What is your accent?

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » November 2nd, 2020, 1:11 am

annise wrote: ↑
November 2nd, 2020, 12:50 am
We were expected at school to use a more "refined" accent when reading aloud..."

Anne

G&Ts all round, huh? Such class...

What I got from the school's choir mistress was the Celtic rolled 'r' between vowels, in case you ever wonder where it came from.

Chris

Post by **annise** » November 2nd, 2020, 4:35 am

I worked in a ski hotel in Norway once and the local school children all learnt English and liked saying good morning etc when they heard my friend and I talking in the street - we were slightly puzzled about the hint of heather in their speech - until we discovered the doctor's wife was Scottish and taught English in the school

Anne

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » November 2nd, 2020, 7:44 am

Have a mental image now of some grown-up Norwegians going through customs at Heathrow saying, “Laddie, laddie, ge’ a grip! Do y’ no onnerstan’ tha King’s English?!”

Post by **mightyfelix** » November 2nd, 2020, 8:27 pm

annise wrote: ↑
November 2nd, 2020, 4:35 am
hint of heather in their speech

I find that phrase utterly charming. Thank you for that.

adrianstephens · Post by **adrianstephens** » January 6th, 2021, 2:55 am

My accent is neutral, of course. Just as everybody sounds to themselves.

I was born in a pig-farming village in the fens, where they speak with a strong accent. I then moved around the central UK a bit from M4 corridor to Essex.
I had a close friend at uni from Manchester. I've been to uni. I've worked a fair bit in the USA.

All these things have coloured my accent, and I can hear their echoes in my recordings.

But I'd say I have an educated middle-England accent. I've also put on south London, West Country and a bit of Scottish for Librivox recordings.
I've read in Latin, Greek and French (and got the Sonia seal of approval for the latter). My french teacher at school said ("Adrian has a lovely french
accent, it's a pity he knows absolutely nothing to say with it"). I tried a Dutch accent for a piece, and failed miserably.

I try to decompose the accent a part has into the following characteristics:
1. Pitch (I can pitch up a fair bit as I'm a singer)
2. Speed
3. variability in pitch and speed. My favourite "kooky" readings put inappropriate swings of pitch and speed on inappropriate words just to surprise the listener.
4. Breathyness vs harshness
5. Amount of unvoiced speech. I once read "the skeleton" almost entirely unvoiced - i.e. no contribution from the larynx. The result is a rough whisper.
6. Regional characteristics - often changes to the vowels ("cu-board" vs "coo-board") and changes to the consonants (e.g. scottish & welsh). Often
re-positioning the tip of the tongue can help with this.

When I read a part, I try to imagine the character of the part and how he (or occasionally she) would say it, and then have fun with it!
No PL has yet called me out for being too outrageous. It's a challenge!

Bookworm360 · Post by **Bookworm360** » February 4th, 2021, 9:12 am

I can TRY any accent, but doing them well?... not sure.

Kazbek · Post by **Kazbek** » February 4th, 2021, 4:32 pm

In any language except Russian, my accent is a personal approximation of some subconscious averaging of native accents that I've heard over the years as an adult. Some people tell me they hear "no accent" when I speak English. People who are good at identifying accents can hear my accent, of course, but I'm told it's hard to pin down. Some people tell me they hear a foreign accent when I speak Russian. When you live away from your native language community for a long time, you can end up speaking all languages with an unidentifiable accent.

Michael

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » February 4th, 2021, 5:00 pm

Overheard at a Star Trek convention: "Your Klingon accent is horrible!"

k5hsj · Post by **k5hsj** » February 5th, 2021, 12:02 am

KevinS wrote: ↑
February 4th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Overheard at a Star Trek convention: "Your Klingon accent is horrible!"

Why is it that I have a hard time picturing you at a Star Trek convention, Kevin?

Winston

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » February 5th, 2021, 10:29 am

k5hsj wrote: ↑
February 5th, 2021, 12:02 am

KevinS wrote: ↑
February 4th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Overheard at a Star Trek convention: "Your Klingon accent is horrible!"
Why is it that I have a hard time picturing you at a Star Trek convention, Kevin?

Winston

I know! How did you hear about my allergy to polyester clothing?

HannaPonomarenko · Post by **HannaPonomarenko** » February 5th, 2021, 4:11 pm

Kazbek wrote: ↑
February 4th, 2021, 4:32 pm
Some people tell me they hear a foreign accent when I speak Russian.

Michael

That's me) I couldn't understand which and decided it was Caucasus accent, based on the nickname

TheDinosaurPlanet · Post by **TheDinosaurPlanet** » February 7th, 2021, 8:25 pm

My accent is the one where cot and caught sound the same (because augh and the short o should always sound the same

). They do change though depending on the tone of my voice though. I should record Fanny Crosby's "Vict'ry Through Grace" sometime, but the words "conquer" and "conquering" appear in the first line, and I say the "o" differently in both.