Regional accents for character types in different languages

[richard1631978]

A lot of different regional accents in English can be used for signposting character type.

Does this happen much in other languages? I've heard than Belgian accents (both French & Flemmish) are often used for comical characters.

[linguoboy]

In Mann's Buddenbrooks (set in the northern German city of Lübeck), one of the characters marries a portly Bavarian, who is presented as something of a comic figure. In a recent English-language translation, they tried to reproduce the effect of his Bavarian accent by rendering his dialogue in a sort of genericly Southern American rural dialect. I found the effect a bit off, since Permaneder is from the Bavarian metropolis Munich rather than a small town; Brits found it very jarring, since most of them didn't recognise the intended accent at all. Some suggested it should've been West Country instead, which I still find off since the West Country is even more rural than the American South.

[hwhatting]

In German and Russian literature that happens frequently. I'd say it is a universal of all modern literary languages.

[Yng]

Not in the Arabic I've read, although it would be difficult to achieve that effect whilst still writing dialogue in classical Arabic...

[Astraios]

In Hebrew it definitely does.

[Yiuel Raumbesrairc]

A lot of different regional accents in English can be used for signposting character type.

Does this happen much in other languages? I've heard than Belgian accents (both French & Flemmish) are often used for comical characters.

For Japanese, The Idiot from Osaka is too much of a trope for its own good for Japanese. It derives from Japanese traditional humour, a lot of them being from Kansai (so their more natural accent is indeed Osaka style). Other regional dialects are not as marked, but using one will make a character sound old.

For French, I can only talk about Quebec's view on it. No, we do not use regional accents, even though we do have one that is easily identifiable and could have easily bred some inbreeding jokes (Saguenay accent). Most other types of accents are just marked as "foreign". The only accent that stands out here is Parisian French, which is highly marked as either educated or snobbish (and sometimes, both ways at the same time), making Parisian French a source of comedy. It will not be used in non-comedy media, because of its ambiguity. Therefore, French accents in Quebec are only mostly used to mark a foreigner.

Sociolects are however heavily marked, and having the most profound Joual (working class speech, close to another language if not another language altogether) will mark the character as fairly stupid, while having a journalistic accent will mark you as high-class/educated. (Indeed, the correlation between high-class/educated make it that someone who speaks with the most Joual accent, even if the CEO of some big business, will be thought as dimwitted. This is one reason why Jean Chrétien sounded so stupid to many Quebeckers.)

[richard1631978]

A lot of different regional accents in English can be used for signposting character type.

Does this happen much in other languages? I've heard than Belgian accents (both French & Flemmish) are often used for comical characters.

For Japanese, The Idiot from Osaka is too much of a trope for its own good for Japanese. It derives from Japanese traditional humour, a lot of them being from Kansai (so their more natural accent is indeed Osaka style). Other regional dialects are not as marked, but using one will make a character sound old.

I've heard of "The Idiot from Osaka" being used a lot in Japanese fiction, mainly thanks to TV Tropes.

Another thing mentioned was the Hannovarian accent can sound upper class when compared to other German dialects.

[linguoboy]

Another thing mentioned was the Hannovarian accent can sound upper class when compared to other German dialects.

Mentioned where?

Hanover is folklorically considered to be the city where the "best" German is spoken (just as the "best" Spanish is supposedly that of Burgos and the "best" French that of the Loire Valley). But, in fact, an actual Hanoverian accent has nonstandard dialectal features like lack of palatalisation in initial /sp/ and /st/ clusters. So I'm not sure how "upper class" it would actually sound to the typical German-speaker.

[Ser]

Another thing mentioned was the Hannovarian accent can sound upper class when compared to other German dialects.

Mentioned where?

Hanover is folklorically considered to be the city where the "best" German is spoken (just as the "best" Spanish is supposedly that of Burgos and the "best" French that of the Loire Valley). But, in fact, an actual Hanoverian accent has nonstandard dialectal features like lack of palatalisation in initial /sp/ and /st/ clusters. So I'm not sure how "upper class" it would actually sound to the typical German-speaker.

Well, let's have a Hanoverian speak Standard German. It could also involve intonation and miscellaneous throat modularity too you know.

Also, for Spaniard Spanish I thought it was the Burgos-Toledo-Salamanca triangle, because Salmantinos = snobs.

[Qwynegold]

A lot of different regional accents in English can be used for signposting character type.

Does this happen much in other languages? I've heard than Belgian accents (both French & Flemmish) are often used for comical characters.

Are you the same as Rickardspaghetti?

There's a lot of different dialect stereotypes in Swedish and Finnish, and this is used much in advertising and media. For example, if a TV advertiser wants to instill a sense of reliability and security, they will have speaker in the ad speak Norrländska.

[richard1631978]

A lot of different regional accents in English can be used for signposting character type.

Does this happen much in other languages? I've heard than Belgian accents (both French & Flemmish) are often used for comical characters.

Are you the same as Rickardspaghetti?

There's a lot of different dialect stereotypes in Swedish and Finnish, and this is used much in advertising and media. For example, if a TV advertiser wants to instill a sense of reliability and security, they will have speaker in the ad speak Norrländska.

I'm not the same as Rickardspaghetti, not sure if that's good or bad.

I first heard of Hanovarian accents being posh on TV Tropes.

Interestingly it's the same place I recently found out about Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, which is your avatar.

[Qwynegold]

I'm not the same as Rickardspaghetti, not sure if that's good or bad.

Okay. I wonder what happened to him. :/

Interestingly it's the same place I recently found out about Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, which is your avatar.

Yay!

[GBR]

Other regional [Japanese] dialects are not as marked, but using one will make a character sound old.

Err... you ever heard Aomoriben? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Q5ZRcl8OQ
I'd say the dialect disparity in Japan is very strong, and quite often used in literature for effect.

[Ser]

what kind of effect?

[Yiuel Raumbesrairc]

Other regional [Japanese] dialects are not as marked, but using one will make a character sound old.

Err... you ever heard Aomoriben? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Q5ZRcl8OQ
I'd say the dialect disparity in Japan is very strong, and quite often used in literature for effect.

I am well aware of dialect disparity. I live in Toyama, and I had to get used to its local speech. (I am happy enough to have a very mild dialect actually.)

But is it used to offer some deep insight on a character's personality or some other non-regionality-related quality? Not much, except for being old and, perhaps, countryside.

[GBR]

Other regional [Japanese] dialects are not as marked, but using one will make a character sound old.

Err... you ever heard Aomoriben? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Q5ZRcl8OQ
I'd say the dialect disparity in Japan is very strong, and quite often used in literature for effect.

I am well aware of dialect disparity. I live in Toyama, and I had to get used to its local speech. (I am happy enough to have a very mild dialect actually.)

But is it used to offer some deep insight on a character's personality or some other non-regionality-related quality? Not much, except for being old and, perhaps, countryside.

I was just checking with my resident native speaker (akaザ彼氏) and he seems quite adamant that writers use regional accents to sign-post character beyond old, country bumpkin or idiot from Osaka. The example that occurred to him off hand was Tanizaki Junichiro's use of Kobe dialect to signal nobility.

(Also, I just reread my first post and realized it sounded off - sorry )

[dhok]

Here in Brazil, I believe the Northeastern accent is more or less equivalent to an American Southern one- both regions are the poorest in the country, mainly agrarian and rural, and have a lot of blacks. However, an American Southern accent marks white race, generally- if we want to make fun of a black person we imitate AAVE- whereas a Northeastern speaker probably is black.

[Yagia]

In popular culture in the Netherlands, the use of eastern dialects (cf. Lower Saxon) is a clear signpost for farmers and (not so clever) rural folks in general. The soft 'g' /ç/ of Brabant and Limburg is also a regional code, mostly associated with cheering, fun, carnival and lots of beer. The Amsterdam accent (using /s/ for /z/ and the like) has always been a popular signpost for coining petty criminals and people from the red light district. Nowadays, a mix of Dutch, Caribbean and Dutch-Moroccan slang is quite familiar among young people, mostly dubbed 'straattaal' (language of the streets)

[Chartophylacium]

In Germany regional accents are used quite often to distinguish different character types. If you want to present someone as being from a rural environment you let him or her speak Bavarian or some kind of North Geman dialect. If someone shoud be shown as being from a more urban environment you let him or her speak standard German or that kind of dialect the people form Berlin or Ruhrgebiet are speaking (if you want to show, that the person is kind of brash). If you want to present an "idiot" you let the character speak Bavarian or Upper Saxon dialect. Bavarian seems quite strange for the North Germans and Upper Saxon for all Germans but Upper Saxons.