Texas accent
1
7.5
- noun
- /ˈtɛksəs ˈæksɛnt/
- US
:
acento texano
- His Texas accent made it clear that he was proud of his roots.
- a West Texas accent
Examples
-
People often ask her about her Texas accent, especially when she says 'y'all.'
-
"Now hold on just a second here," John said, exaggerating his Texas accent, which came and went according to his convenience.
Fiction book (1991) -
Is this gentleman tall and dark, and with a Texas accent?
-
Her voice slurred a little, its Texas accent more pronounced than usual.
Fiction book (1995) -
When Koons speaks, he speaks with a slight Texas accent.
Fiction book (1994) -
"It'll be fine," Anton said in a smooth Texas accent into the rearview mirror.
Fiction book (2002) -
A little Texas accent flavored his sentences, "cow" twisted into "kyow" and "wife" coming out as "waf."
Fiction book (2000) -
"It'll be all right," Anton promised with all the authority of a Texas Ranger—his sideburns curling, his blue eyes squinting, his Texas accent full.
Fiction book (2002) -
When she speaks, her Texas accent makes every word sound warm and inviting.
Synonyms
7
7.9
A speech sound that comes through the nose and shows a regional accent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and literally compositional: 'Texas' specifies the regional origin and 'accent' denotes a way of speaking, so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to the characteristic pronunciation of people from Texas. This is a common noun+noun/compound pattern cross-linguistically and follows straightforward semantic composition, making it immediately understandable to B1 learners.
Etymology
Texas accent may come from the old image of people in Texas—on wide ranches and in small towns—speaking with a slow, rolling accent that mixed Southern English and other local sounds. That's why Texas accent means 'the distinctive way of speaking English that is characteristic of people from Texas'.