Accents and dialects—as in a manner of pronunciation
peculiar to a particular person or group of people—can be difficult to convey
in written prose. Usually, writers deliberately misspell words to reflect how
they are actually pronounced with a certain accent. For example:
“Oh, Huck, I bust
out a-cryin’ en grab her up in my arms, en say, ‘Oh, de po’ little thing! De
Lord God Amighty fogive po’ ole Jim, kaze he never gwyne to fogive hisself as
long’s he live!’ Oh, she was plumb deef en dumb, Huck, plumb deef en dumb — en
I’d ben atreat’n her so!” –Jim, from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.
“Sorry to do
anythin’ as may cause an interruption to such wery pleasant proceedin’s, as the
king said wen he dissolved the parliament.”
–Sam Weller, from Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers.
“Could ye manage
ta go ten minutes without perforating yer aorta? Just once?!?” –Durkon, from
Rich Burlew’s The Order of the Stick.
Accents and dialects in print can range from heavy
alterations to nearly every word (as in the case of Jim above) to minor
alterations to just a few words (as in the case of Durkon).
On the one hand, accents are a prominent part of cultural
identity and daily life. We would be remiss not to include them in our writing
from time to time. Many characters just don’t come across as strongly without
their accent. Characters from certain cultures or ethnicities can seem
unrealistic, or even offensive, without the proper accent.
On the other hand, deliberately misspelling words to convey
an accent can quickly render a passage of text difficult if not impossible to
read. Many readers will find such passages irritating; and if there’s enough of
them, those readers might just walk away from the story.
Here’s a few tips for incorporating accents and dialects
into your writing:
Know the purpose of
the accent: Why is this accent part of your story? Is it conveying
important information about the character? Is it adding to the realism of the
narrative? Or did you just feel like writing an accent? Accents aren't a gimmick to attract readers; they're actually more likely to drive readers away. Try to make sure that
the benefits of the accent outweigh the potential negative reader response.
Try to keep words
recognizable: In our examples above, many of the altered words are still
immediately recognizable. De, fogive, hisself, anythin’, ye, yer—especially in
context, none of these are difficult to interpret. Other words, such as kaze
and gwyne, have gone so far afield from their actual spellings that they force
the reader to pause and sound them out. It forces them, temporarily, out of the
story.
Don’t count on people
reading the passages out loud: Unless you’re writing a script, you’re not
writing something that is intended to be read aloud. Your defense of the accent
might be that “it’s perfectly understandable if you read it out loud.” But just
remember—many people will be reading your work in situations where they cannot
read it out loud. Many others simply won’t want to. Still others will attempt
to read it out loud but will be unfamiliar enough with the accent that they
still won’t understand it.
Focus on unusual
words, diction, or idioms: Accents and dialects often come with unusual
words or phrases, such as Jim’s “she was plumb deef.” If you take out the
misspellings, you can still get a bit of an idea of his speech simply from his
use of the word plumb. “She was plumb
deaf.” If you use the word haver (to babble
or ramble foolishly), many readers will understand that your character is
Scottish. Since the Russian language doesn’t have the articles a or the,
many Russians have trouble learning to use those words in English. This can result
in sentences such as, “We must find bag and then quickly return to car.” There
are all useful methods of conveying accent and dialect without actually having
to phonetically misspell words.
Make sure you know
the accent: If you get an accent wrong, then many people will notice and be
bothered by it. For example:
Now, I applaud Walter Koenig and Anton Yelchin as actors.
But every time that I have to listen to Ensign Chekov speak, I get irritated.
Why? “Nuclear wessels.” “Wictor wictor two.” The problem with these phrases is
that they don’t represent a Russian accent—in fact, they represent the exact opposite of a Russian accent. Russians
don’t have trouble with the sound “V”; their language is packed full of Vs.
However, their language does not have
a “W” sound. Consequently, they often say “V” instead of “W”: "I'm on my vay," for instance. The makers of
Star Trek got the accent backwards, making Chekov sound like he has a speech impediment. (Just on the Ws and Vs, though. The rest is pretty good, especially as portrayed by Yelchin.)
Why is this such a problem? Because I usually love Russian
characters simply because they are Russian. Because of Chekov’s mixed-up
accent, however, he irritates me. I am thrown out of the story by a character
who should have been pulling me in. There are enormous amounts of people out
there who understand any given accent or dialect you might choose. Find one of
them and ask them to help you out with your character’s speech.
P.S.
A personal pet peeve: I mentioned above how many Russians
omit a and the when speaking in English. They do not omit the words my, your,
his, her, our, or other possessive articles. They have those words in
Russian, and they know how to use them. It’s really just a and the.
