I’d love to hear some Shakespeare in the original language. I think I’ve linked this before, but here’s an example.
I suspect that the “arrr” pronunciation of “r” after a vowel, is related to the pirate “arrr.” Many of them were from southwest England and Cornwall.
Thanks, Rand! That was fascinating. I’ll look at (& read) Shakespeare differently now.
Is it just me, or does OP sound like a modern-day Ulster (Northern Ireland) accent?
It’s just you.
I’ve spent time there. 🙂
It’s not just you, I thought there was more than a hint of an Irish accent, though I couldn’t say from where in Ireland.
O.P. doesn’t sound exactly like any modern accent but it’s definitely closer to Scottish and Irish accents. You can definitely hear bits and pieces in the clip that sound just like Sean Bean.
Sean Bean? He’s English.
He does have a distinctive accent, though.
The vowel sounds in Ulster are quite different than anything I heard in that.
Not Irish or Scottish. American.
Linguists say the closest surviving approximation is found on certain islands off the coast of Virginia and Carolina. You can hear an example on this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E
Ironically, modern audiences (and even many actors) expect to hear Shakespeare performed in a “proper” British accent, by which they mean modern Received Pronunciation, which evolved after the settlement of America.
I’m not really knowledgeable about Shakespeare, but that was very interesting.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Devon and Cornwall (My family is from the area, and most still live there) and to me, the IP sounds similar (not the same) to small town brogues in Cornwall, with a bit of Cockney and Scottish bits as well. The pronunciations of some words though sound a bit like the Welsh to me.
Very interesting!
Yes, much closer to Cornwall than Ulster. As I said, similar to the language of the pirates.
I followed a YouTube link from the original video, and found this video of Ben Crystal giving a lecture about Shakespeare. I’m neither an English nor a theater major, but I found it nearly riveting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FF5K8VlcRI
Thanks for posting that Rickl
Hmm so people sounded like Robert Newton* back then eh?
The “archeology” of figuring out how they pronounced words back then, is pretty interesting.
I’m no expert in either Shakespeare nor linguistics. But I did see a movie once 😉 which was set in Cornwall. The woman did sport that pirate “aaarrrr” sounds. One line I’ll always remember:
“It’s a bit early for Paaaarrrrrrsnips.”
Also the idea of not getting the joke due to pronunication seems to be pretty well known:
In one of Patrick O’Brian’s books a character says that one woman is “…….plying the oar”. Said one way and she’s rowing…
* played Long John Silver in Treasure Island.
But it sounds so much better in the original Klingon.