pronunciation
Speaker from Gainesville/Clayton, Georgia
vowels
Words like DRESS and KIT
Speakers with the Pin-Pen merger, where DRESS before a nasal (m, n) becomes the vowel of KIT [ɪ]. In some instances, the vowel may have an offglide on KIT words before nasals, with [ɪə̯], pin, while monophthong [ɪ] is reserved for DRESS words before nasals, pen.
PRACTICE WORDS: when, men, memory, any, twenty, entertain, generous, get, win, pin, himself,
Words like BATH/TRAP [ æɪə ]
What might be a single vowel sound for many of us in BATH/TRAP words becomes a triphthong (three vowels) for NE Georgia speakers. You can think of a slight drawl to stretch out these vowels.
Text from audio: All they had there was apple trees, and they had one Ford Motor Company and a sewing plant.
PRACTICE WORDS: bath, trap, travel, class, master, laugh
Words like LOT/ClOTH/THOUGHT [ aʊ ]
Words in the THOUGHT/LOT/CLOTH lexical set can become a diphthong (two vowels).
PRACTICE WORDS: thought, all, Paul, call, bought, author
Words like STRUT [ ɜ ]
The target for this sound is a centralized, open mid vowel. You should feel the center of the tongue cup towards the bottom of your mouth.
Text from audio: My mother was raised in Clayton, Georgia.
PRACTICE WORDS: strut, love, young, mother, tough, come
Words like FOOT [ ʊ̜ ]
To achieve this vowel, try to make a GOOSE sound, but without rounding your lips.
Text from Audio: People look but not one ever finds it when a man looks for something beyond his reach
PRACTICE WORDS: foot, book, would, could, butcher, good
Words like FACE [ ɛ̞i ]
Words that sound like FACE will present as a diphthong, think about making the first vowel sound open.
PRACTICE WORDS: face, train, cake, safe, vague, station
Words like GOAT [ o̽ʊ ]
The target sound for GOAT words is a diphthong. Think about centralizing the first vowel.
Text from audio: those jobs don't last very long, you know, you know, another president comes in and changes, you know, brings their own people.
PRACTICE WORDS: boat, home, grow, though, own, tote
Words like PRICE [ aː ]
The target sound for PRICE words is a single vowel sound (a monophthong) - an open vowel with length.
Text from audio: The rainbow is a division of white light
PRACTICE WORDS: right, price, alright, kite, try
Words like MOUTH [ æʊ ]
The target sound for MOUTH words is a diphthong. You will feel the openness of the first vowel, and the second vowel move to the back of your vocal tract.
Text from audio: and that's about as mountainous as you can get.
PRACTICE WORDS: allow, wow, without, crowd, crouch
CONSONANTS
The /R/ sound
The NorthEast Georgia dialect is a rhotic accent, meaning speakers will speak with heavy r-coloration. To achieve this, think about pulling your tongue back, or bracing the back side edges against your molars.
Practice this sentence: Around the rough and rugged rocks, the ragged rascals ran.
/-ing/ endings are usually dropped
Practice words: Walkin', thinkin', running', singin', laughin'
When [t] preceeds a vowel and follows an [n] that finishes a stressed syllable, the [t] may be dropped:
Practice words: twenty, intimate, plenty, bounty, sentence, winter, entertain, introduce
/l/ after a vowel
The tongue pulls back in the mouth when forming [l] after a vowel (in the same syllable), becoming either the “swallowed” sound of [ɫ] or almost disappearing into [ə] because the tip of the tongue may not actually reach the gum ridge behind the upper teeth:
Practice Words: full, cool, jail, real, felt, milk, avail, help, yourself