Fleshing out accents

[Larrath]

How about this?

Code Select Expand


> change accent
You know about the following accents:

NORTH:
*Northern (Tuluk) [default]
Lilting (Upper class)
*Coarse (Luir's)  <--

SOUTH:
*Southern (Allanak)
Lucid (Upper class)
'Rinthi
*Clipped (Red Storm)

TRIBAL:
*Tribal (Tablelands)
Squeaky (Muarki)
*North (Scrub)
South (Sand Flats)

Accents with asterisks can be used by the character, the accent with the arrow is the one being used.  All of the other accents can be recognized by the character.  They'll be comparatively easy to gain on the accent list.

The affect this has?
If a character can't recognize the accent you're using, they'll see the first instead of the second:

The tall, muscular man says, in northern-accented sirihish:
  "Blah."

The tall, muscular man says, in Tuluk-accented sirihish:
  "Blah."

It means that an Allanaki might not be able to tell whether a northerner is from Luir's or Tuluk, whereas a Tuluki wouldn't be able to tell what a 'rinthi accent sounds like at first.  It will also decrease the currenly stunning use of the Tribal accent - Zalanthas has plenty of tribes everywhere, so why should they all sound the same?  This way, a person that knows tribes well would be able to guess what tribe you belong to and what area of the world it is in.
It will also give the Nobility its own accent to better represent their education.

I think it can contribute a lot to the game.  Opinions?

[mansa]

i like.

[Cegar]

Can a Northern noble not have a clipped manner of speaking and can a Muark not have a non-squeaky manner of speaking? Those descriptors just kind of rub me the wrong way as they dictate the manner of speach rather than just the regional accent. Having so many accents would get annoying to me as well... could you imagine a bar room conversation? Yeesh. Personnally, I think there should only be accents for the North, the South, non-tribal Luir's area (though not necessary at all) and the tribal humans.

[Larrath]

The adjectives I used are all examples, since it's just a draft anyway.
I don't really believe the Tan Muark talk like chipmunks.

Muls do that.

[jhunter]

Cool idea.

[Cegar]

True, but I still don't think that there needs to be a coded accent for nobles or different tribes. If you go down into the southern US, there aren't many differences between the accent of the high class and the low class, the difference mainly comes in technical usage, vocabulary, et cetera. Granted that the difference between American upper and lower class is much smaller than the Zalanthan nobles and commoners, I think the same would hold. Does Teddy Kennedy have a different accent than most people from Massachusetts? Not really.

I give you that tribal accents could vary widely from region to region, but I think that due to the common ancestry of most tribes and the relatively small size of the Known World that their accents would not vary as greatly with one another as tribes on Earth (who usually speak different languages than one another, even when in close proximity). The tribes of Zalanthas all came from the humans who survived the Dragon's reign, and never got too far from one another, so no one tribe has been isolated long enough to develop a truly unique accent (one that would vary enough to be given a coded difference) in my thoughts.

[mansa]

But Tribal Elves speak the same accent as Tribal Humans.

[Cegar]

But Tribal Elves speak the same accent as Tribal Humans.

Do they really? I never noticed that.

[mansa]

But Tribal Elves speak the same accent as Tribal Humans.

Do they really? I never noticed that.

actually, i can't recall either.  i thought they did.

[Larrath]

But Tribal Elves speak the same accent as Tribal Humans.

I thought about it, and eventually my realization was this:
Tribal elves and humans speak with the same accent, but they speak different languages.  And if a tribal elf was to learn Sirihish (or vice versa), they'd probably use the same version of the tribes in their immediate area since they interact with them more frequently (for trade) than with city-dwellers.

I also couldn't think of a good term for this:
"The tall, muscular man says, in elven-tablelands-accented sirihish" looks clunky.

I'm not opposed to this idea, I just can't think of a really good way to execute it.


About the class differences, go back five hundred years and look at England and see how the nobility spoke in comparison to the peasantry - it was really different.  I do think that a noble's regular speech should be distinct from a dusty, stupid Allanaki miner.  People that work in proximity to the nobility will branch it naturally without too much trouble, so everyone wins.

[Cegar]

But shouldn't nobles reflect that accent in their own way rather than have it codedly set? It's hard to define Northern and Southern accents on your own simply because there is no definition - we don't know. Thus, it's coded. Same goes for tribal accents. But, for nobles, we know how they speak. They speak like nobility. The only difference between the speech of peasents and nobles in England was in the level of usage. It isn't like comparing the accent of England and the US, it's like comparing the accent of your average red neck and your average rocket scientist. They don't have different accents, they just speak differently. And though I've never heard a 15th century English nobleman or peasent, I bet it's generally similar.

[Maybe42or54]

Not true. Most D-elves have -no- accent. Denoting Perfect Speech or something like that. And the Tribal accent as it is is a bendune off shoot, since you can't have it without picking a certain subguild., I believe.

[Larrath]

And though I've never heard a 15th century English nobleman or peasent, I bet it's generally similar.

Listen to the accents and you'll see that it isn't all that similar at all.

If you watch the Pirates of the Caribbean again, pay attention at the part where Elizabeth is talking to her housekeeper.  That's a subtle example, and that housekeeper isn't quite a peasant either.  But there is a definite difference in the accent.
In the system proposed, most Tulukis wouldn't be able to tell apart a commoner from a noble by their accents, but an Allanaki would be able to tell whether someone is a 'rinthi, a stormer, a regular citizen or a noble in two seconds.

Not true. Most D-elves have -no- accent. Denoting Perfect Speech or something like that. And the Tribal accent as it is is a bendune off shoot, since you can't have it without picking a certain subguild., I believe.

I don't believe that anyone has no accent.  D-elves have the Tribal accent by default, I believe.

[Cegar]

It isn't like comparing the accent of England and the US, it's like comparing the accent of your average red neck and your average rocket scientist. They don't have different accents, they just speak differently. And though I've never heard a 15th century English nobleman or peasent, I bet it's generally similar.

I meant that the situation was similar in respects to the previous sentence.

[Maybe42or54]

No Larrath, not unless they picked a certain subclass.

If they are in the south, they sound southern.
If they are in the north, they sound northern.

Trust me.

[MorganChaos]

I like this idea.

[Intrepid]

I do like this idea.  I would like to add a possible "muddled" accent for either unidentified
accents or someone whose accent is "from everywhere".

I also think, if this hasn't been implemented yet, that Linguists and Bards should get
a bonus to acquire and learn these.

[ale six]

Love it.