rp'ing accents

[Mr_Coffeebean]

Yes, wasnt sure where to post... new here, so hello! *Waves* Have some character concepts, wondered whether anyone has notes on accents from the various islands, please. Roldem, Dregar and Mistone, specifically.

Cheers!

Coffee

[minerva]

It really varies from player to player.  For certain there would be different dialects, sayings and accents in the regions but for people like me who have a hard time typing a normal speach without typos at a reasonalbe speed, many chose not to let the accent flow over ingame.  Dwarves tend to have the sterotypic Scot accent and we have plenty of accents that drop the "h" in words  ie 'ello.

[miltonyorkcastle]

Mistone seems to be very mixed, though characters claiming to hail from the countryside (as opposes to a city) or some tribal environment tend to have an accent of some kind, if not just "lazy speech."

Dregar, with it's primary "civilized" state under the control of dwarves, you might imagine the dialect will become somewhat of a mix between the dwarven "scot" and local dialects.

Roldem, I think (and correct me if I'm wrong, those of you who would claim authority in this matter) is traditionally seen as what we would call "oriental." Before it was burned and pillaged in the war against Bloodstone, the architecture and culture were Oriental, and if you were to travel there with your character, you would notice that the people there tend to have darker skin. So, in light of that, you might add an "Eastern" accent to someone hailing from Roldem.

Overall, though, it's as Minerva said, dialects change from region to region, a region sometimes being no more than a hundred square kilomters, or sometimes even just one city. So feel free to add whatever dialect spice you think best suits your character and what you think might fit with the region you claim to be from.

For example, Cole Norseman hailed from Leilon, a human port city on the northern coast of Mistone. Naturally, he picked up some of the sailor's swagger common in port cities, but he was also raised by a dwarf for half of his childhood, and so he picked up tidbits of that dialect, lending to an accent somewhat unique to the character.

I hope this helps, hope to see you in game!

[feniox]

I love RPing the scottish accent for Dwarves, although I've adapted mine to be a bit more westcountry (easy because I live here) than some of the other Dwarves as well.

I think the biggest thing to remember with the accents is consistency. Make sure you spell the same words in the same way every time you type them and eventually it comes quite naturally. As long as you do this you will end up with your own unique accent which will distinguish your character from all the others, even ones who have a similar accent. Again, look at the Dwarf community: there are a good number of us but we all have our own take on it.

You can also build on your accent as you go along and get more confident with it. I did this with Kurgaz; as he became more immersed with characters with a different accent I started making him "learn" new words which he never used before. I doubt anybody else ever noticed this, but it's something I like to do anyway.

The only downside I've noticed is that they can be quite hard to understand from the perspective of platers who are talking to you and have never met your character before.The method I always use to try and make it easier is to put apostrophes where the missing letters are instead of just dropping the letters entirely. I find that makes it a lot easier to read, especially at speed, or when there is a large amount to be taken it at once.  

[Honora]

Don't forget RPing possible physical reasons.  Fangs, for instance, will change how you speak.  My half-orc was raised by nice common-speaking plain folk in the middle of Mistone but she still talks like a dwarf with a lisp.  Because words made for human mouths don't go well around pointy things bumping up against your lips.

This would apply to anything that affects the mouth or throat; so accents would not be the only thing that would affect speech .

That said, dwarves get my vote for favorite accent.  If it ain't Dwarven, it's CRAP!

[feniox]

Honora - 1/18/2007  9:43 AM If it ain't Dwarven, it's CRAP!

I think you mean CRA'  

[Laldiien]

My problem stems not from accents, just from my over-active mind. See, I was raised on Star Trek:TOS. Ergo, I 'hear' a dwarf in game, I 'see' Scotty.
  "Aye, Cap'n. The undead are swarmin' the antimatter pods."
  I lose sleep sometimes.

[Eorendil]

I love playing Caighd when he has a full mouth... Not really a dialect but it could be.. *chuckles*

[Gulnyr]

Laldiien - 1/18/2007  1:31 PM

I lose sleep sometimes.

I will now, thank you very much.

"Set phasers to bludgeon!"

[Jearick Hgar]

I love playign accents. I think accents give a character voice. typing out a normal dialect in perfect grammer gives the voice that you hear everyday, which my main, Tath, isn't an everyday voice at all. by saying thigns like "yuh hebi goin to deh goblimon caves" i think it throws int eh exotic voice that he has. It also helps gear reactions to how they really would be. like the other night, me and a group of people went to fight off scarecrows. first Tath ahd no clue what a scarecrow is, second the word "animated" doesn't have a coutnerpart in ZIambii. so they tried to explain what it was to him. by callin it a "stickimon" and somewhat coppying the accent to try and ge thim to understand better, which is a natural reaction that many people have when conftonted with someone who has a heavy accent.

Accents rock. period.

[lonnarin]

The lower the charisma, the thicker and more incomprehendable the accent.  If you couple that with low intelligence, then even if you can manage to get past the accent, what they have to say is horribly deficient in grammar structure.

Which is what makes Earl so fun to play.

[Marswipp]

Eatin' le'er sounds an' syll'bles...

[Nehetsrev]

lonnarin - 1/18/2007  4:27 PM

The lower the charisma, the thicker and more incomprehendable the accent.  If you couple that with low intelligence, then even if you can manage to get past the accent, what they have to say is horribly deficient in grammar structure.

Which is what makes Earl so fun to play.

As a 'alflin' bard from the country side ah 'ave te object te that sah!  Ah feel ah'm quite charismatic an' right smart fer a country-bumpkin te boot!  Yet list'n te my accent sah, nice an' thick like a right proper country accent should be.  Y'all 'ave te 'ear the accent ah bring!  Ye 'ave te!

//OOC posted as Lyle Underroot

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

An' le's nae ferget ol' Logan Hartwise, now. I dinnae think 'e's as mem'rable as all tha', but I'd be thinkin' 'e'd be a fine example fer tha newcomer, 'ere.

[Chongo]

To get this back on track for you Mr. Coffeebean, accents are not strictly directed on Layonara.  It's widely at the discretion of the playerbase, which largely has a strong roleplay background and a variety of flavorful additions like accents.

To sum up some of what's been said, there's no regional dialect that's inforced here.  Or encouraged as far as I can tell.  Sailors do their thing, dwarves do their thing, people who speak lazy do their thing.  It's at their discretion it seems to me.

But I definitely wouldn't concern yourself with meeting any molds.  Speech is so wildly variable that most generally welcome new ideas on how it works out phonetically.

So have fun and try not to abuse the animal speak.

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*looks at the druid and clicks his tongue and flicks his cheek mockingly*