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The Disappearing American Dialect of North Carolina

Great Big Story · 2.2M views · 2016-03-21 · 3:01

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Overview

A short Great Big Story piece on the Ocracoke Brogue, or Hoi Toider dialect, spoken on North Carolina's Outer Banks, which developed through centuries of isolation and traces back to the 1600s.

On Hacker News

Linked as an audio example of the Ocracoke accent in threads about American dialects.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2017–2025

Topics

Language & linguisticsDocumentaries & storytelling
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dialectslinguisticsocracokeaccentsouter banks

What people said

alistairSH · 2025-03 · Reference

Start at 1:40 to 1:50... [VIDEO] Thick accent, poor cell phone connection. Much easier to understand when you're face to face (or video) and have context. It was probably 50% shock - she was expecting a "normal" east NC accent. FWIW, I bet being English does help - I'm Scottish and don't struggle with accents anywhere near as much as some of my friends. I once had a roommate ask to turn on captions for Trainspotting - and those accents weren't even that thick (IMO)!

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dmix · 2019-06 · Reference

It's the perfect recipe for a clickbait headline (unusual, widest possible audience - everyone "gets" accents, a bit controversial). Not that it doesn't have any value. To me it sounds like an Australian accent mixed with an American south: [VIDEO] I'm sure the people from the UK are far more opinionated about the matter.

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Pharylon · 2017-09 · Reference

The Ocracoke Brogue has always fascinated me. A tiny, dying dialect that sounds nothing like the rest of the American South. [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Great Big Story, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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