Accents in WOT

[HighWiredSith]

I know it's silly to suggest that every character in a fantasy work speak with a classical English accent but there's nothing that will draw me out of a fantasy world quicker then having a character speak in an American accent. It just seems...wrong. I was very appreciative of the fact that Peter Jackson went to great lengths to have the actors in his films trained to speak in very medieval sounding English accents.

 

I've noticed that WOT sports of number of accents that relate it's various regions. Some are quite Scottish sounding, others almost French (for some reason the way the Seanchean speech is described, in my head it almost sounds Middle Eastern).

 

Modern fantasy is genre born out of language, linguistics, the spoken word - the languages that various characters and races utilize are, imo, one of the most essential elements in making fantasy real, making it seem real. If WOT ever does make it, in some form, onto television or film, I hope the producers and director(s) take the time to get these accents correct for heaven's sake, don't allow one of your actors to sport his or her lines with an American accent!

[moratcorlm]

That's... interesting in light of the conventional wisdom that American English is much more conservative than modern British English. Of course neither is an accurate rendition of medieval Middle English, but American is generally more similar to 17th-century British (Early Modern and Modern) English than 21st-century British English is.

 

The Seanchan are supposed to sound like Texans, incidentally.

RJ: Seanchan -> Texas accent. Two Rivers -> Irish/English accent. Illianers -> Dutch. Aiel -> somewhat Slavic. Tairen -> Spanish. Domani -> Indian. Saldaean -> Egyptian/North African.

[randsc]

Paul Johnson says that an English accent at the time of the American Revolution sounded more like a contemporary American accent than like a contemporary English accent.

[HighWiredSith]

Okay, call it cultural conditioning then - but I see someone in typical medieval garb, sword in hand and he opens his mouth and sounds like he's from Queens, NY...yeah, my willingness to suspend my disbelief meter drops considerably.

 

Seanchean - Texan? Wow, never figured that. That changes everything. Do you reckon they yell Yee Haw when they ride their flying animal things (sorry, forget what they're called)?

[randsc]

I hadn't seen the Seanchan = Texan thing before, but since the accent is always described as "slurring" or "drawling", and Jordan was from South Carolina, I had assumed it was a Southern US accent. Which makes it a modified Scots-Irish accent.

[GaseousAnomaly]

Seanchan is anything but texan in the audio books. It actually kind of sounds someone with a snakish speech impediment.

[moratcorlm]

Okay, call it cultural conditioning then - but I see someone in typical medieval garb, sword in hand and he opens his mouth and sounds like he's from Queens, NY...yeah, my willingness to suspend my disbelief meter drops considerably.

Well, sure, a foreign accent helps build an atmosphere of otherness. That's why Romans and Nazis all have British accents, of course. May as well make medieval speakers talk likewise, even though Middle English and Old English are very far from modern pronunciations.

 

As an aside, though, LOTR is medieval fantasy, as for instance is ASOIAF, but WOT is definitely not. There is no gunpowder, which has allowed certain aspects of medieval warfare to survive longer than they otherwise would, and cultural conventions are obviously quite different, but WOT seems to mimic mostly late 17th to early 19th century civilizations.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Seanchan is anything but texan in the audio books. It actually kind of sounds someone with a snakish speech impediment.

 

i think the audio books are way off on quite a few accents and pronunciations. i think RJ implied this as well. i'd love to hear them redone by someone more familiar with the intended sound. or at least neil gaman.

[Erunion]

I've always imagined the Seanchan accent to be Texan-like in it's slowness and drawl, but the accent not being truly Texan, more of a blend with a precise, eastern sound (the grammar, certainly, is not colloquial Texan). Something of a mixed accent.

[Myrenna]

Texan accent for Seanchan sounds very strange for me. I read the books thinking "this character sounds American" but it just doesn't compute for me, haha. Where I live (no offence to anyone and to be fair Texans have their stereotype for me) a Texan accent is a "stupid" accent, or the Rich Texan from The Simpsons. As for English accents being used for Nazis and Romans, I always assumed that's because in American cinema, characters with "English" accents tend to be baddies, or because British people have been pretending to be Romans for far longer than Americans. The Lord of the Rings films are done in (inconsistent) English accents, I presume, because Tolkien was English and he wrote it as a mythology for Britain. It makes sense to use accents accordingly.

[Pokeriser]

That's... interesting in light of the conventional wisdom that American English is much more conservative than modern British English. Of course neither is an accurate rendition of medieval Middle English, but American is generally more similar to 17th-century British (Early Modern and Modern) English than 21st-century British English is.

 

The Seanchan are supposed to sound like Texans, incidentally.

RJ: Seanchan -> Texas accent. Two Rivers -> Irish/English accent. Illianers -> Dutch. Aiel -> somewhat Slavic. Tairen -> Spanish. Domani -> Indian. Saldaean -> Egyptian/North African.

Seanchan = Texas? I always imagined them having a Russian or German accent :/ I dont know why. A texan accent for the WoT's most powerful empire is just wrong =(

[Erunion]

Mix a Russian accent with a Texan drawl and you kind of get what I think of when I read the Seanchan speaking. Texan drawl, but not Texan accent.

[Pokeriser]

Mix a Russian accent with a Texan drawl and you kind of get what I think of when I read the Seanchan speaking. Texan drawl, but not Texan accent.

Yeah thats what I was thinking