<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> The dialects collectively known as Southern American English stretch across the south - eastern and south - central United States, but exclude the southernmost areas of Florida and the extreme western and south - western parts of Texas as well as the Rio Grande Valley (Laredo to Brownsville). This linguistic region includes Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Arkansas, as well as most of Texas, Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and northern and central Florida . Southern American English dialects can also be found in extreme southern parts of Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and Illinois . </P> <P> Southern dialects originated in large part from a mix of immigrants from the British Isles, who moved to the American South in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the creole or post-creole speech of African slaves . Upheavals such as the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II caused mass migrations of those and other settlers throughout the United States . </P> <P> The Southern United States underwent several major sound changes from the beginning to the middle of the twentieth century, during which a more unified, region - wide sound system developed, markedly different from the sound systems of the nineteenth - century Southern dialects . </P>

Where does the american southern accent come from