Serving Redwall Fans Since March 13, 1999 |
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You're reading a tutorial in the Character Development Studios. Contact: Starfire
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Why won't the section be that helpful? Well... pick up a copy of Mossflower, flip through it, and find a place where the hares are talking. Then grab The Long Patrol and compare. The accents are significantly different. Or try a mouse talking in Redwall to dialect of Luke's tribe in The Legend of Luke. Accents vary from species to species, and then vary some more depending on where your character's from, and then they vary some more because if you're role-playing, generally you have to type what your character is saying... and then they vary some more depending on the character! And if you've never role-played before, be warned: it often takes practice to fall into the proper accent, especially since you're typing. When I first began RPing, I couldn't for the life of me do a hare accent that sounded, er, 'geniune.' So I skipped the accent entirely on that character (Starfire, incidently) and observed how other people with characters the same species as mine conveyed what their character was saying. After a little while I decided I could swing the hare accent, so I gave it a try (on a new character, in an attempt to salvage the last shred of continiuty I still had with Starfire at the point). Even if it's not the greatest hare accent on earth, I rarely have trouble getting what I want that character to say out in a consistent dialect. So, consider this as a sort of reference from which to work from, and then you can tailor your character's accent to suit you. This is vague and pointless because not all the characters of the said alignments talk like the others do. It is generally assumed that woodlanders talk in more of an educated tone, like the mice and squirrels do. Most woodlanders talk in some variation of this, but dialects vary depending on where they’re from. Woodlanders are generally more eloquent than most vermin. Those of the Evil (Vermin) alignment generally talk in their appointed rough vermin accents. Seeing as Mr. Jacques uses vermin as his bad characters, they usually don’t talk with the educated tones that woodlanders do. The vermin from the sea talk differently than those from the south, and some of them just completely break the rules and talk like woodlanders. In fact, the vermin accent varies so greatly depending on origin and not species that I've included only those that talk with a significant difference below. And remember! This actually relates more to history than to dialact, but since we're talking about talking I'll toss it in here: keep your vocabulary consistent with your character. How often in Redwall do we see rats primly bantering to each other about precipitation and its affect on the windfall apple plantation housed within the district of the abbey? And likewise, we rarely see squirrels and such swaggering about, spouting everyone's favorite vermin curses. Vocabulary can impact your character (and the reaction of other characters to your character) more than you might think. Since, when you're RPing, you can actually hear how the characters are talking, you have to aim for the best phonetic equivalent when typing. Easier said than done, but if you can't do it right off, don't worry -- it too comes with pratice. Mice and squirrels basically talk the same way, so I’ll lump them together. They have the accent that most of the other woodlander accents stem off of -- somewhat plain in comparasion. And, barring speech variations brought about by location, they seem to talk with one of the most cultured, educated dialects of the books. They talk in accents almost like that of the mice and squirrels, but vary slightly. Such as Durry Quill’s frequent use of ‘nuncle’ in the place of uncle.
Why, That Little Blighter! Pardon my bad mole accent, but almost undisputedly the moles have the hardest dialect by far. There are a couple 'mole dictionaries' online that you can check out, but it'd probably be easier to study a Redwall book to learn the accent. Moles like to use ‘z’ in place of ‘s,’ and have little speech nuances as 'hurr,' 'burr oi,' 'boi okey,' etc. don't really mean anything unless you're a mole. Their speech is often described as rustic, and it is heavily accented. Otters are water creatures, so it's to be expected, that they talk with sea-faring accents. They call others ‘matey’ frequently, and throw sea terms into their speech (like Thrugg from Salamandastron’s ‘What in jib booms are you doin’ followin’ me?). Like the hares, they’ll make you use the ‘ key. Well, they don't reallly, but that's what it reminds me of, as the Sparra Warriors tend to use the run-on mode of speech, like saying ‘Stoppa doin’ that, Mouseyworm!’ Everything not Sparra is referred to as a worm. Rearranging sentences a bit and shoving words together is an interesting way to get a start on the sparrow accent. Foxes tend to talk in the dialect of woodlanders with the occasional bit of vermin accent thrown in the mix. It seems to set them apart from the rest of the vermin and adds to the myth that all foxes are sly and cunning, though most are. They tend to carry an aristocratic air, and speak to those they deem below them in a condescending tone. Bats talk within the woodland dialect, but echo themselves (saves the caves from having to do it for them ;). To talk like a bat is to be repetitive, but it’s also to know what’s overboard. For instance, repeating every word of every sentence get on fellow RPer's nerves real fast. Shrews talk fast and argue a lot. They have the common dialects (leaving of ‘g’ and replacing ‘you’ with ‘y’), because that happens when you talk fast. ;) Pygmy shrews are somewhat rare, but their speech is reminscent of the sparrow accent (minus the mouseyworm stuff). ...talk in varying ways. Usually woodlanderish accents with croaks and krioks thrown in everywhere (but they are considered vermin). And that foodslave thing... This all depends on where your bird character is from. The birds from the northern mountains have accents remeniscent of Scottish, while the Warden of Marshwood Hill carries a lot of authority in his noble-ish accent. Krak from The Legend of Luke talked with a medieval accent. Think about where your bird character's from and relate his or her accent to that; keep in mind that most of the accents are from the British Isles. Reptiles embrace the common accent and tend to hiss a lot when speaking. Some of them don't speak at all. Simple solution: they don’t all talk the same way. Egbert didn’t talk like Foremole, and Breeze and Starbuck don't talk like Hon Rosie and Tarquin. And depending on where your character’s from, they may not talk like others of their species do. Sea otters and river otters talk with slighty different accents. The mice from the abbey talk differently than the mice from the northern shore. It’s really no big problem to change the accent a little to suit your needs, although getting rid of it completely tends to raise questions...    |
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Uncredited text, page designs, and graphics are Copyright © 1999-2004 Starfire, used with permission by Stormclaw for the purposes of this archive. Redwall and all associated titles, themes, books, characters, and places are the property of Mr. Brian Jacques and the Redwall Abbey Company, Limited. This site is non-profit and for entertainment purposes only; any infringement upon the copyrights of others is purely accidental and unintentional. |
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