26 replies to this topic

[dal10]

only places with a noticeable accent is the coasts. west has a flatter tone and is spoken faster with a lot of spanish thrown in, southern is spoken much slower and is rather drawley, and the east coast accent varies by the city and is just weird...

[RagingOyster]

qultar, on 25 November 2012 - 09:34 PM, said:

The Clans speak Star League Standard English, disdaining and avoiding the use of contractions and similar practices in speech. As part of the SLDF's legacy, the language is seen as very nearly sacred, though some Clansmen are capable of reading and speaking other languages, typically Russian.

He was asking about any accents or inflections that Clanners might speak with, not the grammatical structure of their speech.

For the OP; an interestong question that I had never really thought on before. I always imagined most Clanners speaking with a sort of English accent since that is what I equate with "sophisticated" English. Of course Kerensky, Natasha and the like always sounded like Russians in my head

[RagingOyster]

dal10, on 01 December 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

only places with a noticeable accent is the coasts. west has a flatter tone and is spoken faster with a lot of spanish thrown in, southern is spoken much slower and is rather drawley, and the east coast accent varies by the city and is just weird...

Coasts are the only places with notable accents? I have been to every corner of this country and I can tell you pretty much every region has a distinct, recognizable accent. The one area that seems to have sort of blended together is here in the Mid Atlantic where we speak with a neat mix of Northern vocabulary and Southern tone and pattern.

[Aethon]

Alistair Steiner, on 25 November 2012 - 06:04 PM, said:

*I'd assume Davion would have a lot of French accents... *snip

Do I detect a veiled insult toward the Davion fans here? lol

Honestly, I always pictured the Davions having stronger English roots than anything else...but, as with everything in Battletech, humanity has scattered far and wide from Earth, so it's going to be a mixed bag by this point, no matter where you go (with the FWL being more of a mixed bag than most).

[Strum Wealh]

Aethon, on 03 December 2012 - 05:16 AM, said:

Do I detect a veiled insult toward the Davion fans here? lol

Honestly, I always pictured the Davions having stronger English roots than anything else...but, as with everything in Battletech, humanity has scattered far and wide from Earth, so it's going to be a mixed bag by this point, no matter where you go (with the FWL being more of a mixed bag than most).

'Tisn't an insult - the Davion (originally d'Avion) family is supposed to be (originally) ethnically French, with roots traceable to Gascony and the County of Foix.
One of the Davions' (very likely fictional) ancestors, one Jean-Baptiste d'Avion, is supposed to have served as a bodyguard to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and been granted holdings in Scotland as a result - a point supposed to be used by some of his descendants to claim to be of Scottish rather than French heritage.
(All of the above comes from House Davion (The Federated Suns), under "Rise of the Davions".)

By contrast, the society and government of the Federated Suns is heavily modeled on that of the United Kingdom, with echoes of the (second) British Empire.

So, yeah - FedSuns = "British Empire (IN OUTER SPACE!), ruled by Frenchmen"...

[Aethon]

Strum Wealh, on 03 December 2012 - 10:43 PM, said:

'Tisn't an insult - the Davion (originally d'Avion) family is supposed to be (originally) ethnically French, with roots traceable to Gascony and the County of Foix.
One of the Davions' (very likely fictional) ancestors, one Jean-Baptiste d'Avion, is supposed to have served as a bodyguard to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and been granted holdings in Scotland as a result - a point supposed to be used by some of his descendants to claim to be of Scottish rather than French heritage.
(All of the above comes from House Davion (The Federated Suns), under "Rise of the Davions".)

By contrast, the society and government of the Federated Suns is heavily modeled on that of the United Kingdom, with echoes of the (second) British Empire.

So, yeah - FedSuns = "British Empire (IN OUTER SPACE!), ruled by Frenchmen"...

Interesting stuff; I never read that much into their history, as I've been more a fan of the Free Worlds League and Lyran Commonwealth, as far as the IS is concerned. Still, cool to know more about their background.

[Alistair Steiner]

Indeed, no insult intended. Just going by some of the "official languages" spoken by the various Houses. Though I have to say, I was not aware of the tidbit Strum pointed out. Of course, generalizing accents/languages in star-spanning empires with up to 900 planets apiece (for the full Federated Commonwealth anyway) is always going to have numerous exceptions. I would not have expected the Norse bits in the Draconis Combine that become the FRR, for example. And I still get a headache trying to picture what's going on in the Free World's League.