Texas
The Texas accent
The Texas accent is a Southern accent with its own western character, and it varies enormously between East Texas, which patterns with the Deep South, and West Texas, which is closer to general Western speech. Statewide markers include the pin–pen merger and a drawl that stretches short vowels into two-part sounds.
Take the quiz and see how close your accent is →
How to recognise a Texas accent
- The pin–pen merger — “pin” and “pen” are identical.
- Southern drawl: “bed” stretched towards “bay-ed”.
- Monophthongal “price” in East Texas — “nine” as “nahn”.
- “Y’all” universally, and “fixin’ to” for “about to”.
Also known as Texas accent, Texan accent, Southern accent, Texas drawl. Spoken in Texas, United States.
The Texas pronunciation fingerprint
These are the answers the quiz expects from a Texas speaker on its 30 pronunciation questions. Where a feature varies within the region, more than one answer counts as a match.
“bath” takes the short vowel of “cat”
The Trap–Bath Split: Does “Bath” Rhyme With “Cat” or “Father”?
the R at the end of “car” is pronounced
a quick D-like tap in “bottle”
“cot” and “caught” rhyme, or “cot” and “caught” stay distinct
The Cot–Caught Merger: Do “Cot” and “Caught” Sound the Same?
“Mary”, “marry” and “merry” all sound the same
“day” is one flat sound — deh, or “day” ends on a slight “ee” — day-ee
“go” ends on a slight “oo” — go-oo
“tune” sounds like “toon”, without a Y sound, or “tune” sounds like “tyoon”, with a Y sound after the T
no — they sound different
one — “film”
“Film” or “Fillum”? The Helping Vowel in Highland and Irish English
no — they end in a vowel
a th sound
“ship” and “sheep” have different vowel sounds
Ship or Sheep? The Vowel That Divides Native and Learned English
“put” and “putt” have different vowels
“three” starts with a TH sound, with the tongue against the teeth
the H in “house” is pronounced
“fur” and “fair” stay distinct
“beer” and “bear” stay distinct
“happy” ends on a long “-ee”
“wine” and “vine” start with different sounds
“school” starts straight on the S
“bed” ends with D and “bet” ends with T
a smooth R, without tapping or rolling the tongue
“pin” and “pen” sound the same
the vowel in “ride” glides from one sound to another, or the vowel in “ride” stays as one sound
“celery” and “salary” stay distinct
Everyday words in Texas
Speakers with a Texas accent
Matthew McConaughey
Longview, East Texas, United States
Born in Uvalde and raised in Longview; his natural voice is a recognisable Texas benchmark.
Accent profiles are anchored to primary-source regional recordings from the International Dialects of English Archive, not to any individual performance.
The Texas accent test
Is your accent Texas? The only way to answer that against real data is to compare your own speech to the profile above. The test takes about two minutes: answer 29 questions, pin the town where you grew up, and see your closest accent matches ranked by how well they fit — plus where people who answer like you actually live.
Towns in the Texas area
- Houston accent
- San Antonio accent
- Dallas accent
- Austin accent
- Fort Worth accent
- El Paso accent
- Arlington accent
- Corpus Christi accent
- Plano accent
- Laredo accent
- Lubbock accent
- Garland accent
- Irving accent
- Amarillo accent
- Shreveport accent
- Grand Prairie accent
- Brownsville accent
- McKinney accent
- Frisco accent
- Pasadena accent
- Mesquite accent
- Killeen accent
- McAllen accent
- Carrollton accent
- Midland accent
- Waco accent
- Denton accent
- Abilene accent
- Odessa accent
- Beaumont accent
- Round Rock accent
- Richardson accent
- Pearland accent
- College Station accent
- Wichita Falls accent
- Lewisville accent
- Tyler accent
- Las Cruces accent
- San Angelo accent
- Alief accent