Accents of English in the Game of Thrones

The eighth season of the cult TV 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 fight for it.

In high-budget TV shows and films, particular attention is paid to trifles. Attentive viewers who watch the series in the original, noticed that the characters speak with different accents of the English language.
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Let's see what accents the characters say in the Games of Thrones and what significance the accents have in the display of the story telling.

Why do fantasy movies speak British English?

Indeed, in almost all fantasy films, characters speak British English.

For example, in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, some of the main actors were not British (Elijah Wood is American, Viggo Mortensen is Danish, Liv Tyler is American, and director Peter Jackson is New Zealander). But with all this, the characters speak with British accents.

In the "Game of Thrones" everything is even more interesting. He was filmed by an American director for the American public, but all the same, all the key characters speak British English.

Directors use this trick to create the impression of a completely different world for viewers. After all, if the audience from New York will watch a fantasy film in which the characters speak with a New York accent, then there will be no magic feeling.

But let's not drag out, let's go directly to the accents of the heroes of the “Game of Thrones” heroes.

In the series, the residents of Westeros speak British English. In this case, accents are characteristic of real-life English accents. For example, the north of Westeros speaks with North-English accents, and the south - with South-English accents.

Characters from other continents speak with foreign accents. This approach was quite strongly criticized by linguists, because despite the fact that accents played an important role, even members of one family could speak with different accents. For example, Starkey.

Starkey and John Snow

The House of the Starkos rules the north of Westeros. And Starks speak with a North English accent, mostly Yorkshire.

Best of all this emphasis is noticeable in Eddard Stark, nicknamed Ned. The role of the character played by actor Sean Bean, who is the bearer of the Yorkshire dialect, because he was born and spent his childhood in Sheffield.

Therefore, to make any special efforts to depict the accent, he did not need. He simply spoke in his usual language.

Features Yorkshire accent manifested mainly in the pronunciation of vowels.

• Words like blood, cut, strut are pronounced in [ʊ], and not in [ə], just like in the words hood, look.
• The rounding of the sound [a], which becomes more like [ɑː]. In Ned's phrase “What do you want”, in the words “want” and “what” the sound is closer to [o] than in standard English.
• The endings of the words city, key are lengthened and turn into [eɪ].

The accent is quite melodic and is perceived well by ear. This is one of the reasons why it was used for Starks, and not, for example, Scottish.

Differences in the pronunciation of vowels between the Yorkshire dialect and RP are noticeable:


Other members of House Stark also speak with a Yorkshire accent. But for the actors who played Jon Snow and Robb Stark, this is not a native accent. Richard Madden (Robb) is Scottish, and Keith Harrington (John) is Londoner. In conversations, they copied the emphasis on Sean Bean, so some critics find fault with the wrong pronunciation of individual sounds.

However, the ordinary viewer is hardly heard. You can check it yourself.


It is noteworthy that Arya and Sansa Stark, the daughter of Ned Stark, do not speak a Yorkshire accent, but a so-called “posh accent” or aristocratic accent.

It is quite close to Received Pronunciation, so it is often confused with RP. But in “posh accent,” words are pronounced more smoothly, and diphthongs and trifthongs are often smoothed out into one long sound.

For example, the word "quiet" will sound like "qu-ah-t". Triftong [aɪə] is smoothed to one long [ɑː]. The same in the word powerful. Instead of [ˈpaʊəfʊl] with triftong [aʊə], the word will sound like [ˈpɑːfʊl].

Native Englishmen often say that “posh” sounds like you speak RP with a plum in your mouth.

You can trace the features of speech in the dialogue of Arya and Sansa. From the classic RP, the accent differs only in some elongated vowels and more smoothed diphthongs and trifthongs.

Lannister

The Lannister House speaks pure RP English. In theory, this should reflect the wealth and high position of the house in Västerås.

PR is the standard accent that is learned in English schools. In fact, this is the accent of the south of England, which in the course of language development lost its distinctive features and was accepted as standardized.

Tywin and Cersei Lannister speak pure RP, with no sign of any other emphasis, as befits a ruling family.

True, some Lannister with accent had problems. For example, Nikolai Coster-Waldau, who played the role of Jaime Lannister, was born in Denmark and speaks English with a noticeable Danish accent. In the series, it is almost not noticeable, but sometimes sounds are not typical for RP.


The accent of Tirion Lannister can not be called RP, although in theory there should be exactly him. The thing is that Peter Dinklage was born and raised in New Jersey, so he speaks quite specific American English.

It was difficult for him to adapt to British English, so in the replicas he consciously controls the accent, making wide pauses between the phrases. However, he didn’t quite get the full RP. Although it does not detract from his excellent acting.


You can appreciate Peter Dinklage speaking in real life. Significant difference with the hero of the series, right?


Remarkable accents of other characters

The world of "Game of Thrones" is a little wider than Westeros alone. The characters of free cities and other locations over the narrow sea also have interesting accents. As we mentioned earlier, the director of the series decided to give the inhabitants of the continent Essos foreign accents, which are quite different from the classic English.

The character Sirio Trout, a master swordsman from Braavos, was played by Miltos Erolim from London who, in real life, speaks received pronunciation. But in the series, his character speaks with a Mediterranean accent. Especially noticeable, as Sirio says the sound [r]. Not soft English [r], in which the tongue does not touch the palate, but solid Spanish, in which the tongue should vibrate.


Yaken Khgar, a criminal from Lorat, aka faceless from Braavos. He has a rather noticeable German accent. Softened consonants, as if with a soft sign where it should not be, long vowels [a:] and [i:] turn into short [ʌ] and [i].

In some phrases even the influence of German grammar is seen in the construction of sentences.

The fact is that Tom Vlashyha, who played the role of Hgara, hails from Germany. He really speaks English with such an accent in real life, so he did not have to portray him.


Melisandra, played by Caris van Houten, spoke with a Dutch accent. The actress is from the Netherlands, so there were no problems with the accent. The sound [o] actress often conveys as [ø] (sounds like [] in the word “honey”). However, this is one of the few features of the Dutch accent that can be seen in the speech of the actress.


In general, the accents of the English language give the show 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 dissatisfied, we will express our opinion. “Game of Thrones” is a huge big-budget project, while creating it you need to take into account tens of thousands of small things.

The 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 was excellent.

And the actions of the actors once again confirm that if you wish, you can speak absolutely any accent of the language - it is enough just to pay due attention to the preparation. And the experience of EnglishDom teachers confirms this.

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