Camy,

I'm originally from St. Louis and have many relatives in "out-state"
Missour-ah and Southern Illinois.  Whenever I read Huck or Tom speaking in
either of their books, I can hear the Mississippi valley.  I hear my family
and all the other people from the small towns around there.  Twain said (and
I'm paraphrasing) that a true Missourian said "Missour-ah" --not Missour-ee.
I'm from St. Louis, so I guess I would fall in the untrue Missourian
category.  But, back to the point, I think Twain's accent was more country
than Southern and probably sounded much like Tom and Huck.  When you look at
the original manuscripts, you can see the painstaking care he took in making
sure each word he wrote was authentic in dialect.

Just as an aside, whenever I teach Tom or Huck, I always give my students
instructions on Missouri pronunciation.  I specifically tell them that Huck
and Jim were not heading for the city in Egypt, they were heading for
"Kay-ro."

Carolyn Leutzinger Richey
(a transplanted Missourian, now in San Diego)