Ov'r Thur Yonder

I've been trying to step up my game with language learning lately. I have some new language helpers that I study with four days a week and I go out into the neighborhood in the evenings to practice speaking. Sometimes it's really difficult to produce the same sounds as native speakers, so I have to listen to them say the word over and over and then record them saying it so I can listen to it over and over when they leave. Many times, I ask, "What place are you putting your tongue when you say that word? Is it on the roof of your mouth or is it behind your teeth?" This makes a huge difference in correct pronunciation. Everyday I learn new vocabulary words and try to incorporate them into my daily conversations with nationals.

So, I thought it would be fun, and possibly helpful to language learning, to learn how to speak "Southern". I have friends here from Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas, so you better believe I'm getting some good Southern-speak schooling. I figure, if I can speak Southern then surely I can speak Hindi/Urdu, right? The way I see it, this is just helping me get in touch with my Mississippi roots. Here's my current list of Southern vocabulary that I'm working into my daily conversations (with Westerners). If you are a native Southern speaker, please feel free to suggest new vocab words!

1. Thur = "there"
2. Tyre = "tower"
3. Heeyil = "hill"
4. Rine = "Ryan"
5. O'ol = "oil" *this one is so difficult for me!
6. Yonder = "over thur"<--- see #1
7. Fixin' a = "getting ready to"'
8. Feat = "fit"
9. Fyre = "fire"
10. Yuna = "Do you want to?"
11. Yguna = "Are you going to?"