sound. But then again, I like all things different.

i cannot understand them when theyre talking to each other! that is so cool!!! your accents are kickin!!

Man, im from Glen Allen Va and some of them are like Southern accent and some a have a southern UK accent I want to go to Tangier!

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.

I dated a fellow born and raised on Tangier for a couple of years. His accent was crazy! Especially when he’d get excited.

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

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.

The most significant non-British Isles influence on the Eastern seaboard is Dutch in New York. Minnesota has a lot of Scandinavian influence. Hyphenated communities such as Italian- and Irish- (i.e. Catholic Irish) American have hybrid accents.

The accent has all three components of American Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia/Baltimore), Virginia Appalachia, and Cornwall English (SW England). I love to hear that we are still the only accent to pronounce the word "water" as "wooder."