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Thursday, August 31, 2017
Romeo & Juliet in the Accent Most Used in Shakespeare's Time
The Mary Sue: Ben Crystal, a British voice actor and artist, recently performed the opening sonnet of Romeo and Juliet with what is considered the closest approximation of what actors may have sounded like when Shakespeare was still alive.
3 comments:
Truly Cates
said...
I find the origin of langue very interesting, and accents seem to be pretty similar. There's one language/accent to begin with, it meets another language/accent, and they combine and mix in some ways. My friend is fluent in French, and she has told me before how, when she went to camp for French, all of the other students spoke with Canadian accents. After about 2 weeks, she picked the accent up too, although I'm sure not completely. She was speaking a mix of two accents, the one she normally speaks in and the one she's been around. If groups of enough people with different accents come together, it makes sense that they'd all begin speaking different words like each other, creating a whole new accent to define the place and time they were alive in.
How interesting! I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing when Crystal spoke in Shakespeare’s original accent. Whenever I think of a “Shakespearean” accent I really only think of an English accent. To be fair, my ears aren’t exactly tuned to pick up nuances in accents and dialects but this video was a great demonstration. It sounds almost Scottish, but with a twist of English. Crystal cuts his words short, but also seems to slow down is rhythm or pacing. Much like the audience I can’t quite place this accent, and maybe that’s why so many people in Shakespeare’s time loved his shows. This accent seems to compile several all together, which would appeal to larger amounts of audiences. Each audience member would be able to hear words and cadences that they speak, allowing them to become more interested in the show. I would extremely interested in seeing a Shakespeare piece spoken in the original pronunciation, just to see what words in the show I found that I pronounce the same way.
This was interesting! The origin of language is so unique. It is said that in homer’s time they didn’t have a word for blue, therefor there was no such thing as blue. But with ascents you could be saying the same word as someone else who doesn’t have the same accents as you and they would not be able to understand you due to your pronunciation. It is also interesting how over time accents change. If a place has an influx of a certain group of people into the population with a different accent the original population starts to pick up the new accent. It is the marvel of the human ear. We tend to copy what we hear around us. This article and video also brought up how we change material over time. Shakespeare delivered his work in a certain accent and even center and stance and now you see the classic Shakespearian training that is taught in schools. What’s taught now is so different than original recitation. When was the change in teaching Shakespeare? And what/who made the decision to change how we experience Shakespeare?
3 comments:
I find the origin of langue very interesting, and accents seem to be pretty similar. There's one language/accent to begin with, it meets another language/accent, and they combine and mix in some ways. My friend is fluent in French, and she has told me before how, when she went to camp for French, all of the other students spoke with Canadian accents. After about 2 weeks, she picked the accent up too, although I'm sure not completely. She was speaking a mix of two accents, the one she normally speaks in and the one she's been around. If groups of enough people with different accents come together, it makes sense that they'd all begin speaking different words like each other, creating a whole new accent to define the place and time they were alive in.
How interesting! I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing when Crystal spoke in Shakespeare’s original accent. Whenever I think of a “Shakespearean” accent I really only think of an English accent. To be fair, my ears aren’t exactly tuned to pick up nuances in accents and dialects but this video was a great demonstration. It sounds almost Scottish, but with a twist of English. Crystal cuts his words short, but also seems to slow down is rhythm or pacing. Much like the audience I can’t quite place this accent, and maybe that’s why so many people in Shakespeare’s time loved his shows. This accent seems to compile several all together, which would appeal to larger amounts of audiences. Each audience member would be able to hear words and cadences that they speak, allowing them to become more interested in the show. I would extremely interested in seeing a Shakespeare piece spoken in the original pronunciation, just to see what words in the show I found that I pronounce the same way.
This was interesting! The origin of language is so unique. It is said that in homer’s time they didn’t have a word for blue, therefor there was no such thing as blue. But with ascents you could be saying the same word as someone else who doesn’t have the same accents as you and they would not be able to understand you due to your pronunciation. It is also interesting how over time accents change. If a place has an influx of a certain group of people into the population with a different accent the original population starts to pick up the new accent. It is the marvel of the human ear. We tend to copy what we hear around us. This article and video also brought up how we change material over time. Shakespeare delivered his work in a certain accent and even center and stance and now you see the classic Shakespearian training that is taught in schools. What’s taught now is so different than original recitation. When was the change in teaching Shakespeare? And what/who made the decision to change how we experience Shakespeare?
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