Given its position as a boundary state between the North and the South, your perception of the West Virginia dialect will probably depend on where you're from. People from the North think that West Virginians have a Southern accent, whereas people from the South perceive them as speaking a more Northern dialect. Nevertheless, most West Virginians do have at least a bit of a Southern twang, particularly if you venture into the more remote mountain communities.
There is no single West Virginia dialect. In areas of the state which border Ohio and Pennsylvania, the pronounciations tend to be more northern, with the primary marker being the long "I" sound. Some will voice the dipthong "aye" in the northern style, while others make the "ah" sound. Those in the interior of the state speak in a manner more like people from Kentucky or southern Virginia. In the southern counties particuarly, you will find a very pronounced southern twang.
Variations in dialects can be traced to immigration patterns. The coal fields of the southeastern part of the state were the destination of miners immigrating from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In the more industrialized areas along the Ohio River, the immigrant population was comprised of large numbers of eastern European immigrants.
In the most southern part of the state, there are communities which are almost entirely African-American. During the mine wars of the late 1800s, mine owners hired former slaves from the southern states to replace striking miners. Because these communities tend to be segregated (by choice), the dialects of the southern slaves live on in their speech.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about West Virginia
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in West Virginia - updated May 2024
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West Virginia Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
