Describing Fictional Accents

Describing Fictional Accents

rjgames asked:

Hello, I see you already have a post on writing accents, my question though: Is there any other way to write accents without saying from where it comes from (i.e. french)? My story takes place in a fictional setting where Earth does not exist and I’m having a difficult time with this. Also, I would not like to rely on misspelling a lot, or is that the only way? Thank you!

When you can’t say where an accent comes from, your best bet is to give the reader a basic idea of how it sounds. Obviously, there is no way to write a description that everyone will interpret the same way, and that’s true even if you’re describing the sound of a real world accent. A really great formula for describing fictional accents is this: sound or flow descriptor + dialect descriptor + origin location + regional reference + pronunciation description Example: He spoke with the lyrical brogue of the Tonterosi highlands–trilled Rs, clipped consonants, and a lilt at the end of every sentence. - He spoke with the lyrical (sound or flow descriptor) brogue (dialect descriptor) of the Tonerosi (origin location) highlands (regional reference)–trilled Rs, clipped consonants, and a lilt at the end of every sentence (pronunciation description.) You don’t have to do it in that order, and you can do a little mixing and matching. Whatever sounds best. And, even though no two readers will interpret that the same way, you’re still giving them something to imagine when they imagine this character’s accent. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if they imagine your character with an accent that sounds English, or French, or Spanish, or none of the above. What matters is that they imagine an accent. Here are some words you can use in your descriptions: Sound Descriptors

Soulful Dulcet Golden Sweet Honeyed Flowery Silvery Syrupy Mellow Broad Flat Deep Sharp Thick Heavy Crisp Round Hard Jagged Throaty Nasal Guttural Husky Breathy Smoky Raspy Chirpy Rich Discordant Sonorous Flow Descriptors

Lyrical Melodic Songlike Musical Mellifluous Rhythmic Staccato Rolling Flowing Rhythmic Dialect Descriptors Burr Lilt Drawl Brogue Slur Twang Lisp Regional References Highlands Midlands Lowlands Country High Country Low Country Back Country North Country South Country East Country West Country Backwoods Coastal Northern Southern Eastern Western Midwestern Badlands Riverlands Grasslands Hinterlands Marshlands Wetlands Boglands Woodlands Moorlands Bushlands Shrublands Mountains Jungle Desert Plains Valley Basin Swamp Prairie Foothills Forest Savanna Tundra Plateau Steppe Inland Pronunciation Description

Clipped Stilted Cut Hissed Trilled Tapped Shortened Drawn out Drawled Elongated Dropped Tense Lax Rounded Raised Shifted Glottal stop Loose Tight

Other Sound Words

Cadence Rhythm Tempo Lilt Timbre Harmony Meter Beat Intonation Inflection ——————————————————————— Have a writing question? I’d love to hear from you! Please be sure to read my ask rules and master list first or your question may go unanswered. :)