#and i just like accents and dialects in general

[bloomfish]

I think the reason I'm so hyperaware of accents is because I've been forced to become hyperaware of my own. When I moved to the US American were very much in that phase of "omg British people 😍😍" and so every single time I would say ANYTHING in school it everyone would make a huge fuss. It wasn't malicious teasing, they loved it but like, imagine if every time you spoke everyone went batshit. That would make anyone self-conscious let alone a child. I trained myself to speak American but certain things slipped through– the hard "R" has always been impossible for me it feels so wrong lol. I remember a girl discovered that the way I said "water" was funny and for a few months I could not move without being chased around with cries of "say water!!!" to the point I wrote an entire presentation about submarines to avoid saying water lol

In highschool I was pretty sneaky about it and I did this by not talking much. Like this whole ordeal really made me become incredibly shy whereas in the UK I had always been a chatty kid. And whenever I had to actually talk at length such as a presentation everyone would be like wait.... What are you...

I finally let go of this in early adulthood and just started saying what came out of my mouth naturally. but I'm still very conscious of my accent which just flip-flops between American and my original accent. Nobody ever knows where I'm from I'm so mysterious

[shrekyaoi]

i get a lot of comments on character voice and how vivid i make them and all i’ve gotta say is that if you want to spice up your dialogue you’ve just gotta emulate what i can only describe as “the conversations that happen between drunk dudebros at bars.” this may also be why i keep accidentally writing flirting now that i think about it

[thatonefatgumsimp]

I NEED HELP (DND Stuff, might be a dumb question idk-)

So genuine question for DND side of tumblr, but- I've been thinking recently...

And are the things next to the dragonborn colors in the player handbook, like, types of damage that are less effective, their magical girl power, or both?

Cuz I never really thought about that before and I have absolutely no idea-

[oathofkaslana]

do you guys think qingce village has a different accent than liyue harbor

[error404vnotfound]

why is youtube recommending me videos like "tips for visiting barcelona"

bestie I go to class there every day and you know it wtf

also not the "Montserrat is it worth it?" video 💀 bestie check my location I can see the mountain from my front yard. I think my school took is there at least 4 times only in primary school 💀 what is wrong with you

[ammoknightsofficial]

Studying Japanese is an absolute gift that really just keeps giving, because it gives me the ability to question specific linguistic choices made with certain characters and either come to a sound conclusion, get led down the funniest paths imaginable that leaves me with more information yet more questions, or both.

Was prodding around Google trying to figure out the roots for some specific quirks in Sheldon’s speech in the Japanese versions of the Splatoon series, only to be greeted with a top result being a native speaker asking the same question regarding real people they have encountered, and the top response opening with something to the effect of “Are you from the fucking Edo period?”

Incredible one-hit kill in context. Entirely new kind of guy.

[yuurei20]

Twisted Wonderland Curse Word Compilation: Main Story

⚠️Language Warning!⚠️

Note: these localizations are not literal translations (“くそ” does not literally mean “to damn something,” for example), and are more so examples of what the characters might be saying if they were speaking American English ^^

This post was made in collaboration with the wonderful @irafuwas to whom I am most grateful for the wonderful explanations ♡

#1: くそ (kuso)

An interjection used to express feelings like anger, frustration, disappointment.

Meaning: Dammit/damn it, damn, god damn it, shit, bloody hell, fucking hell, fuck

Ace is the #1 user of this word in the main story, repeating it at least 5 times from the prologue to Book 6.

Jamil repeats it at least four times from Books 4 to 6, Grim at least three times and Deuce at least twice.

Cater,  Epel, Idia, Kalim and General Lilia all use it at least once.

(Note: there seems to be a rumor that Epel uses very dirty language that is being hidden by his dialect, but I did not find this to be the case ^^ I collected all examples of Epel slipping into his natural dialect in the main story and it is mostly just normal words in an accent. He will use casual verb forms with his senpai, which is impolite in a similar way, but he is not using literal curse words.)

#2 ち (tch)

Not so much a word as it is an onomatopoeia, “tch” is still very impolite and is used to express frustration or disdain. It can be considered equivalent to clicking one’s tongue, tsking, or tutting.

Leona is the #1 user of this sound, repeating it at least 30 times from the prologue to Book 7.

General Lilia repeats it at least six times (as of Book 7-4), Jack repeats it at least six times, three times for Floyd, three times for Ace and at least two times each for Azul, Idia and Jamil. It is also used at least one by Cater, Baur, Sebek and an unnamed person in Book 5.

#3 馬鹿 / バカ (baka)

Meaning: Idiot, moron, fool, dumb ass, dummy, stupid

Leona is the #1 user of this word in the main story, repeating it at least 8 times (at least five of which were in a kind of cute way, possibly to make it sound less harsh as it is when he is speaking to Ruggie).

Ace uses this word at least five times (three times to insult Deuce specifically).

Azul uses this word twice, as does Deuce, although one time is just him agreeing with Ace and insulting himself.

Jamil also uses the word twice, as does Lilia (one normal-Lilia, one General-Lilia).

Jack, Jade, Floyd, Epel, Vil, Idia and Sebek also use it at least once each.

#4 野郎 (yarou)

“Yarou” has a literal meaning of “guy” or “dude”, but can be used in a derogatory manner with a meaning of “asshole” or “jackass”.

It can be attached to an otherwise neutral noun to turn it into an insult, which Leona has a penchant for doing, depending on who he is talking about (e.g., snake-yarou for Jamil, octopus-yarou for Azul, etc.).

Leona uses this word a lot, repeating it at least 11 times in the main story.

Unnamed students, Azul, Deuce and soldiers in Book 7 also use it, while General Lilia will sometimes use it to refer to his own men.

#5 ちくしょう (chikushou)

An interjection used to express feelings like anger, frustration, disappointment 

Meaning: Dammit/damn it, damn, god damn it, shit, bloody hell, fucking hell, fuck

Another word used similarly to how “dammit” is used in American English (it is a little harsher than kuso, maybe), Epel uses it at least three times in the main story.

Deuce uses it twice, as do unnamed students at the school, Ace once and General Lilia once (as of 7-4).

#6 間抜け (manuke)

Meaning: fool, moron, blockhead, half-wit, idiot.

This word is used to insult someone for lacking awareness or being absent-minded.

Leona uses it at least twice in the main story, and it is also a part of the string of insults that Jamil delivers to Kalim in Book 4.

#7 アホ (aho)

This is a common insult similar to “idiot” or “stupid,” used at least once by Ace and once by Deuce (in a more slang way) in the main story.

[hobiebrownismygod]

Researching Characters so you don't have to Part 1: Hobie Brown & His Accent

Art above IS NOT MINE! Click for the link to the original art! Artist: @Jay19

A lot of people write Hobie Brown like Tom Holland, but this just isn't accurate if you want to write a good fan fiction. Hobie is a homeless black teen from the 70s, who was born in Cambridge, and is also a punk. He's not gonna sound like Aaron Warner or Tom Hiddleston. Just because he has a British accent doesn't mean he's going to sound like your average British movie star.

British English is a dialect, not technically an accent. An accent is how someone pronounces words, while a dialect includes pronunciations, but also includes general vocabulary and grammar. This means that despite Hobie speaking English, he won't use the same vocabulary that American-English speakers use, so if you write him that way it won't be accurate.

The British accent that most people are used to is called Received Pronunciation, which is considered the "upper-class" British Accent. However, Hobie does not have a a Received Pronunciation accent. He's cockney. They do not sound the same as upper-class British people, and have a completely different set of vocabulary.

How do you write a cockney accent?

Rule 1: Never pronounce the "H"

For example, house becomes 'ouse. Hat becomes 'at. Hello becomes 'Ello. By writing the words with an apostrophe in place of the "h", it would read more accurately.

Rule 2: -ing becomes -in

For example, running becomes runnin'. Helping becomes 'elpin' (because both the h and the g are silent). Walking becomes walkin'. Those speaking in a cockney accent don't pronounce the "g" part of the ending -ing.

Rule 3: Words starting with "th-" are usually replaced with "f-"

For example, thing becomes fing. This becomes fis. However, don't overdo it. If you write out every word starting with an f, it'll become difficult to read. Only do it if you're trying to enunciate some words over others. Even if you're trying to write an accent, it should still be comprehensible.

There's other rules as well, but these were the main three I saw during my research!

How do you write a cockney dialect?

Cockney rhyming slang

Hobie consistently uses Cockney rhyming slang in ATSV. For example, he calls Miles, "Peter Pan" which is Cockney rhyming slang for "Little man". Using Cockney rhyming slang can make your writing seem more authentic

Some other examples are "Apples and pears" for stairs. "bees and honey" for money, etc. You can google other ones for any words you want to use!

As always research is your best friend, so while writing Hobie, make sure to have another page open with lots of slang and other words available for you to use in your writing to make your character sound as authentic as possible!

Note: I'm not cockney nor British, so if you see any mistakes with my writing, please let me know <3

[factsinallcaps]

I have to know-- what's ur opinion on this

LOOK, I'M JUST GOING TO, RIGHT HERE, ANSWER THE MANY, MANY "BUT COULD YOU PRONOUNCE THIS A CERTAIN WAY IF YOU PRONOUNCED ALL THE LETTERS DIFFERENT THAN THEY SHOULD BE PRONOUNCED" MESSAGES I'VE BEEN GETTING

THE ANSWER IS NO, YOU CANNOT TAKE LETTERS-AS-USED-IN-ONE-WORD AND TRANSPLANT THEM TO PLACES IN OTHER WORDS AND EXPECT THEM TO BEHAVE THE SAME. THE W IN "ANSWER" IS THE SAME W THAT'S IN "WALL." THE "H" IN "GHOST" IS THE SAME ONE THAT'S IN "HELP." "T" IN "LISTEN" IS THE SAME ONE THAT'S IN "TANK," AND THE EXTRA "A" IN "AARDVARK" IS NO MORE SILENT THAN THE SECOND "O" IN "DOOR." TWO A'S IN A ROW MAKES A DIFFERENT SOUND THAN ONE A IN A ROW.

THE REALITY IS, IF YOU TOOK THOSE LETTERS OUT OF THOSE WORDS, AND PUT THEM TOGETHER AGAIN TO SPELL "WHAT," THEY WOULDN'T BE SILENT ANYMORE, BECAUSE THEIR PRONUNCIATION, OR LACK THEREOF, IS BASED ON THE CONTEXT OF WHERE THEY FALL IN THE WORD, AND WHAT THEIR ETYMOLOGY IS. IF YOU TOOK ALL THOSE LETTERS AND REASSEMBLED THEM INTO "WHAT," IT WOULD BE PRONOUNCED LIKE "WHAT."

A LOT OF PEOPLE KEEP ASKING THESE QUESTIONS BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF WHETHER IT'S "VALID" TO PRONOUNCE CERTAIN LETTERS SPECIFIC WAYS, BASED ON THE FACT THAT THEY'RE PRONOUNCED THAT WAY IN CERTAIN WORDS. UNFORTUNATELY FOR THEM, LETTERS HAVE NO INHERENT PRONUNCIATION WHATSOEVER. THEY'RE PRONOUNCED THE WAY WE PRONOUNCE THEM BECAUSE OF A COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT BY SPEAKERS OF ANY GIVEN LANGUAGE TO PRONOUNCE THE LETTERS USED IN THAT LANGUAGE'S ALPHABET IN MUTUALLY AGREED-UPON WAYS.

SOMETIMES THERE'S SPECIAL-USE CASES THAT COME FROM A WORD'S ROOT LANGUAGE-- FOR INSTANCE, "J" IS PRONOUNCED DIFFERENTLY IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH. THE WORD "FAJITA" EXISTS IN ENGLISH, AS IN ITS ORIGINAL SPANISH, AND THE J IS STILL PRONOUNCED THE SAME WAY AS IT WAS IN SPANISH

AND, CRUCIALLY, THERE IS ALREADY A MARGIN-OF-ERROR IN WHAT WE ALLOW RE: PRONUNCIATION. THIS IS HOW DIFFERENT DIALECTS AND ACCENTS FORM. MY APPALACHIAN COUSINS AND I UNDERSTAND THAT EVEN THOUGH I'M SAYING "WIN-DOH" AND THEY'RE SAYING "WIN-DER," WE'RE BOTH SAYING THE SAME WORD: "WINDOW," BECAUSE -OW AT THE END OF A WORD IS PRONOUNCED DIFFERENTLY IN MY ACCENT AND THEIRS. WHEN SOMEBODY WALKS UP TO ME AND SAYS "LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION" BUT THEY PRONOUNCE IT LIKE "AXE," I KNOW WHAT WORD THEY'RE USING.

I'VE MET PEOPLE NAMED, FOR INSTANCE, ROXHINA AND UXHINE, PRONOUNCED IDENTICALLY TO THE ENGLISH NAMES "REGINA" AND "EUGENE," BECAUSE IN THEIR FAMILY'S LANGUAGE, THOSE LETTERS WERE PRONOUNCED DIFFERENTLY.

I HAVE ALSO SEEN PEOPLE SPELL THINGS INCORRECTLY, IF SERVICEABLY, IN WAYS THAT IT'S EASY TO LET SLIDE BECAUSE IT'S CLEAR THEY WERE GOOD-FAITH EFFORTS TO COMMUNICATE THE MEANING OF THE WORD-- FOR INSTANCE, IN A BAR I SOMETIMES WORK AT, THERE IS A BOX LABELED "CHAMPAIGN GLASSES." THAT'S NOT THE CORRECT SPELLING, BUT ANYBODY WHO KNOWS HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE WORD "CHAMPAGNE" IS GOING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LABEL MEANS. THAT'S ALL LANGUAGE IS-- A GOOD-FAITH EFFORT TO CONVEY MEANING BASED ON A SHARED UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT WORDS MEAN AND HOW THEY ARE CONSTRUCTED.

ALL OF THIS WAS VERY EASY FOR ME TO ACCEPT! BUT IF SOMEONE FROM APPALACHIA, WHO SPEAKS THE SAME LANGUAGE AS ME, WROTE THE WORD "XHOWL" ON A PIECE OF PAPER AND EXPECTED ME TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT MEANT "GIRL," BECAUSE IN ALBANIAN "XH" IS PRONOUNCED "G" AND IN APPALACHIA "OW" IS SOMETIMES PRONOUNCED "ER," I WOULD NOT FEEL LIKE THEY HAD MADE A GOOD-FAITH EFFORT TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE THE WORD "GIRL."

SO MY ULTIMATE ANSWER HERE IS THAT I DISAPPROVE OF ATTEMPTS TO FIND ESOTERIC WAYS TO PRONOUNCE LETTERS OR SPELL WORDS THAT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE THAT GOOD-FAITH EFFORT. WHETHER IT'S "YOU CAN SPELL FISH AS GHOTI, AS LONG AS YOU SAY ALL THE LETTERS WRONG," OR "YOU CAN PRONOUNCE 'WHAT' SILENTLY IF YOU DON'T SAY ANY OF THE LETTERS" I AM GENERALLY NOT IN FAVOR OF THESE FAKE-DEEP, DESPERATE-TO-BE-CLEVER ATTEMPTS AT SAYING "YOU KNOW, IF YOU DISRESPECT THE LISTENER AND/OR READER'S GOOD-FAITH EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND YOU BY MAKING AN INTENTIONAL EFFORT TO BE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND, THEN ENGLISH HAS NO RULES!"

IF ANYONE IS INTENDING TO SEND ME A "WHAT ABOUT--" SORT OF MESSAGE TO THIS, REFER BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THIS POST AND THEN KEEP READING UNTIL YOU DON'T SEND THAT MESSAGE.

TL;DR - ANYONE WHO SAYS SHIT LIKE THIS WAS ALREADY MOCKED IN THIS COMEDY SKETCH AND I ROUGHLY AGREE WITH MESSRS. FRY AND LAURIE

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hi,

I am very much not american so I must admit that my first impulse when seeing all the rap/racism discourse was something like "do I really need to consume more american culture, it's fucking everywhere already". Idk but to me it feels like american/english-speaking culture absolutely dominates a lot of the world, sometimes at the cost of out own cultures and languages, if something is in English it is "good", if it is in own own languages it is "bad". Musicians often start singing in English and more american-like after a while to get bigger. We value American culture and music, they mock our accents (and languages sometimes) and best case scenario see us as funny and silly.

Then I started thinking. Do you think that americans kind of see rap kind of like foreign music still? Like low-brow unexotic foreign music.

I don't know this is a really fresh thought and I'm not sure if I am explaining it very well.

hey first off I just want to say -

you are entirely correct in your reaction that people outside of America/the English-speaking world do not need more American culture thrust upon them! this discussion is extremely centered on Americans, the reception and reaction to rap within America, and excuses that white American use to avoid interacting meaningfully with Black culture, art, and ideas. while anti-Blackness as an issue obviously extends far outside of America, this particular conversation is deeply tied to American culture. I appreciate you pointing that out!

I also think you're point about rap, and by extension other Black artforms, being Othered in American pop culture. certainly in terms of language, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), which is utilized by many rappers, is still heavily disputed in its validity as a "real" language, with many dismissing it as a bastardized version of "proper" English and associating it heavily with those who are lower-class and uneducated. in a similar way to many international artists having to work in English to gain wider recognition and validation, many Black Americans are proficient in "code switching," the practice of switching between AAVE that they likely grew up speaking and an English dialect that is considered more "professional."

similarly, I think your use of the term "low-brow" is very apt. Black music has always been met with distrust and disdain by white audiences. there's a reason that so many people feel the need to bring up sex, drugs, and violence when they talk about rap; to many white cultural gatekeepers that was all rap was. (and, like, we should very much talk about why that is in and of itself a bad thing, when white crime is so often glorified in pop culture. why is the Godfather a classic masterpiece but Black men making art about their own experiences with racism, violence, poverty, and survival don't deserve serious consideration?) and that didn't start with rap! in the early 20th century jazz, also a Black creation, was seen as dangerous for promoting promiscuity among nice white teens. no matter what Black people make, white cultural gatekeepers will find a way to start a moral panic about it.

the reverse also happens as well, with Black people being treated as foreigners even in music genres that they helped pioneer. Black Americans were hugely formative in the early days of country, but are met with hostility in the contemporary country scene. Lil Nas X's Old Town Road was one of the biggest songs of the year it was released and undeniably country but was largely snubbed by country music community, and Beyoncé's new country album, Cowboy Carter, is a direct response to her hostile reception at the Country Music Awards in 2016.

the point being, yes, I don't think it's off-base to say that, to many Americans, rap and Black music and art generally are like... very optional and avoidable parts of pop culture in the way that more white-dominated genres are not, similarly to a lot of international and especially non-English art.

[leletha-jann]

Headcanon in which I should be sleeping:

The speaking voice of Castle Heterodyne is the combined voiceprint of all the Heterodynes the Castle has ever known.

It started with Faustus, of course, because the Castle's mind was originally a print of his. He taught it to speak. But it learned more from Faustus' children, and from their children, and so on. It listens. It records. It plays back. It took its voice from them. As accents and dialects shifted over time, the Castle picked up those from its Heterodynes too.

It's an average - the Castle isn't playing back a word from one Heterodyne, a word from another, and so on like some kind of newspaper-patchwork ransom note. It's just...all of them. At once. Overlaid and combined and remembered.

A chorus of treasured, beloved ghosts giving voice to their home.

Sound and music and harmony is what the Heterodynes do, after all. A chorus is a multitude, a multilayered thing, in harmony and counterpoint, and that's what heterodyning is. Their voices are the thing that distinguishes them from other Sparks. And isn't the Castle one of the family, originally, after all? Shouldn't its voice be from the family, too? It can't sing the way they do, but it speaks with their voices.

When the Castle speaks, isn't it the family speaking? It's the generational memory of the Heterodynes. Wouldn't it preserve their voices, too, and make them its own? Their bones in its crypts, and their voices in its halls?

You'd never notice, to listen to. Hundreds of years of sound and speech, absorbed, merged, and made into something new. But the Castle remembers its family, in the ghosts and fingerprints layered into its own voice.

Agatha's voice will be in there, one day. And as the Castle loves her, listens and replies to her, knows her as true family and its rightful master, perhaps she already is.

[german-enthusiast]

What makes German a difficult foreign language to learn?*

Phonology / Pronunciation & Comprehension

✳️ accent-based language (accent isn't fixed, rhythm isn't as melodic and forseeable)

✳️ 16 vowel sounds (lots more than the average 5-6!)

✳️ complex syllables

Morphology

✳️ Case system (Kasus) - allows for variable word order but requires lots of inflection on articles, pronouns, nouns and adjectives

✳️ Kasus-choice changing the meaning (esp. Akkusativ/Dativ with movement verbs)

✳️ rule-governed fusion of article and preposition (z.B. zur, zum, hinterm)

✳️ 9 plural markers for nouns

✳️ 3 grammatical genders (with mainly only probabilistic rules of which is which

Vocabulary

✳️ very frequent use of

🔅 composite worde (z.B. das Rathaus, die Weltkarte, die Mitternachtsformel)

🔅 derived words (z.B. laufen -> verlaufen, günstig -> ungünstig)

🔅 conversion of words (z.B. laufen -> der Lauf, hoch (adj) -> das Hoch (N))

Syntax:

✳️ word order is very variable, but there's still lots of rules (keywords: Verbklammer, Satzglieder, topologisches Feldermodell)

✳️ the verb is often split in two with stuff in between its parts

Miscellaneous

✳️ localizing verbs

🔅 mode of movement often in verb itself, direction often in separate word

🔅 position verbs vs. contact verbs and static vs. causal location (I sit down & I sit on the chair vs. Ich setzte mich hin & ich sitze auf dem Stuhl)

✳️ variety of prepositions (on the table & on the wall vs. auf dem Tisch & an der Wand))

*Disclaimers:

Furthermore of course difficulties that language learning generally has (like vocabulary as a whole, various registers, dialects, etc).

I'm not saying German is more difficult than other languages, just that these are typical difficulties in German (other languages will have many of these as well).

This is also not only from an English-native perspective! (German has 16 vowel sounds + 3 Diphthongs, English 12 vowel sounds + 8 Diphthongs, but Russian, Greek and Spanish for example have only 5 vowel sounds each! so 16 is a lot more in those cases))

[drdemonprince]

Okay I am really interested in hearing y’all’s conversation about voice/accent because mine is all over the place! Like I’ve got my American standard professional accent, my twangy southern regional accent that comes out when I’m at ease or angry, my weird southern valley girl accent that comes out when I’m talking to straight women especially, and I will often adopt dialects based on who I’m talking to without realizing it. It makes me feel super fake to be switching constantly, but I am usually completely unaware I’m doing it. I’m guessing it’s autistic mirroring or something, but I feel this paranoia that people will think I’m mimicking a culture I don’t seem to represent because they don’t know my background or because they’ve only know the generic professional voice me. I’ve tried to lean more into my natural accent and less “professional” voice, but that really doesn’t have the same effect in the workplace when I need to be heard. It’s such a weird thing!

This is sooo common! I'm not sure how to phrase it exactly, but there are chameleon/mirror Autistics who reflexively take on others' turns of phrase and mannerisms so instinctively, and then there are immovable stone Autistics who just will not fucking change how we present no matter who we are talking to or the social pressures of the context, even if our job depends upon it. (helllooo pda!)

[catwouthats]

Young Justice (98’) and their ACCENTS because it drives me insane

Bart Allen: Internet/game accent with a southerner twang (plus, speedsters process the world around them differently, including language, so I imagine there is a sort of “speedster accent” since he’s not used to speaking slow)

Anita Fite: Bayou, Haitian, and slight Jamaican accent (probably got not as strong after less time with her relatives. Btw her dad is Jamaican. Also, where did she move to with her dad after gma’s death? Bc that would influence it too)

Tim Drake: Gotham accent (NY or NJ. Mid-Atlantic) kinda privileged white boy version.

Kon El: I hc him as speaking in a “charming” city/suburb way (Delaware aka metropolis), while trying to hide that ever so slight rural mid-west accent from slipping out at certain words

Cissie King-Jones: A suburban east-coast accent (She is from Pennsylvania) but add the fact she goes to an all girls school (groups can form their own dialects)

Cassie Sandsmark: suburban east-coast accent mostly. (mixed slightly with NYC style accent)

Slobo: he’s from another planet, but if ya interpret how they spell what he says mixed with his personality you get rough city-southern (slurred speech with some consonants spat. Harsh, gravelly voice.)

Secret: She grew up in Rhode Island (suburbs I think?), so New England accent. Also, based on how they show her speech bubbles/text: soft spoken, week voice, strained

More languages headcanons:

- Kon tries to avoid saying words like “dog” around his friends and crushes. When he does have to say it, he’s very conscious of how his pronouncing it and will pause a moment before saying it slightly slow.

- Because of Bart being neurodivergent, he picks up accents easily. And his accent can fluctuate occasionally into the accent of who his speaking to. (This is technically canon)

- A Valley Girl moved to Cissies school and infected the whole school with her accent. She then has a slight valley accent for a bit (never fully goes away)

- Bart Allen confuses the FUCK out of other southerners since he speaks so fast with a slight southern accent.

- Bart’s voice is fucking weird in general bc he had to get used to speaking 10x slower than normal (bc VR world n shit)

- It’s canon that Cassie says “like” a lot, and I just wanna point that out again

- They all mock the way Tim speaks

- Nobody mocks the way Bart speaks (some of them want to but literally don know how to since his accent is so weird)

- Slobo’s accent is slightly softer than Lobo’s (genetic runt n all). He tries to force it to be harsh most of the time though.

- Secret is so soft spoke with a strained voice bc of her ptsd. After she becomes human again she is slightly better, but the way she strains her voice hurts her now since it’s a solid body.

- Not exactly a hc, but did Anita smack Kon after he mocked her accent? Bc if they didn’t show it in the comic, I hc she did. Kon tried to be better after mocking her accent that one time though (This is canon. She pretended something he said once was a racist thing and he got so scared. She laughed at him for it and said she was just messing).

- Strangers sometimes stare at Bart and Slobo talking to each other bc their accents are so odd. When one of them notice, they silently signal to the other, and then they both suddenly stop talking to turn ominously to the person looking. (They also later let Anita in on their trick bc they noticed that some racist people occasionally shoot her weird looks. They love scaring bigots with this trick.)

- After all her parents died, Anita noticed her accent start to slip and that frustrated her, so she made sure to make sure to have her Haitian accent prevail (visits to her hometown, etc.)

[littleeyesofpallas]

Hi,

would you make meta stuff about Mayuri's way of speaking? I mean guy speaks strange way compared to other characters and me with friend don't speak japanese and would like to know more about it.

Thank you! 💜

So, i do want to remind anyone reading my blog but please remember i'm not at all fluent in Japanese. I understand the grammar on a textbook level, and with enough dictionary resources I can poke around and sus out nuances of some word choices (particularly stuff like fictional names of people and swords and attacks and stuff, as those kinds of creative choices are very overt*), especially in irregular usage, but when it comes down to things like dialect, slangs, vernacular or phraseology, or more subtle tone indicators I'm pretty blind.

*(sorry to further clarify: when it's stuff like fantasy jargon it's stuff no one would ever actually say, and so the choices made in crafting those words or names from scratch are all reliably very deliberate. But when looking at more casual speech a lot of character voice just kind of defaults to what "sounds" right, and so the distinction between choosing one common word over another isn't always meaningful or readily apparent, both in general and to someone not fully fluent like me.)

Like if someone talks in a stilted overly technical or dry way I might be able to tell that much, but I'd totally miss more structural things like whether it makes them sound more like a mad scientist -vs- a tryhard edgelord fake intellectual -vs- a man out of time -vs- a stuffy rich person --or what the differences i'd even be looking for between all those would be-- I really can't tell outside of what i might be able to glean from things like narrative context more than the dialog itself.

With the exception of some very tropey, and thus easier to identify things like, movie-esque yakuza slang, or melodramatic historical feudal drama formal titles --and even then those are things i might more readily catch when actually spoken than when written on the page-- i'm just as lost as the next person.

That all being said, there are still a few little things i can sort of pick at without feeling totally out of my depth...

I think it's been brought up on some random post of mine before that Mayuri does notably use a "more feminine" 1st person pronoun, watashi[私] which is a pretty common pronoun, although its usage feels weird to explain in English?

Like... it is considered "gender neutral" in that there are other pronouns that are more specifically feminine or masculine and it's not one of them. But then in practice, you'd basically expect men to opt for one of the more overtly masculine pronouns, which just sort of leaves women with watashi as a default?

So it's not that it explicitly makes him sound ""feminine"" so much as it makes him sound less masculine; which suits his intellectual, non physical inclined, and at times cowardly or at least scheming demeanor. But like, it's also considered a little stuffy and sort of overly formal, or technical which is also appropriate to him.

Oh right and it's a formal pronoun as opposed to informal, but there's also a level of very formal pronouns, and it's not one of those, so that doesn't so much triangulate a position as it just leave in vaguely in the middle of the road...

Does that all make sense? it feels like super overexplaining for what is an extremely commonly used pronoun with mostly very neutral implications.

He occasionally ends sentences with a single katakana syllable rather than hiragana, indicating... not quite an "accent".. but like a sort of emphasis. Like a punctuating lilt in tone. Actually Nakao Ryuusei does this really noticeably in the anime and I don't know for sure if I heard it that way in my head and he just nailed it, or if i heard him first and it's just always colored my reading since.

A lot of the rhetorical NE[ネ] which begs confirmation, often translated into English as "...right?" (It's part of that desu ne[ですね] that you hear a lot in anime, where the desu[です] is just the verb to be, so together they tend to translate as "isn't it?")

YO[ヨ] which is again a sort of rhetorical thing that usually gets translated as something like, "...you know?"

and E?[エ?] which isn't even a word or part of speech so much as it's just like, an interrogative noise? Quite literally just "eh?"

But see this is one of those things were like... I can tell it's different from a sort of default neutral mode of speech, but I don't know what that indicates as, like, a point of characterization... Is it specifically condescending? Is it there to sound mechanical or stilted? Is it somehow old fashioned or polite/formal? I have no clue as to these sorts of specifics.

[edit]: I want to reiterate this is a rhetorical device, he's not literally asking a question and waiting for a response. If anything it's functionally the exact opposite, he's saying it to emphasize that he's stating things meant to be taken as facts, it actively closes the dialog off from further questioning.

He also says HOU[ホウ] a lot, which also isn't really a word so much as a sound, but given the pattern in speech above I feel like it's kind of inquisitive, or at least contemplative, which is (i think) how I remember Nakao delivering those lines too. Like a sort of, "Oh?" or "Huh..." or "Hmm..."

And given how close the camera gets to his face most times he says it, it gives an impression of being, not "quiet" exactly, but like you had to be close to hear it, so like, almost under his breath? Like it's clearly a noise he makes to himself, it's not like a thing or expression he's making to the other people int he scene.

FUU[フウ] or alternatively HUU, and I think once or twice FUN'/HUN'[フン] as a sort of grunt? not quite as guttural as that, but not quite a sigh? Like a "hmpf."

He also does your classic YARE YARE[ヤレヤレ] which definitely isn't unusual or unique to him but it has this kind "tut tut" or "tch"/"tsk" tone to it and tends to translated very loosely like, "oh my" or "good grief", but I think of it more like a "well, well, well..." but like kind of implicitly more exasperated than that sounds in english?

I don't know where to start trying to qualify, like... what kind of character says yare yare a lot, but it's definitely something that suits some characters more than others, and Mayuri it definitely fits.

He tends to laugh like ...KU KU...[...クク...] which is a kind of sharp snigger, sneer, or scoff. He really doesn't guffaw or cackle or have much of a more typical dramatic villain laugh, it's very understated.

Although in his fight with Pernida he does let out a full on maniacal FUHAHAHA[フハハハ] laugh for the first time in the whole series

I do love the fonts Kubo uses for a lot of Mayuri's dialog. At a certain point he starts to lean intothe same basic font as everyone else, but particualrly at the beginning he switches between a few unusual ones that are specific to Mayuri.

One's got that rough kind of pseudo handwritten quality to it. It reads to me as kind of scratchy, like a sharp pen nib on thick matte paper, with a kind of clotty ink flow that starts thick and wet but sorta tapers out too fast, leaving the lines spotty and rough.

But he also alternated with a thicker rounder font that has these subtle curls to them that I don't see other character use often.

and then he's got a second font choice that basically has all the same tones as the first one, except maybe a bit, like, louder(?) implicitly just based on context? It tends to be used in creepy action scenes where as the thinner one is more for creepy conversation?

In his very first appearance he chastises Gin, and he changes font between sentences, giving a very distinct sense that it's a change in tone. It reads to me like a low heavy hiss, almost like his voice is normally shallow or throaty, but when the font changes he suddenly drops his voice into a chestier range and speaks almost more smoothly?

Then there's just the perfectly regular fonts he uses sometimes, basically any/every other character uses these same fonts at some point or another.

and he has a neat thin wispy font that he only uses the one time when he liquefies himself. Along with the voice bubbles used, it gives a super distinct impression of his voice barely being audible.

He also one time speaks enthusiastically in an italic version of the more standard font when he arrives in Hueco Mundo.

And then in the Hell Jaw one shot he just has a completely different standard font because Kubo probably didn't keep track of what fonts he'd been using from like 8 years ago

There's also a subtly funky sort of font he uses briefly in the tbtp sidestory? I dunno what to say about this honestly. It gives me these vague 60s-70s vibes that I can't quite place? (I feel like I know i've seen it before but on what? A bowling alley sign? A little back alley cafe? a jazz album cover??)

I have no idea that the take away from that is supposed to be though.

And I guess that's it. I dunno how I thought I was gonna end this. It didn't really reveal any new facets to his character that weren't pretty apparent from the rest of his whole design and demeanor. Plus Nakao's performance in the anime basically nails all of this and i think makes it pretty apparent in tone even if you don't know much about Japanese.

[localcatmutt]

A Discussion On "Factkin"

Before reading any of this post, please be aware that I will be using the psychological terms correctly. For example, when i describe delusional behaviour it is NOT an insult, it is used correctly in the way a psychiatrist or doctor would. Nothing in this post it attacking any one individual, nor is it meant to bully. I am ONLY educating. <3

First and foremost, what IS factkin?

Factkin is a term that means an individual who identifies as a non-fictional, real human being. These “identities” are rooted in real-life individuals who exist in the shared reality, whether this person is currently alive or deceased. The people they claim to identify as are typically historical or famous in nature.

Factkin has been a known term in the community for as long as I have been in it. Most older generations like myself have come across the label at least once in our time here, and it is commonly known to come from individuals who mocked the alterhuman community (aka trolls or haters).

Why would someone be factkin?

As children develop into the adults they will one day become, their environment has a big impact on their personality. Their brains will unconsciously pick up traits from the people they grow up with, like their parents, friends, siblings and other family members, even the individuals they see on television! There will be many phases in their lives that will be influenced by all these different people. This can impact their behaviour, interests, beliefs, styles, speech patterns (like dialect or accent), and so much more. The majority of those traits they pick up though will fade away with time.

The traits that DO stay, may eventually become part of their base identity once they reach the end of their mental development. But even then they can still pick up more traits from those around them in adulthood.

So where am i going with this? Well, some kids may confuse this type of development for identifying as the other person.

I will use celebrities for example, since that is the typical source for a “factkin identity”.

We are all exposed to many famous celebrities, either from our favourite movies, television shows, or the music we listen to. They are all over the media we see around us. And people, especially minors who are in their developmental stages and are experimenting with their identities, will see all these amazing and influential people everywhere. They may want to be like them, or want to actually BE them. Then, whether it is consciously or unconsciously done, they will pick up traits from that celebrity.

Someone who isn't endlessly exposed to social media wouldn't think much of it, but if you're uneducated and come across the term “factkin”, they might think that’s what they are, rather than someone who idolizes another human being.

Other reasons may have to do with unhealthy coping strategies or psychotic/delusional symptoms that are left unchecked. Trauma and mental health can have a big impact on someone’s identity development. Underlying issues can cause confusion between a real mental illness and the belief that one is someone entirely different than who they really are.

It may also be an obsession with a figure that has gone a tad bit too far, and has some behavioural issues tied to it similar to addiction. In the sense that someone is so unhealthily dependent on the famous person, that they cannot tell that they are NOT the person they are obsessed with.

To put it simply, someone will never actually be factkin, it is just normal or abnormal developmental stages in life that has been confused with the term factkin, a delusional/psychotic disorder/experience, unhealthy coping mechanisms, an unchecked obsession, or confusion with one’s identity.

Idols

Having an idol is fairly common. The majority of us have had one in our lives. Sometimes our idol happens to be our mother or father. Sometimes its a singer, an actor or some other famous individual. An idol, by definition, is a person that is greatly admired, loved and revered. Idols are often figures that individuals hope to one day become. Although not in the literal sense like factkin claim to be. Rather, people want to become similar to their idol. That itself is healthy and doesn't normally have any negative impact, as long as the person still understands individuality (that nobody is perfectly like one another, and that they still have to be themselves.)

This is another possible factor in the confusion that self-claimed factkin may have with their own identity.

Past Lives

A past life is a fairly common concept for alterhumans. Many believe their identity to be caused by a past life they had as said being/animal they still currently identify as. Factkin have also been known to claim that they have a past life as some famous or historical figure. That alone isn't too harmful, as long as they don’t go around expecting people to treat them like that figure.

If you have a past life as a human being, can you still identify as that individual? Well, yes I guess. But does it make you factkin? No. As i stated above, factkin doesn't fit in the alterhuman community. It doesnt warrant its own term.

People who claim the factkin label have more commonly identified as currently living people anyhow, so there is no excuse for such a thing.

Grandiose Delusion

There are many different kinds of delusional disorders that I have studied, and when it comes to factkin, the one that especially comes to mind is the Grandiose delusion, or delusion of grandeur. This delusion is characterized by an individual who believes that they are someone other than who they are, such as a supernatural figure (like a god), or a famous individual (historical or currently alive). Does that sound familiar?

I came across this type of delusion during my studies years ago, and most cases of Grandiose Delusion that I have read about, have similarities to factkin and the people who identify as religious gods (like loki, anubis, jesus, etc).

The thing with delusions is that the people who experience this psychological symptom or disorder cant control it, nor are they always aware of it. So it poses many issues when trying to explain the truth to them. Telling them that they are not beyonce or justin bieber, and that they are actually John Doe who lives in Ohio, wont always go through to them.

Again, factkin is NOT a thing, but grandiose delusion is. Doesn't mean they can spread misinformation, that behaviour cant be enabled. But they also shouldn't be outright attacked, as again, they cant control their delusional behaviour. The best way we can approach someone with this psychological issue is by educating and encouraging them to seek professional help, and then educating the community without mentioning the individuals with the delusion.

Why is factkin problematic?

Unlike Otherkin or Therians who identify as species, factkin identify as specific individuals (living or deceased). Identifying as a species poses no harm to anyone. But there are lots of issues that come up when you identify as a specific person who exists. You are claiming to be this person, which surpass so many boundaries. This action is a violation of their privacy and their sense of self. It is okay to get inspiration from someone, but to claim to BE them is a whole other ordeal. Even going as far as mimicking/copying their personality is inappropriate on many levels. Nobody consents to such outrageous claims and behaviours.

Famous people get it a lot, I have seen it time and time again. Some even get surgeries to look like some celebrities they so strongly admire. I have even read some articles of young famous actors and singers whose mental health suffered when they heard of obsessed fans trying to become them. It crosses a line.

In addition, when it comes to celebrities, what you see on social media is rarely the whole truth, if it is even true at all. How could you even claim to be them when what you know is very likely just another facade they put on for the world to see? It’s unrealistic, truly. Both in a spiritual AND a psychological sense.

Impersonation, Identity Theft, Catfishing & Factkin

When debating the term factkin, the argument that is often brought up is identity theft. So let’s start with the definition for this: Identity theft (or fraud) is what happens when someone takes someone else’s name and personal information, and uses it without your permission to do whatever they like with it. This here is illegal, and you can be arrested or fined.

With this in mind, are “factkin” committing identity theft? Nope. Identity theft is a bit more than simply identifying as someone other than yourself.

What about catfishing?

Catfishing is the act of luring or pursuing someone into a relationship while pretending to be someone you arnt. Does this fit factkin? Well, no, BUT it can easily be something someone who is “factkin” can commit if they claim to be someone else other than theirselves.

What about impersonation?

Impersonation refers to the act of pretending to be someone you arnt. It can be assuming the identity of someone online, someone’s family member or imitating a public figure. Regardless of who is being impersonated, this act can have SERIOUS consequences for individuals and society as a whole. Impersonation doesnt always include criminal acts like identity theft or catfishing, but it can still have devastating affects on everyone involved, especially the person they are impersonating or identifying as.

I think this one fits the bill.

While someone who claims to be factkin may not confess to impersonation, claiming to identify as someone else still follows the same narrative. Someone who identifies as another person is claiming to be that person. Identity isn't cosplay, it is YOU. WHO YOU ARE. Therefore if you identify as Queen Elizabeth or Harry Styles, you are telling us that YOU are those people.

That very much sounds like impersonation to me.

NOTE – The major difference between Grandiose Delusion (or DMS) and impersonation is that impersonation is deliberate and intentional and conscious. The latter is an illness one does not choose to have.

My experience with having my identity taken

Many years ago I had my first experience with having my identity taken. Someone I didnt know (but knew my friends) took my name, my photos, whatever personal information they knew of me and my life, and they started identifying as me. I wasnt aware of it for months, until my friends found out about it. Then I was made aware of how far they had gone with this action. Not only did they pose as me, but they catfished other people using MY information and photos. One of the people they catfished was in love with me, and it absolutely shattered them. It was a whole messy situation that I wont get into here. But it had long lasting consequences on ME, my friends, and that girl who was manipulated.

The next time it happened was pretty similar, but it was a stranger that time.

On top of that I had people who were taking my very dear and personal experiences as their own, which isn't the same, but after what i dealt with, it definitely didnt make me feel any safer. I went off instagram from a while afterwards.

How it negatively impacts the identified person

The people who get used as someone else’s identity tend to get the worst of the negative impact. We feel incredibly unsafe, violated, and paranoid that other people out there will turn up and identify as us. They will steal our face and our name and our lives, and claim it as theirs. Read that again, see how crazy that sounds.

This isn't a laughing matter, its not a game. That is why I take factkin seriously. It is NOT appropriate. And it causes so much harm when you try to normalize this immoral behaviour. Using someone as your identity is NOT OKAY. It never will be.

Celebrities and historical figures are no different. Dead or alive, they deserve the same respect. To treat them any different would be to dehumanize them. Just because someone is famous, is a public figure or has a large following, doesnt mean you can identify AS them. Their privacy is already taken advantage of as it is, and they deal with enough impersonation already. Just look at some well known people in our own community! They have people create false accounts with their names, their faces, their posts, their information.

It breaks our trust in the world. It leaves us feeling like we have to watch our backs. It makes us uncomfortable. (US as in the people whose identities have been used and taken).

It’s ridiculous to want to normalize this toxic and disgusting behaviour.

How to deal with factkin?

Depending on the situation, there are different ways to deal with factkin. Firstly, attacking an individual using the label will never solve the situation. If you want to confront them, the best you can do is ask questions and encourage them to understand what they are doing by using that label. Educate them. If they confess to delusional thinking, encourage them to seek professional help. If they become defensive, I recommend leaving and blocking them, its not YOUR problem. Next, you can spread proper information about factkin and why it isn't an acceptable term.

Some kids may confuse factkin and connection. It’s okay to relate to other people, we all do it. But it doesnt have anything to do with factkin or the definition of the term. Sometimes all they need is someone to help them understand that. Not every person is well informed on terminology and education in the community. They might be unaware and need a hand to guide them. Dont always assume the worst of them.

To put it simply, don't attack, ask questions/don't assume, educate, encourage them to get help (if delusional), move on.

Conclusion

This post is already as long as it needs to be, I hope i was able to cover all the bases. If you have anything to add, let me know, I can make another part to this discussion. If you have questions, I will gladly answer them.

I hope that the message is delivered well. My intention is not to judge or hurt anybody, I am a lot more open-minded than some people may assume of me. I genuinely care about everyone, but not everything should be normalized or accepted in society or in this community.

I GET that they believe the “identity” is involuntary the same way otherkin/therian identities are, but it is still an innappropriate identity (same as god identities and those of cultural or religious beings.) My biggest issue isn't what they believe, but the fact they think its okay to normalize something like it and to inform people on it like its an innocent and harmless behaviour. The goal of this post is especially to spread the message that its NOT acceptable nor should it be normalized in the alterhuman community.

If you think this post is about anyone in particular, I assure you it isn't. Dont comment names or accounts of people who use the term “factkin” either (ill delete them). Especially if they are minors. This wont benefit anybody. I just want to educate. It has been something I’ve been meaning to discuss for a while, since the term factkin has existed longer than I have been in the community. Its nothing new.

Thank you for reading and I wish everyone a good day, sincerely.

- From your Local Tomcat, Ryuuko.