The eighth season of the cult series "Game of Thrones" has already started and very soon it will become clear who will sit on the Iron Throne and who will fall in the struggle for it.
In big-budget series and films, special attention is paid to the little things. Attentive viewers who watch the series in the original have noticed that the characters speak with different accents of the English language.
Let's take a look at what accents Game of Thrones characters use and how the accents play out in telling the story.
Why do fantasy films speak British English?
Indeed, in almost all fantasy films, the characters speak British English.
For example, in the film trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" some of the main actors were not British (Elijah Wood is an American, Viggo Mortensen is a Dane, Liv Tyler is an American, and director Peter Jackson is a New Zealander). But with all this, the characters speak with British accents.
In the "Game of Thrones" everything is even more interesting. It was filmed by an American director for an American audience, but still all the key characters speak British English.
Directors use this trick to create the impression of a completely different world for the audience. After all, if viewers from New York watch a fantasy film in which the characters speak with a New York accent, then there will be no feeling of magic.
But let's not delay, let's go directly to the accents of the heroes of the Game of Thrones.
In the series, the people of Westeros speak British English. At the same time, the accents are typical for real-life English accents. For example, the north of Westeros speaks with northern English accents, while the south speaks with southern English.
Characters from other continents speak with foreign accents. This approach was criticized quite strongly by linguists, because despite the fact that accents played an important role, even members of the same family could speak with different accents. For example, the Starks.
Starkey and Jon Snow
House Stark rules the north of Westeros. And the Starks speak with a Northern English accent, mostly Yorkshire.
This accent is best seen in Eddard Stark, nicknamed Ned. The role of the character was played by actor Sean Bean, who is a native speaker of the Yorkshire dialect, because he was born and spent his childhood in Sheffield.
Therefore, he did not need to make any special efforts to portray the accent. He just spoke in his normal language.
Features of the Yorkshire accent are manifested mainly in the pronunciation of vowels.
- Words like blood, cut, strut are pronounced with [Κ] instead of [Ι], just like in hood, look.
- Rounding the sound [a], which becomes more like [ΙΛ]. In Ned's "What do you want", the words "want" and "what" sound closer to [o] than in standard English.
- The endings of the words city, key are lengthened and turn into [eΙͺ].
The accent is quite melodic and is perceived well by ear. This is one of the reasons why they used it for the Starks, and not, for example, Scottish.
Differences in vowel pronunciation between Yorkshire and RP are notable:
Other members of House Stark also speak with Yorkshire accents. But for the actors who played Jon Snow and Robb Stark, this is not a native accent. Richard Madden (Robb) is Scottish and Kit Harrington (John) is Londoner. In conversations, they copied the accent of Sean Bean, so some critics find fault with the mispronunciation of certain sounds.
However, it is almost inaudible to the average viewer. You can check it yourself.
It is noteworthy that Arya and Sansa Stark, the daughters of Ned Stark, do not speak in a Yorkshire accent, but in the so-called "posh accent" or aristocratic accent.
It's pretty close to Received Pronunciation, so it's often confused with RP. But in "posh accent" words are pronounced more smoothly, and diphthongs and triphthongs are often flattened into one continuous sound.
For example, the word "quiet" would sound like "qu-ah-t". The triphthong [aΙͺΙ] flattens out to one long [ΙΛ]. The same in the word "powerful". Instead of [ΛpaΚΙfΚl] with triphthong [aΚΙ], the word will sound like [ΛpΙΛfΚl].
Native English people often say that "posh" sounds like you're speaking RP with a plum in your mouth.
You can trace the features of speech in the dialogue between Arya and Sansa. The accent differs from the classic RP only by lengthened some vowels and smoother diphthongs and triphthongs.
Lannisters
House Lannister speaks pure RP English. In theory, this should reflect the wealth and high position of the house in Westeros.
PR is exactly the standard accent that is taught in English schools. In fact, this is the accent of the south of England, which, during the development of the language, lost its distinctive features and was accepted as a standardized one.
Tywin and Cersei Lannister speak pure RP, with no sign of any other accent, as befits a ruling family.
True, some Lannisters had problems with the accent. For example, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who played the role of Jaime Lannister, was born in Denmark and speaks English with a noticeable Danish accent. In the series, this is almost not noticeable, but sometimes sounds that are uncharacteristic of RP slip through.
Tyrion Lannister's accent cannot be called RP, although in theory it should be there. The thing is that Peter Dinklage was born and raised in New Jersey, so he speaks a rather specific American English.
It was difficult for him to adjust to British English, so in the remarks he deliberately controls the accent, making wide pauses between phrases. However, he did not quite succeed in completely transferring RP. Although this does not detract from his excellent acting.
You can appreciate how Peter Dinklage speaks in real life. A significant difference from the hero of the series, right?
Notable accents of other characters
The world of Game of Thrones is a bit wider than Westeros alone. The characters of the Free Cities and other locations beyond the Narrow Sea also have interesting accents. As we mentioned earlier, the director of the series decided to give the inhabitants of the Essos continent foreign accents, which are quite different from classic English.
The character Sirio Forel, a master swordsman from Braavos, was played by Londoner Miltos Yerolima, who in real life speaks received pronunciation. But in the show, his character speaks with a Mediterranean accent. It is especially noticeable how Sirio says the sound [r]. Not soft English [r], in which the tongue does not touch the palate, but hard Spanish, in which the tongue must vibrate.
Jaqen Hghar, a criminal from Lorath, aka the faceless from Braavos. He has a fairly noticeable German accent. Softened consonants, as if with a soft sign where it should not be, long vowels [a:] and [i:] become short [Κ] and [i].
In some phrases, one can even see the influence of German grammar in the construction of sentences.
The thing is that Tom Vlachiha, who played the role of Hgar, comes from Germany. He actually speaks English with that accent in real life so he didn't have to imitate him.
Melisandre, played by Carice van Houten, spoke with a Dutch accent. The actress is originally from the Netherlands, so there were no problems with the accent. The actress often conveys the sound [o] as [ΓΈ] (sounds like [Ρ] in the word "honey"). However, this is one of the few features of the Dutch accent that can be seen in the actress's speech.
In general, the accents of the English language give the series juiciness. This is a really good solution to show the size of the Game of Thrones world and the differences of people who live in different areas and on different continents.
Even though some linguists are unhappy, we will express our opinion. Game of Thrones is a huge, big-budget project, with tens of thousands of little things to consider.
Accent is a small thing, but it plays an important role in the atmosphere of the film. And even if there are flaws, the final result came out great.
And the actions of the actors once again confirm that, if desired, you can speak absolutely any accent of the language - you just need to pay due attention to the preparation. And the experience of EnglishDom teachers confirms this.
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