Coastal Southeast English

Coastal Southeast English is a dialect of American English spoken primarily in the coasal strip from Savannah, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina.

The dialect has its roots in the British colonization of the lowlands in the 1600's whereas the inland parts of the state of South Carolina were populated much later and by a less affluent set of people. The dialect is characterized by its distinctive drawl, made by the dropping of R's and the G following N's, and a general changing of O's to U's. The vocabulary is much the same as the more common Southern American dialect. The dialect is more or less the direct descendant of the English spoken by the early colonists. It was also influenced by French colonial dialects, and many important families from that region have French or Cajun routes; one contemporary example would be The Famous television personality Stephen Colbert, himself a native of Charleston, SC.

Examples of the dialect:

"Ah went da'un t' the Bat'try an had uh luuk at the Wahwduh."

"Charleston" is invariably pronounced "Chahlstun." "South Carolina" becomes "Sahth Caruhlinuh."