Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. North Carolina has an extensive audio archive of local accents and dialects that contains thousands of recordings. Rhode Island, ...

In Boston, there are reports of people pronouncing the letter “r.” Down in Tennessee, people are noticing a lack of a Southern drawl. And Texans have long worried about losing their distinctive twang.

Earlier this year, I was at a high-end store in Greenwich, Connecticut, and as I was shopping, a salesperson approached me, offering her help. She was curious to know where I was from. “New York,” I ...