Hillary Clinton’s Accent

Published on June 3rd, 2015 | by Abby Slagle

With such a long political career behind her, it’s a given that Hillary Clinton has been all over the united states. However, for being an Illinois Native, she seems to have a history for developing accents that come and go in accord to the region that she’s speaking in. Sound Bites of her long southern “-ah” instead of “i” vowels in words like “child” or “island” got the media’s attention last wednesday, when she was speaking at the South Carolina Women’s Democratic Council, a state known well-known for it’s pronounced drawl. However, This is not the first appearance of a twang in Hillary Clinton, though.

1983- Bill has just become governor of Arkansas. Hillary acquires brown hair and overly drawn out words (listen: ed-yu-kay-shun)

1987- A few years later in Little Rock, it seems that her accent is miraculously loosening:

1995- Hillary decorates the White House with Martha Stewart (yes, this really happened) with a now undetectable twang:

1996- Words become even more northernized (listen again: neay-tural)

2000- Accent sounds dormant and a shift on vowels in words like “taxes” is a definite turn towards a northern dialect while campaigning for Senate in New York:

2008- After announcing her presidential campaign, she gives a speech in Selma, Alabama that sounds like a miraculous resurgence in her southern drawl from the early 80’s

2015- She displays totally southern vowels in South Carolina on May 27th.

It’s thought by political scientists and linguistics professors that candidates change the way they speak according to region and formality to appeal to whom they are speaking to. Although Hillary may not be the first or only politician to do this, she is one of the most dramatic.

Tags: 2016, Accents, Clinton, Hillary, Hillary Clinton