• @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    Ancient city-sized dragon that is eons older that any surviving historical text or man-made structures in the world, speaking to the dwarf that stands bravely before her: “Well ain’t chu just the most precious lil’ thang I ever did lay eyes on! Wut’s yer name, sugah?”

      • Bizarroland
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        1 year ago

        My papy were what you would call an elder dragon, so unless you got the fire power to take down Mrs. Tiamat you don’t stand a chance against me, sugah.

        So why don’t you just cool your heels, I’ll go make us some tea, and you can tell me about what’s going on in the world these days.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    No one decided that, if you’re looking at Tolkien based fantasy then of course it’s British because it’s British fantasy

    All of the Asian fantasy I’ve seen has been populated by people of their respective country.

    Everyone knows the Grim Reaper is Jamaican

    This post is stupid, just write your desired fantasy

  • PugJesus
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    1 year ago

    American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.

    I’m all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.

      • PugJesus
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        271 year ago

        I heard it was Southern English which was closest to Elizabethan English.

        In any case, reality doesn’t matter. Perceptions matter. Britain is an old country, and America is a new country - so in ‘translating’ an accent to a past period, we tend to see the accent of the ‘old country’ as more appropriate.

        • @[email protected]
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          41 year ago

          I’m not sure how they measure how close an accent is. But, they can tell how old accents sounded by looking at songs and poetry for the meter and rhyme of words. If two words rhymed, they were probably pronounced the same way. For example, in Shakespeare’s time they know that “proved” and “loved” rhymed.

        • @[email protected]
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          21 year ago

          well for one from times and places where there was a lot of casual writing there are just straight up people writing about how people speak, which is pretty convenient.

          but additionally you can compare different recorded and modern speakers to figure out trends which let you at least vaguely reconstruct what people from the past would probably have sounded like.

          and more specifically with new england that’s just wholesale a bunch of people from england who settled a colony, so you effectively have a twin study where you can compare it to modern england.

    • @[email protected]
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      131 year ago

      American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed

      Nor was modern British English. One of the defining features of modern British English is the lack of rhoticity (dropping the “r” sound), but that’s very modern, only happening in the 19th century. They have managed to recreate how English sounded in Shakespeare’s time by looking at words that were supposed to rhyme, and their meter. To me, it sounds like “pirate English”.

      https://youtu.be/uQc5ZpAoU4c?t=299

      Whether modern American English is closer to Shakespeare’s English is a matter for debate. I’d say it’s closer than RP, but not as close as some rural British accents.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      That may be true for regional us dialects, but the core of American pronunciation is older than Received Pronunciation

    • Tedrow
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      31 year ago

      This is actually a misconception. The modern English accents are a result of fashionable language of London. This developed after the United States of America was formed. So after the Middle ages. It’s more likely English speakers in the middle ages sounded more American than English.

    • @[email protected]
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      Actually, modern American English apparently is closer to the English from old days than modern day British English is. Always found that to be an interesting tidbit.

      • SonnyVabitch
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        51 year ago

        Shakespeare apparently rhymes better in American accents than British ones, since it was written before the Great Vowel Shift. I’m not cultured enough to notice but I like this piece of trivia.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      Xenoblade 2 had a nice use of the various English accents, generally each nation/group in the game used a particular accent (eg Mor Ardain = Scottish, villain group Torna spoke American English). One unique character (a blade) had a southern grew-up-on-a-farm accent.

    • @[email protected]
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      11 year ago

      American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.

      OP mentions Australia, which wasn’t even established as a penal colony until 5 years after the US was recognized as an independent nation under the Treaty of Paris.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      Why not? American culture and linguistics are extremely popular around the world.

      Maybe since modern America is so young, people dont associate it to fantasy?

      Alternatively, Native American accents aren’t uncommon in fantasy I feel like

      • @[email protected]
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        21 year ago

        I imagine it’s because Americans use foreign accents to make the fantasy more foreign itself. If the wizard who cast a spell to alter the passage of time starts talking like the dude that runs the gas station on the corner, maybe it takes away some of the magic.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        Good point, Avatar is basically US Marines in spaaaaace vs. spaaaace Pocahontas sci-fi/fantasy.

      • @[email protected]
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        -11 year ago

        Yeah sure buddy, “American Culture” is extremely popular. It isn’t that you people just try to appropriate the culture of the migrants lol

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          Damn, someone got you with a downvote within 3 minutes of posting. That shit was quick, didn’t think the Fediverse got down like that. Wasn’t me for the record

          But, you don’t believe the “American Culture” is popular? I’d be real interested in a counter argument to the fact it is popular. It’s pretty easy to show that American media and politics are pretty discussed or enjoyed around the world.

          And I’m not sure what you mean about us appropriating from migrants. Do you consider every American a migrant due to the fact that America is so young?

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            Something like the last thing you said. I mean they killed most of their natives and the traditions they had, I’m sure there’s even more latinos there that there is people decending from the native nations.

            So if their “culture” didn’t came from their own land, then from where? People who came there: Migrants.

            Edit: Mispellings (if it isn’t clear enough, english is not my first language lol).

        • Lols [they/them]
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          11 year ago

          hollywood and americas massive industry has effectively given it a chokehold on western culture, to the point where western culture practically just means ‘cultures that take their cue from the usa’

  • Jikal
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    341 year ago

    Orc: “Y’all lil fellers in the wrong gotdam place I reckon. You boys jus’ git on up in them rocks and take them panties right off.”

  • @[email protected]
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    271 year ago

    Pretty sure because the “original” fantasy was written as a false history for England (LoTR was this). So it makes sense that the people would bear an English accent

    • @[email protected]
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      61 year ago

      I hope one day we can have a (respectful) mainstream fantasy world for Native America, It could be so cool.

      • Jilanico
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        51 year ago

        Not exactly what you’re looking for, but most characters in A Wizard of Earthsea resemble Native Americans.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        That’s cool. I wouldn’t mind fantasy characters having accents (it’s fantasy after all) just providing context for why it’s predominantly English

    • TigrisMorte
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      -31 year ago

      No, only folks that never read what Tolkien said about LotR think it is a fake History for England.

      • @[email protected]
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        41 year ago

        I read the Silmarillion, he was sad about the fact that England had no real “mythology” so he made his own

      • @[email protected]
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        91 year ago

        The middle ages ended in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople, which coincided with the birth of the Renaissance in Italy having already taken place.

        The Iroquois Confederacy was founded (most likely) in the 1500s, with the earliest record of the first capital being in 1609.

        The United States itself was founded in the 1700s.

        Their comment was correct, the Iroquois Confederacy was founded during the age of the Renaissance and our modern conception of America came much later

  • @[email protected]
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    211 year ago

    Let’s see.

    Dwarves: Billy-Bob Thornton’s accent from Sling Blade.

    Elves: Transatlantic accent. Used by stars in the 1930s/1940s.

    Hobbits: Cajun. Makes sense, they love food, live a rural life, etc.

    Orcs: NYC accent

    Goblins: Chicago Accent

    Or, if you wanted to go international.

    Dwarves: Gotta go with the classic. Glasgow.

    Elves: South African. I think it can sound smart but foreign-influenced, as elves should.

    Hobbits: Aussie

    Orcs: NYC accent again

    Goblins: Newfoundland accent

  • @[email protected]
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    201 year ago

    Most have Eurocentric accents because those are the areas the various legends and stories originated.

    Various depictions of leprechauns make them pretty much Irish rednecks. I love Mad Sweeney’s depiction in American Gods.