Bandana's Accent

[shockeroo]

Does Bandana's accent seem to be based on a specific real-world dialect? In 988 "Y'all" places her somewhere in the US south for me, but "Nah, I don't mind none." I'm not so familiar with.

[Keltest]

In Pennsylvania, you get such an odd mishmash of sayings and mannerisms its hard to keep them straight at times, even for a local. Rich's stated location is in Philly, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had a friend or two who live out in the mountains who speak like that.

[Chronos]

"Y'all" is distinctly un-Pennsylvania-mountains. You can find it nearly anywhere else in the US (especially the South, of course, but it can be anywhere) except in that region, which has a different established second-person-plural, "you'uns" (short for "you ones", and pronounced something like "yinz").

[Keltest]

"Y'all" is distinctly un-Pennsylvania-mountains. You can find it nearly anywhere else in the US (especially the South, of course, but it can be anywhere) except in that region, which has a different established second-person-plural, "you'uns" (short for "you ones", and pronounced something like "yinz").

I live in Pennsylvania and I say yall, as does my family...

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I've placed her accent as vaguely Southern. I imagine the idea is to make Bandana sound less formal, contrasting with Vaarsuvius and Roy.

[kivzirrum]

I've heard her with a slight southern twang ever since she was introduced. But honestly, I'm from Maine, and her accent could just as easily be placed here if it was just a little less rhotic.

I wonder if people from countries that aren't the US have any other impressions of it?

[Talyn]

For some reason, in my head Bandana sounds distinctly "West Coast," from that more rural Northern California area. (Where, according to some friends of mine who live out there, 'y'all' is in common use.) Her excellent vocabulary means I can't attach a backwoods accent to her.

[pearl jam]

"Y'all" is distinctly un-Pennsylvania-mountains. You can find it nearly anywhere else in the US (especially the South, of course, but it can be anywhere) except in that region, which has a different established second-person-plural, "you'uns" (short for "you ones", and pronounced something like "yinz").

I live in Pennsylvania and I say yall, as does my family...

Western PA and Eastern PA are pretty different.

Yinz is pretty specific to the Pittsburgh area.

[Peelee]

Her excellent vocabulary means I can't attach a backwoods accent to her.

You'd be surprised.

[rafet]

Her excellent vocabulary means I can't attach a backwoods accent to her.

That's a common misconception, and anyone from that area would probably take offense. I once was given quite a smoking session in the army for a comment like that.

[Goosefarble]

I've been reading her in a Bostonian accent, personally. Some of her mannerisms seem a bit New England-y.

[Bulldog Psion]

"Y'all" definitely says "south of the Mason-Dixon line" to me.

With that said, I imagine her having a stereotypical "New Joisey" accent.

I fully realize, having been there, that people from New Jersey do NOT have a stereotypical "New Joisey" accent; in fact, nobody does, it's basically a fictional accent.

However, this is a work of fiction, so I picture Bandana as having a Joisey/movie gangster accent -- "You stupid joik! It's coitains for you, pal!"

[Keltest]

Western PA and Eastern PA are pretty different.

Yinz is pretty specific to the Pittsburgh area.

Pennsylvania is a mess of accents. Especially where I live, since its right smack dab in the middle of the state.

[kivzirrum]

"Y'all" definitely says "south of the Mason-Dixon line" to me.

With that said, I imagine her having a stereotypical "New Joisey" accent.

I fully realize, having been there, that people from New Jersey do NOT have a stereotypical "New Joisey" accent; in fact, nobody does, it's basically a fictional accent.

However, this is a work of fiction, so I picture Bandana as having a Joisey/movie gangster accent -- "You stupid joik! It's coitains for you, pal!"

I dunno, I live almost as far north of the Mason-Dixon as you can get without entering Canada, but I still hear "y'all" with relative frequency, and say it with even more frequency

I still hear her accent as a southern US one, too, but perhaps that particular colloquialism is more widespread than you thought!

[ella ventic]

I vote Appalachian. "I don't mind none" sounds nifty with a twang/drawl to me, with those long "i"s turned into "ah"s. I'm not sure whether I'm thinking Pennsylvania, Kentucky, or Alabama Appalachian, but it definitely puts me in mind of the mountains.

Edit: oh, and just to throw some oil on the fire, I think it definitely ISN'T one of the non-rhotic American accents: Boston, Jersey, the Deep South. I think Bandana is meant to be pronouncing those "r"s. ...Of course, I could be wrong!

[Crusher]

Hmm, my mental picture has been an Oklahoma/Texas kinda thing for her but I should go back and re read.

[Zordrath]

As a non-native speaker, Bandana never sounded like a real person to me. Phrases like "I for-reals appreciate" and "I don't mind none" sound like a writer trying really hard to make a character appear street-smart and sassy, but I've never heard or read anyone talk like that. Considering that's probably true for most American accents though, that doesn't have to mean anything.

[Murk]

I wonder if people from countries that aren't the US have any other impressions of it?

Yeah, that's the fun part: I really have no clue. I had the feeling it's meant to be more of a countryside accent than a city accent, but other than that - to me it's all the same. I wouldn't know the difference between a Californian or Texan or Pennsylvanian or Boston accent anyway, so, eh.
It doesn't really matter that much, though. I know what it's supposed to illustrate (diversity, and that she's a little less... "high culture", so to say), so it's fine.

EDIT:

As a non-native speaker, Bandana never sounded like a real person to me.

Oh, so true. Most English I hear is from TV (so, let's say, BBC and Hollywood), people from my own country in their broken English, or exchange students (from which it's sometimes hard to hear if they're actually speaking English). All these accents and small differences are something I only know from reading.
Which is interesting, I think.

[Porthos]

The thing about "Y'all" is while it might have started in the South, it's pretty much spread all over the US. So much so that I don't really think it can be much of an indicator. I mean, I'm from NorCal and I use "Y'all" all the time. Consider it part and parcel of the mixing of the regionalisms of the US that Mass Media has wrought over the last 60 years.

===

As for "what I hear", couldn't say. She does have a tendancy to drop her "g"'s, though that's pretty common to a lot of dialetcs.

What she does have is a pretty informal manner of speaking (unless she deliberately changes it). That's probably more background than anything else, though. so I wouldn't read too much into dialect from that.

[Dr. Gamera]

I live in Pennsylvania and I say yall, as does my family...

Pennsylvania is a mess of accents. Especially where I live, since its right smack dab in the middle of the state.

I vote Appalachian. "I don't mind none" sounds nifty with a twang/drawl to me, with those long "i"s turned into "ah"s. I'm not sure whether I'm thinking Pennsylvania, Kentucky, or Alabama Appalachian, but it definitely puts me in mind of the mountains.]

I concur with Appalachia, specifically to include Central Pennsylvania (east of "yinz" territory). Keltest correctly identifies rural Pennsylvania as rife with accents that include, for example, features that we might otherwise associate with a Southern drawl.

[cobaltstarfire]

The fact that she uses a mixed bag of colloquialisms can easily be because she travels a lot, and doesn't really have to have anything to do with her accent at all.

[Keltest]

The fact that she uses a mixed bag of colloquialisms can easily be because she travels a lot, and doesn't really have to have anything to do with her accent at all.

That's entirely possible, however none of the other crew members speak like she does that I have seen. However that may be because she was raised on the ship.

[SirKazum]

As a non-native speaker, Bandana never sounded like a real person to me. Phrases like "I for-reals appreciate" and "I don't mind none" sound like a writer trying really hard to make a character appear street-smart and sassy, but I've never heard or read anyone talk like that. Considering that's probably true for most American accents though, that doesn't have to mean anything.

As a non-native speaker of English, I've been running into some trouble with that. In a story I'm writing, one character is supposed to have a sorta Cockney accent, but I'm afraid I'm bungling it really badly

[kivzirrum]

It's also worth noting that, like Durkon, her accent may be inconsistent.

Heck, it may be deliberately so, to keep it from being tied down to one specific real-world region that does not exist in her world. So while it is probably generally based on US rural accents, it's probably not a specific one.

[Crusher]

Heck, it may be deliberately so, to keep it from being tied down to one specific real-world region that does not exist in her world. So while it is probably generally based on US rural accents, it's probably not a specific one.

Good point. No matter how much her speech patterns and choices of phrasing may linguistically point to, say, Arkansas (or wherever), she's 100% not actually from Arkansas. She's from wherever in the Stick-verse she's from (and I'd say we haven't seen enough of it to make a good guess). We're really just guessing what part of the US is most similar linguistically to the speech patterns from that part of the Stick-verse.

Which is still interesting, because it does carry connotations about her background and what not, but its never going to be very precise.

[Peelee]

As a non-native speaker of English, I've been running into some trouble with that. In a story I'm writing, one character is supposed to have a sorta Cockney accent, but I'm afraid I'm bungling it really badly

Find the most stereotypical writing or speech in cockney you can. Then make it more stereotypical. And watch out for copyright, because you'll probably end up writing Lock, Stock or Snatch.

[Gwynfrid]

As a non-native speaker, Bandana never sounded like a real person to me. Phrases like "I for-reals appreciate" and "I don't mind none" sound like a writer trying really hard to make a character appear street-smart and sassy, but I've never heard or read anyone talk like that. Considering that's probably true for most American accents though, that doesn't have to mean anything.

Non-native speaker here too, and I agree with that. She could use broken language or have a strong accent and that would make her more real, but here, it's mish-mash of unusual wordings and good vocabulary. I guess that's part of the reason I'm rather indifferent to her as a character. She's been puzzling at times, but I don't think anything she's said so far could be considered memorable.

[SirKazum]

Find the most stereotypical writing or speech in cockney you can. Then make it more stereotypical. And watch out for copyright, because you'll probably end up writing Lock, Stock or Snatch.

Gotta try that. And I don't remember any cockney owls in Guy Ritchie movies, so I think I'm safe copyright-wise ;)

[Centik]

You'd be surprised.

Your "Location" makes this comment beautiful.

[Morquard]

That's entirely possible, however none of the other crew members speak like she does that I have seen. However that may be because she was raised on the ship.

I think the bolded part might be exactly it. She never had a "homeland" so to speak. She was raised by 30 different people with probably 30 different accents, not to mention the 100 towns with 500 dialects she visited. So she picked up a word here and another there and meshed it all together.