The Odd Accent of Tangier Island, VA

[la bombe]

Tangier is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States, on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. The population was 604 at the 2000 census. The tiny island community has attracted the attention of linguists because its people speak a unique English Restoration era dialect of American English. Each of the original surnames and several of the present surnames on the island originated in the United Kingdom, predominantly from Scotland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier,_Virginia

This accent definitely sounds unique to me, I've never heard anything like it before in the US.

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[Osweo]

Wow. Now and then, they sound like my next door neighbour. He's been here decades, but moved from Hampshire as a young man. So that's Devon + South Coast... The man in the baseball cap with the brown hair and moustache is most like him.

[Electronic God-Man]

Excellent. So, now with ESPN they'll be sure to have lost that accent.

[blan]

keep hearing some swedish sounds, sometimes i hear irish

[la bombe]

This has nothing to do with their accent, but because of the island's isolation/small gene pool they're fairly inbred and even have their own unique genetic disease


Tangier disease (TD) is a genetic disorder of cholesterol transport named for the secluded island of Tangier, located off the coast of Virginia. TD was first identified in a five-year-old inhabitant of the island who had characteristic orange tonsils, very low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) or 'good cholesterol', and an enlarged liver and spleen.

TD is caused by mutations in the ABC1 (ATP-binding cassette) gene on chromosome 9q31. ABC1 codes for a protein that helps rid cells of excess cholesterol. This cholesterol is then picked up by HDL particles in the blood and carried to the liver, which processes the cholesterol to be reused in cells throughout the body. Individuals with TD are unable to eliminate cholesterol from cells, leading to its buildup in the tonsils and other organs.

The discovery of this important cholesterol transport gene may lead to a better understanding of the inverse relationship between HDL levels and coronary artery disease, an important killer in the US. New drugs that regulate HDL levels may be developed and such drugs would not only help individuals with TD, but also people with more common disorders such as familial HDL deficiency. This is a good illustration of how research into rare diseases can sometimes help more common disorders.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=gnd&part=tangierdisease



Wow. Now and then, they sound like my next door neighbour. He's been here decades, but moved from Hampshire as a young man. So that's Devon + South Coast... The man in the baseball cap with the brown hair and moustache is most like him.

From what I've read, the island was mainly settled by people from Devon and Cornwall.

[Electronic God-Man]

From what I've read, the island was mainly settled by people from Devon and Cornwall.

Throw some of that our way.

[Guapo]

Like the Newfies of Canada. It's just peasant talk.

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[la bombe]

Throw some of that our way.


Here's a bit about the settlement of the Chesapeake Bay (the details about Tangier start on 52)
http://books.google.com/books?id=j3EYc8fWCmcC&lpg=PP1&dq=tangier%20island&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false

[johngaunt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier,_Virginia

This accent definitely sounds unique to me, I've never heard anything like it before in the US.

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zoaBLyNsLSc

This sounds like Cornish.... spookily similar from what Ive heard.

[Odoacer]

Just sounds like an odd variety of Southern American English to my ears.

[BiałaZemsta]

They sound like slow babbling idiots!

[007]

Like the Newfies of Canada. It's just peasant talk.



Well, a lot of those Newfies came from the same area of England as these folks




From what I've read, the island was mainly settled by people from Devon and Cornwall.