American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
I’m all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.
I heard it was Southern English which was closest to Elizabethan English.
In any case, reality doesn’t matter. Perceptions matter. Britain is an old country, and America is a new country - so in ‘translating’ an accent to a past period, we tend to see the accent of the ‘old country’ as more appropriate.
I’m not sure how they measure how close an accent is. But, they can tell how old accents sounded by looking at songs and poetry for the meter and rhyme of words. If two words rhymed, they were probably pronounced the same way. For example, in Shakespeare’s time they know that “proved” and “loved” rhymed.
well for one from times and places where there was a lot of casual writing there are just straight up people writing about how people speak, which is pretty convenient.
but additionally you can compare different recorded and modern speakers to figure out trends which let you at least vaguely reconstruct what people from the past would probably have sounded like.
and more specifically with new england that’s just wholesale a bunch of people from england who settled a colony, so you effectively have a twin study where you can compare it to modern england.
American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed
Nor was modern British English. One of the defining features of modern British English is the lack of rhoticity (dropping the “r” sound), but that’s very modern, only happening in the 19th century. They have managed to recreate how English sounded in Shakespeare’s time by looking at words that were supposed to rhyme, and their meter. To me, it sounds like “pirate English”.
Whether modern American English is closer to Shakespeare’s English is a matter for debate. I’d say it’s closer than RP, but not as close as some rural British accents.
This is actually a misconception. The modern English accents are a result of fashionable language of London. This developed after the United States of America was formed. So after the Middle ages. It’s more likely English speakers in the middle ages sounded more American than English.
Actually, modern American English apparently is closer to the English from old days than modern day British English is. Always found that to be an interesting tidbit.
Shakespeare apparently rhymes better in American accents than British ones, since it was written before the Great Vowel Shift. I’m not cultured enough to notice but I like this piece of trivia.
Xenoblade 2 had a nice use of the various English accents, generally each nation/group in the game used a particular accent (eg Mor Ardain = Scottish, villain group Torna spoke American English). One unique character (a blade) had a southern grew-up-on-a-farm accent.
American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
OP mentions Australia, which wasn’t even established as a penal colony until 5 years after the US was recognized as an independent nation under the Treaty of Paris.
American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
I’m all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.
New England accent is actually closest to English of the Middle Ages.
I heard it was Southern English which was closest to Elizabethan English.
In any case, reality doesn’t matter. Perceptions matter. Britain is an old country, and America is a new country - so in ‘translating’ an accent to a past period, we tend to see the accent of the ‘old country’ as more appropriate.
Pahk the caht.
Dahn ehn Cahmahlaht.
I wonder how they measure such a thing
I’m not sure how they measure how close an accent is. But, they can tell how old accents sounded by looking at songs and poetry for the meter and rhyme of words. If two words rhymed, they were probably pronounced the same way. For example, in Shakespeare’s time they know that “proved” and “loved” rhymed.
well for one from times and places where there was a lot of casual writing there are just straight up people writing about how people speak, which is pretty convenient.
but additionally you can compare different recorded and modern speakers to figure out trends which let you at least vaguely reconstruct what people from the past would probably have sounded like.
and more specifically with new england that’s just wholesale a bunch of people from england who settled a colony, so you effectively have a twin study where you can compare it to modern england.
Nor was modern British English. One of the defining features of modern British English is the lack of rhoticity (dropping the “r” sound), but that’s very modern, only happening in the 19th century. They have managed to recreate how English sounded in Shakespeare’s time by looking at words that were supposed to rhyme, and their meter. To me, it sounds like “pirate English”.
https://youtu.be/uQc5ZpAoU4c?t=299
Whether modern American English is closer to Shakespeare’s English is a matter for debate. I’d say it’s closer than RP, but not as close as some rural British accents.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/uQc5ZpAoU4c?t=299
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
That may be true for regional us dialects, but the core of American pronunciation is older than Received Pronunciation
This is actually a misconception. The modern English accents are a result of fashionable language of London. This developed after the United States of America was formed. So after the Middle ages. It’s more likely English speakers in the middle ages sounded more American than English.
Actually, modern American English apparently is closer to the English from old days than modern day British English is. Always found that to be an interesting tidbit.
Shakespeare apparently rhymes better in American accents than British ones, since it was written before the Great Vowel Shift. I’m not cultured enough to notice but I like this piece of trivia.
Same with the Quebec French
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Xenoblade 2 had a nice use of the various English accents, generally each nation/group in the game used a particular accent (eg Mor Ardain = Scottish, villain group Torna spoke American English). One unique character (a blade) had a southern grew-up-on-a-farm accent.
OP mentions Australia, which wasn’t even established as a penal colony until 5 years after the US was recognized as an independent nation under the Treaty of Paris.