| Writing Dialect: It's in the Rhythm |
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| By Cameron Michaels | |
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From somewhere out in the literary landscape, a buzzer sounds. Your reader has just gagged and closed your book she was perusing at the bookstore. Game over. You lose. How can you augment that special character, you have so painstakingly developed, with the proper dialect to give him or her that final element of authenticity? Start with your ears. Many beginning writers think that accents and dialects have to be phonetically rendered on the page to "sound" real. The truth is that most dialects can be "heard" through the proper cadence, or rhythm inherent within perfectly pronounced words. Spend some time listening to accents. If you don't live somewhere that provides you with that opportunity, rent some home videos with characters from places far from your home. However you do it, use your ears to determine what truly makes an accent. You might be very surprised to discover that it has more to do with timing and word placement than actual pronunciation. That's why lyrics, when sung, tend to lessen the singer's accent. In part, the timing of the music equalizes the cadence. For instance, take my friend Carlos. He was born in Mexico but was educated, and now resides, in Arizona. Most readers can relate to that. Provide your reader with the character's history and let the dialogue do the rest. (They will get it, honest.) For example, you could write this dialogue for Carlos: "Yes, Meester Smeeth. I weel be happee to go weeth you to thee house." Okay, that was a bit extreme. But, you don't have to pander to such stereotypical tripe to give Carlos an accent. Give your readers more credit than that. In the next example, the use of proper English is enough for your reader to differentiate him from many people with more "American" dialects. (Whatever that is.) "Yes, Mister Smith," Carlos said, nodding slowly. "I will be happy to accompany you to the house." Most native-born Americans don't talk this way. Given that Carlos was born in Mexico, the reader can fill in the fact that he is educated, and likely speaks with an accent the reader can "hear". Or, you can simply mention it in passing during some very early dialogue from that character. Likewise, an uneducated Polish immigrant will have different rhythms and word usage. Again, in this example, all the words are spelled correctly, yet we gain a sense of accent. "You know, Stosh," Stanley said, waving a meaty hand at the bow. "This boat." He turned his head slowly, inspecting the rusty vessel. "Is not good. Is metal." The heavy-set fisherman straightened his cap. "Me? I like wooden boat." In both cases, we used the correct spellings of Standard English words with two completely different results. The characters' histories, cadence and the placement of the words established the effects. What about wanna, shoulda, coulda and oughta? There are no fast and hard rules about their use. Ask one editor and she'll tell you they're okay. Ask another and he might say their use is for hacks and amateurs. Many widely published writers use these or similar words. Generally, if it doesn't slow the reader down, or knock them out of the flow, it's okay. The bottom line is you can't please everyone. Best advice. Use sparingly. The same holds true for yo, y'all, you'z guys and other such local phrases. Compare the following two snippets of dialogue: "You all hurry back. Do you hear me?" and "Y'all hurry back. Ya hear?" Which one is more real, more natural sounding? Would you guess the second speaker is from the southern US? Sometimes there just isn't any other way to say something than with the use of colloquialisms. (Right, mate?) The best dialogue uses a combination of word cadence, selected contractions and a sprinkling of slang appropriate to the period and location. A seventeenth century English gentleman's dialogue whilst appeareth quite different than that of my friend Bubba's, who's fixin' to get him a Moon pie. If you have done a good job establishing your character, much of the issue of dialect and accent will take care of itself. Your readers are savvy enough to plug in the right dialect when all of the other elements are present. Trying too hard to create that authentic-sounding accent using phonetically spelled aberrations of the English language will, more often than not, simply annoy your reader. |
You have created the perfect character, an Italian fisherman working the docks in "Down east" Maine (Aiyup). The character profile you have created describes him to a tee. He's stocky - muscular, but not fat - has dark hair, dark skin, a mustache, and, oh yes, an accent. Yes, that's it. "Hee'ya has an accent'a."
