Alec wrote:

:If you read my complete post, you would note that I made a distinction :between "twang" (i.e., slurring words) Twang is _not_ slurring words; twang is speaking with a nasal accent. A good example is the principal's secretary in "Ferris Buhler's Day Off."

This is very interesting. I've seen and heard examples that show Yankee dialect to be more nasal, and you're saying twang is nasal. Must be a Yankee trying to sound "twangy". BTW, the "accents" in a lot of Hollywood movies are really atrocious to native ears. P.S. A person whose name I forgot wrote a book called "Southern by the Grace of God", in which he tells of going to New York and really enjoying hearing native accents in Brooklyn, etc. He explains that since Big Media is trying so desperately (examples available) to wipe out native accents/dialects, speech is becoming rather bland all over, and he found the local accents in N.Y. to be a refreshing change from the bland stuff, even though his personal preference was Southern. Oklahoma, as I recall.