Accents

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I don't play tabletop AD&D so maybe this just applies to CRPG's, but why do dwarves have Scottish accents?

 

Because of all the whiskey they drink.

 

Do you have a Scottish accent when you drink whiskey?

 

Because a Scottish accent makes you look rugged and sexy. I have a Scottish accent and girls just love it.

 

Dwarves have Scottish accents? IMO, it's just the other way around

I have no idea why, but these races remind me of some accents:
Dwarves - Scottish
Elves - Icelandic or something else that sounds long and slow, perhaps swedish
Gnomes - English with an Indian accent. Dunno why.
Halflings - Irish or some other impossible language like cockney or the 'pikies' in Snatch.

 

Tolkien influence maybe?

 

Because I want to drrrink a strrrong dwarrrven ale sounds better with a Scottish accent?

kuemper has a good point, though. I think Tolkien wanted to give each race a set of recognizable qualities that most English-speaking readers could visualize instantly. I think that a Scottish accent in a medieval environment gives the idea of a bad-tempered, ale-loving, rugged highlander wielding a massive weapon, be it sword or axe.

[ November 09, 2006, 14:45: Message edited by: Colthrun ]

 

I always find it amusing as a folklore nerd that dwarves have a scottish accent because D+D/Tolkien dwarves are based upon the Germanic duergar. Celtic dwarves like korred are often inhuman in appearance while the Scottish redcap is wildly evil in nature and often described to be rather monstrous in appearance.

 

Oi! Oi! Elves speaking what now! Swedish? Swedish!

I beg my pardon! Swedish indeed! Hmph! Islandic? Everyone knows elves speak finnish with a slight and smooth english pronunciation! The thing that Sigur Rós has for their lyrics isn't icelandic, otherwise that might be something the elves might speak.

Suomen kieli on maailman kaunein kieli, suomen lausuminen on kuin laulua. Besides, Tolkien's elves even have finnish words in their language. And the way that at least Hugo Weaving and perhaps some other elves pronounced the r's is the way that finns pronounce them, since you know, because of finnish language having an impact on how Tolkien made the elven language and all...

Well, now that that's settled, I think a scottish accent suits dwarves far better than a german one. If they're not german speaking dwarves, that is.

 

I tried to make my own Gnome accent, but now I realize that it sounds like Peter Griffin from the Family Guy...

Dwarves like to drink and fight. That sounds stereotypical of the Scottish...

Halflings I never thought of for an accent, and elves I thought would have a fancy English accent (like the typical snobby nobles and royals) because they are so bloody arrogant...

 

It would sound better with a Belfast accept. Who can handle their drink better than a Belfast lad?

 

And the Irish and the Germans and sportsfans.

 

A Scottish dwarf?

 

Because Mr. Salvatore wanted to.

 

Thanks Iku-Turso, you stole my words, the (Tolkien) elven language is finnish, swedish is a language you don't put anybody that intelligent to speak.

Dwarves.... what should they speak then? You can't expect a dirty, drunk dwarf to speak with a noble, french or italian accent. Anything else than scottish sounds too umm.... sober

 

Dwarves are generally seen (I'm sort of stereotyping Ad+D games here, bear with me) as a rough, rugged people who live in the mountains, have a blunt but profound sense of honor, are kick-ass in a fight, and love their drink. If you stereotype the scotts, you get a similar feel, and adding a scotttish accent to dwarves makes the person hearing the accent place the dwarf with the stereotypical scottsman, and thus gives instant atmosphere.

 

@Trellheim: All thanks to Tolkien for appreciating our language more than many of us finns do.

But I might add, that no elf would speak english with a finnish accent, not at least with the kind of accent that, for instance, our prime minister speaks it.

 

I generally think D&D is all 19th century England. Come on, most nobles are just snobs with titles whose all purpose is taunting you about your lineage in their elite taverns, and there are probably some kinds of hints at their more glorious past. Authories are all so horribly constitutional and there's not much supernatural in anything. There's also that horrible political correctness. And all the use of 19th century English in mediaeval contest which is deemed realism.

Paladins are not policemen. Women are not as strong as men. Evil is not a different perspective.

 

If elves were to speak finnish, that would take all the credibility out of the grace and beauty that they are supposed to posses both in themselves and all their creations. But let's not get off the topic here.

I'd say all the nordic languages has too many hard consonant sounds to make a language flowing with grace. I emagine elvish kind of like chineese, but without the long vowel sounds and the "sh" and "ch"s.


Dwarven is more nordic in nature, with hard sounds and rumbling "r"s.

 

No, it's a fact, Tolkien's elven is based on finnish.

Conserning Quenya, language of high-elves

(note that this language is dead in the 3rd age when LoTR happens!)

quenya

[ November 11, 2006, 20:10: Message edited by: Trellheim ]