Alabama: Slow Talkers?

 

Snail in Caucasus Georgia, Gori region. August 2011.

 

In Caucasus Georgia, they say that people from the Racha region speak so slowly, they begin a sentence on Monday and don't finish it until Wednesday.  

The Swiss like to say that people from the Bern canton speak very slowly (and move slowly). Here's a joke from the New York Times: 

Ask a Swiss to describe Bern and you may hear a joke about how the people move so slowly that even their souls take centuries to reach heaven. 

Because of COVID-19, I haven't talked to that many people in Alabama, but I've participated in some zoom meetings with Alabamans. I have noticed how s-l-o-w-l-y the meeting participants speak. Even the 'um' is long in Alabama: "Uhhmmm."     

 

I wondered if this was a thing Alabamans are known for, or if it was just my imagination, and I discovered this 2016 Atlantic Monthly article, about a study on how quickly or slowly Americans in different states speak. 

Well, Alabamans are slow talkers, but not the slowest, according to the above research. Alabamans are the fourth-slowest American speakers, with Louisianans being the second-slowest speakers. Interesting, as the speed of South Louisianans' speech never tripped my radar. Perhaps it was masked by the charm of their Cajun-Creole accent. 

You can go directly to the 2016 study source at Marchex here. 

But here is an interesting rebuttal to the slow-talking rankings. 

On kind of a related note: Many of my English learner students want to speak more quickly than they do currently, as they believe it is a hallmark of language mastery. 

Uhhmmm. 

No. 

Speak fluidly, yes, not choppily or with a monotone. But better to speak more slowly - making it easier for you to form the correct sounds, intonations, and rhythms - and thus easier for your listener to understand what you are saying.