Speak English Like Jennifer Lawrence | The Southern Accent [Advanced Lesson]

What's up, guys? Welcome back  to learn English with TV series.  

Now, today we have a very special lesson for you,  where we are going to analyze the speech of the  

hilarious and charming actress Jennifer Lawrence. Now this is going to be very helpful for you  

in improving your comprehension and even improving  your American accent, if that's a goal of yours.

Now, Jennifer Lawrence is from Kentucky. This is  a state in an area of the usa called the South.  

Now the South is a very big area and as such,  it has a very big variety of different accents,  

but they're all pretty similar to each other. Now these accidents can be difficult even for  

Americans to understand sometimes. Now even  if you don't plan on traveling the South,  

this can be really useful for you because if you  travel you can really meet Southerners anywhere,  

and it's also highly represented  on a variety of television series. 

Now I'm from Colorado, which is in the West  of the United States and it has more of a  

standard American accent. So today you'll be  able to compare my standard American accent  

with that of Jennifer Lawrence and some  other Southerners with different examples. 

All right, but before we get into today's lesson,  I want to let you know that if you are new here  

every single week we make fun lessons, just like  this one so that you can understand fast speaking  

natives. Without getting lost, without missing the  jokes and without subtitles. Just like Mikhail,  

who says that our lessons have helped him  to understand a variety of different accents  

in English. And you can too, it's really simple:  just hit that Subscribe button and the Bell below,  

so you don't miss any of our new lessons. Now, let's jump into this lesson where  

we're going to break down the accent  of Jennifer Lawrence. Aww yeah!!

So as you will hear in some of  the different examples today,  

this accent can have more of a Southern influence  than some other American accents. Now, one  

characteristic of the Southern accent is called  the drawl. Now this refers to how Southerners can  

have kind of slower speech, but also how they  will draw out more the different vowel sounds  

and also how they sometimes soften their R's. So  let's take a look at this with Jennifer Lawrence.

Now if you are at all familiar with this  accent already you probably will notice  

Jennifer Lawrence does not actually  have a very strong Southern accent.  

She grew up in Kentucky, but actually when  she was a teenager she moved to Los Angeles,  

so she's really had it softened. Now  if we look at this interview with her  

family we'll see that they do actually still  maintain a very strong Kentucky accent. So  

we can see where she comes from. Now later we  will also see her imitating her mom by donning  

this thicker Kentucky accent. So first let's  take a look at this interview with her family.

And as I said, she still maintains certain  elements of her Southern accent which is what  

we're really going to focus on in this lesson. So as I was saying before in this interview we can  

get many great examples of that Southern drawl. Now one of the characteristics of this is the  

gliding vowels. Now that is how single vowels  will actually become diphthongs. Now diphthong  

is when you have two vowels together, that occupy  a single syllable. So for example you can hear  

it in words such as meal, which becomes meal.  And also yep which is another way to say yes,  

so instead of saying yep, they would say in  the South yep. So they wouldn't say pet like  

that in the South, they would say pet. And then here we'll see an example where  

Jennifer Lawrence is actually making fun  of her mom, as I told you about earlier.

So for example here with the word not we can  see that Southern draw where not becomes not. 

So she didn't say not, she said it more like not.  

Now let's take a look at some other examples  of Jennifer Lawrence with the drawl. 

So we can kind of hear an extension there  with the word ton, let's listen to that again.

And then again we have an example here of how not  becomes not. Let's listen to that one more time.

So did you notice how she said man here? She  didn't really say it like I would say it in  

my standard American accent, man. Let's  take a look again at how she said that.

Now have you seen the movie Inglorious Basterds?  Maybe you already caught the lesson that we made  

with this fantastic film. So in this movie  Brad Pitt's character has an accent from the  

Appalachian Mountains. Now this is an accent  that you could encounter in Eastern Kentucky.  

And we'll see in this clip how he pronounces  some things very differently than I would. So  

for example I would say the word well as just one  syllable, but let's take a look at how Brad Pitt's  

character in this movie would say this word well. So you might have seen he doesn't say well he  

says it like well. Let's listen to that again. Now this is similar to how Jennifer Lawrence  

would say this name. I would say it as  Gail but let's see how she would say it.

Another famous actor that comes from Kentucky  is Johnny Depp. Now let's take a look at this  

interview and pay special attention to the  drawl that he has on some of his vowels.

So let's see how he says boxes. 

Then he also says this word differently than  I would. I would say diary but he says it as:

And now let's look at another  example from the movie Mean Girls.

So I would say day and rifle, but  this kid says it as day and rifle.

Now another characteristic of Southern  accents is called twang. Now this is the  

kind of increase in nasality which can make  consonants sound harder. So let's compare how  

I would say going anywhere to how  Jennifer says it in this interview.

Now let's look at another interview  where we can see this nasal sound.

So I would say it as regulations. Let's  take a look again at how Jennifer said this.

I would say children, let's listen  again to how Jennifer said that.

Now another Kentucky native that you  might have encountered is Melissa McBride,  

who is most famous for her role in The Walking  Dead. Now let's listen to how she says season one.

So we can hear more nasality in her ends  

and also how she really dragged out that uh  sound in one. So I would say season one...

And and then how she says body here.

I would say body but Melissa  drags out that ah sound.

Here we have an excellent  example of twang when Jennifer  

says supportive. I would say  supportive but Jennifer says...

Some other very common elements of sound morphing  in this accent are the following: so first off we  

have how get can become git, so it changes from an  e to an i sound. And how on changes from just an  

o sound on to own. And that kind of w sound  you'll also find much more common in the vowels  

in that Southern accent. And then we also have how  can't the word cannot can't can become caint. So  

let's look again at how Jennifer Lawrence would  say can't. I would say can't and she says...

So Jennifer actually says it like can't with  an a sound, and actually this is probably  

where the not so grammatically correct ain't comes  from. Maybe you've heard that before it can mean  

is not or have not and we're going to look at  that a little bit more later in the lesson.

Okay so finally I want to show you a clip with  George Clooney. Now believe it or not he is also  

from Kentucky. Now in this film Oh Brother Where  Art Thou? we can see him putting on a very strong  

Southern accent. Now he probably  picked this up from his childhood  

because in his normal speech he  doesn't really use this accent anymore.

So did you hear how he said this word boys?  

So I would just say boys but he drew  it out a lot more he said it like this. 

And then we also have another great  example with how he says can. So we  

had kant with Jennifer Lawrence that she says  it like can't let's look at how he says can.

So he draws out that a again he says  can. And then another really great  

thing in this movie is that we can hear  some very typical Southern folk music.

Now it can be extremely frustrating when natives  don't speak how you're expecting them to. How  

you probably learned that we speak in school.  Now we don't really speak anything like that  

and that's why in our 3-Part Masterclass we are  going to teach you the 3 Principles of being able  

to understand natives no matter how fast we  speak. So first off is vocabulary, second off  

is understanding pronunciation, like we're doing  in this lesson. And then third another element  

that we're looking at a little bit in today's  lesson is cultural context. So we'll teach you  

to master all three of those things in our 3-Part  Masterclass, which is 100% FREE, and you can sign  

up by clicking up here or down the description  below. And I look forward to meeting you inside!

Okay so another very common element that you  will see Southerners doing is shortening that  

ing to simply an in' sound, so it goes from  being ing to simply in'. Now while this  

is present in all accents of English,  virtually all accents of English anyway,  

you will find it especially present in the South.

So let's take a look at a couple examples of this.

So in this clip from The Big Bang  Theory we can see Sheldon imitating  

a Southern accent. Now his character  I believe also comes from the South,  

so he probably grew up with this accent and we can  see that he does quite a good impersonation of it.

So we could see how that dipping, the word  skinny dipping, became simply dippin. Okay  

let's return to Inglorious Basterds. Let's take a  look at how Brad Pitt says whacking in this clip.

So instead of saying bush  whacking he says bushwacken.

All right so let's continue with another  common element of that Southern accent and  

one thing that happens very commonly is that  the I sound which you'll find in the standard  

American accent will often morph to an ah sound.  So for example we can see this in the pronoun I.  

So if I'm saying for example  I am going to go to the store,  

maybe someone from the South would say ah instead  of I ah. So they said I'm gonna go to the store.

Similarly my can become ma, and tired -like  I'm tired I need to go to bed- can become  

tad. So as you can probably notice a lot of this  

accent just has to do maybe with  opening those valves a bit more. 

So in this clip let's listen  to how he says my name is.

Now here we can see another  example of the eye becoming a long  

a sound. So I would say one thing but  let's take a look at how he says it.

So as you could hear this sounds very different  than what you are probably used to encountering  

with the I sound. Let's take a look at  these examples again both fast and slow.

And then in that clip from  Oh Brother Where Art Thou?  

we can hear that George Clooney says I'm in  a kind of interesting way. Let's take a look. 

So did you catch that? He  didn't say I'm he said um.

All right so another common characteristic of  sound morphing in this accent is that the long  

o sound can actually become more fronted, so  for example a word like goose the animal goose,  

can become like gus. So that's more  towards the front of the mouth.  

Let's take a look at how Jennifer  Lawrence says the word gold in this clip.

So gold actually sounds like  gold. Let's listen again.

Now here when Melissa says black hole it almost  sounds like she's actually saying black hull.

Now I would say probably one of the hardest  things that I've always had to teach my  

students is the short I sound in English.  Now usually learners want to say this as  

e but actually most Americans will say it as  i. It's a very short sound and actually on our  

other channel we have a lesson which explains a  little bit about the difference between this e  

sound and if sound, which I highly recommend you  check out because you'll laugh a ton with it.  

But we'll take a look here at how the word  guitar changes from how I would say it in  

a standard American accent: guitar, to how  Clooney would say it here. Let's take a look.

So he actually changed that if  sounding guitar to an e sound.  

So instead of saying guitar he says guitar.

Okay so we're going to wrap up this lesson  by looking at some vocabulary that is very  

typical and common in the South of the  United States. Now the first one we'll  

look at maybe you've encountered before  this is the contraction of you and all. 

Now you all is how some people say the plural of  the second person you. So if you're referring to  

a group of people you could say you all or I might  actually say more you just you by itself to refer  

to a group of people or to a single person, or you  guys. But in the South they will especially say  

y'all, which is an attraction of you and  all. So let's take a look at some examples.

So next we're going to look at the word  yonder. Now you probably already know  

that you can say something is  here and something is there,  

but what do you say if you want to say  that something is further than there?  

Now this word actually exists like it might exist  in your own language, but it's not so common  

nowadays. So that word is yonder. Now let's take  a look at some examples of how you could use this.

Now we previously talked about the word ain't, so  let me just give you a few more comments on this  

word. So although it is considered grammatically  incorrect it can be very common in different  

dialects of English and it is especially common to  hear in the Southern United States. So ain't can  

mean am not are not or is not and also have not  or has not. Let's take a look at some examples.

And then in this interview we'll see Jennifer  Lawrence use the word a hoot. Let's take a look.

So a hoot is used to say that something  or someone is funny or entertaining.  

Now this is especially common  in the South although I think  

you could probably also find it used  in other parts of the United States.

Now let's have Jennifer teach us a  couple more common words from Kentucky.

So I hope you have had a hoot learning  English with Jennifer Lawrence today,  

and if you enjoyed this lesson be sure to give  us a like below to let us know that you want  

more of the style of accent analysis, and if  there's any other celebrities that you would  

love for us to make a lesson like this with, then  please let me know down in the comments below,  

alright? Now it's time to go beyond the  classroom and live your English! Aw yeah!!