Linguistics is actually a bit useful here; as I think Xahar has pointed out on his blog, English as it's spoken by most White southerners has moved in an increasingly "Southern" Appalachian direction in the past 100 years. Part of this to be sure is connected to white identity politics in relation to the civil rights movement, but the fact that it's specifically southern Appalachian varieties of English which have caught on elsewhere I think is indicative of these varieties (and their speakers) being seen and identifying as Southern.
Indeed, and this phenomenon is not exclusive to whites! As a (get your barf bags ready) 1/4th Patriots fan by blood, I spent my childhood listening to Randy Moss, my favorite non-Philly athlete of all-time and imo the greatest WR ever as Jerry Rice admitted to stickum use, give numerous postgame interviews as well as go onto be an analyst on ESPN. He was born in 1974, hailing from Rand WV, a suburb of Charleston. His Deep-Fried Dixie pipes leave me only envious to be cursed with a hoagie-mouthed garble:
Poll
