AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Long-term studies from the University of Texas, Austin show that the well-known Texan accent may be in jeopardy.
With mobility coming in and out of Texas, changing the makeup of the state, and Texans' exposure to media and popular culture, many native Texans are changing their dialect to a more General American speech.
Lars Hinrichs and a team of student researchers at the University of Texas, Austin found that the face of the Texas accent is changing. The Texas Project, which began in 2008, documented the speech patterns of many native Texans.
In the research, they found that subjects used twangs and drawls in certain situations. Use of their accents was dependent on where they were at, what they were doing, or whom they were speaking to.
Researchers believe that the Texas accent will not disappear completely, but Texans will instead choose when they use their famous dialect.
