A bit separate, so a different post:

My comments earlier on "Southern" is based on my interest that the language around me may be one of the older surviving forms of the spoken tongue from the "borders" region. There are SEVERAL distinct local and regional "Southern" accents and venacular idiomatic verbage. Even in South Carolina, there are several DISTINCT ones, Charleston is markedly different from the Upstate area.
What is interesting is that the 2 "maligned" accents (if you allow the term for this comparison) share numerous characteristics and characteristics. Of course, they diverged with different influences in the last couple hundred years, allowing for many MARKED word usage differences. However, many odd constructions and phrases are shared by both.
One linguist I talked to said that Appalachia may be closer to the ACTUAL language of Shakespeare than anything present in Britain today.