T'Pau's accent....and the Syrians...

[Joel_Kirk]

I know I probably spelled 'Syrians' wrong, as I assume the Vulcan group is not spelled like the ancient group on Earth...

I just haven't got around to looking up how that group spells their name...

I had a thought on how T'Pau might have gained her accent over the years:

-She married a Human with a distinctive accent (Slavic, or African, or German, or even Vulcan etc...) and adapted to her own accent...

A 'fanon' thought on those silly bowl cuts that we see in TNG, DS9, VOY: Those were the non-Syrians; we just didn't see Vulcans who 'let their hair out' onscreen....

Btw, Michael Nouri (as a Syrian) portrayed a Vulcan very well, I think....

 

[Mach5]

It's Syranites.

Anyway, fanon explanation is that young T'Pau spoke Vulcan and to Archer the universal translator translated it to perfect English. The old T'Pau in Amok Time actually spoke English, but with heavy Vulcan accent.

BTW, I'm Slavic and my accent is nothing like what you hear in the movies.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

It's Syranites.

Anyway, fanon explanation is that young T'Pau spoke Vulcan and to Archer the universal translator translated it to perfect English. The old T'Pau in Amok Time actually spoke English, but with heavy Vulcan accent.

BTW, I'm Slavic and my accent is nothing like what you hear in the movies.

Thanks, Mach5 on the group name...

Yeah, I agree, movies tend to exaggerate accents; and, I do like your fanon explanation...It definitely makes sense...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Real world accents depend on a couple things. Region within the mother country (Britain for example) & how long one has been speaking the adopted language (in this case English).

I knew Dutch brothers. One was in this country a little longer, but their accents sounded completely different to me. One sounded more German and the other was more Swedish.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Accents are also known to change, even in adulthood, simply because of the passage of time. The way your voice sounds now will probably be different from the way it sounds in ten years.

Since 113 years pass between T'Pau's appearances, her accent could have deepened naturally.

 

[gblews]

Anyway, fanon explanation is that young T'Pau spoke Vulcan and to Archer the universal translator translated it to perfect English. The old T'Pau in Amok Time actually spoke English, but with heavy Vulcan accent.

Yeah, I don't like this explanation. It raises the question of why we never heard any other Vulcan speak with a "heavy" Vulcan accent.

 

[Mach5]

Anyway, fanon explanation is that young T'Pau spoke Vulcan and to Archer the universal translator translated it to perfect English. The old T'Pau in Amok Time actually spoke English, but with heavy Vulcan accent.

It raises the question

Does it, really? I just file it under "I don't care."

 

[T'Girl]

For a real vulcan accent try Tuvok's wife, T'Pring or Stonn. I believe T'Pau in her later years was pouring it on, over emphasizing the accent to make a point, being arrogant about her vulcaness. T'Pol and Surek were trained to speak english well and spent years off vulcan, Tuvok lived amung humans for a good part of his life. Spock's mother would
have past her vocal infection on to him.

When it come right down to it T'Pring has the most natural vulcan speaking voice, she has nothing to prove, she's calm, from the stories while she speaks english, she hasn't spent much time off world or around humans.

Her communication through vulcan space center to Spock on the bridge is it, soft toned and slight.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puirt_a_beul

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The bit about the universal translator (in ENT) vs. natural English (in TOS) seems to be the least awkward.

It does beg the question, though, *why* would T'Pau do that? Even if her snotty attitude in TOS was just a test, so to speak (I had wondered why she would bother speaking English because I thought she didn't like humans), surely it would be more 'logical' for her to simply use the UT and be done with it.

 

[Peacemaker]

Perhaps because she was presiding over a ceremony steeped in centuries of Vulcan identity. Her heavy accent accentuated that dimension of the goings-on.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

At the end of 'Kir'shara' it looks like she has a little more respect--or at least, an interest--in humans.

Even watching 'Amok Time' before there was an ENT or TNG, DS9, etc....I never got the idea that T'Pau 'hated' humans. She's is just a Vulcan who keeps within her own culture....and is a very strong-willed individual.

 

[KottenFutz]

Perhaps because she was presiding over a ceremony steeped in centuries of Vulcan identity. Her heavy accent accentuated that dimension of the goings-on.

I like this as an interesting explanation, because it reminds me a bit of Baptist preachers. They speak very normally, but get them in the "tell it on the mountain" type role and you hear a distinct change. They enunciate and accentuate every syllable and punctuation. So it seems reasonable that if she's in the company of serious Vulcans or ceremony, she might fall in to a more severe Vulcanish tone… Or like Madonna at award shows, same deal.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I just file it under "I don't care."

 

[Alidar Jarok]

It could have been my imagination, but, at one point, T'Pau seemed to do some kind of chant/prayer type thing (I wish I could be more specific, but I can't remember where in the trilogy she did it). At that one moment, it seemed like she had a slight accent. It's possible she doesn't naturally have the accent, but uses it for religious ceremonies and the like.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Another observation about T'Pau:

She wears her hair long....!

One can look at it as a Syranite 'thang' being out in the desert....but one can also look at it as Syranites choosing to wear their hair longer than non-Syranites; this could be the reason why T'Pol's mother kept her hair in that silly bowl cut...

 

[Alrik]

It could have been my imagination, but, at one point, T'Pau seemed to do some kind of chant/prayer type thing (I wish I could be more specific, but I can't remember where in the trilogy she did it). At that one moment, it seemed like she had a slight accent. It's possible she doesn't naturally have the accent, but uses it for religious ceremonies and the like.

I think you might be talking about the mind meld scene where she is trying to retrieve Surak's katra from Archer, but it won't leave.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I believe so. It's been awhile. Anyone else think her voice sounded "different" in that scene?

 

[Noname Given]

It's Syranites.

Anyway, fanon explanation is that young T'Pau spoke Vulcan and to Archer the universal translator translated it to perfect English. The old T'Pau in Amok Time actually spoke English, but with heavy Vulcan accent.

BTW, I'm Slavic and my accent is nothing like what you hear in the movies.

Given the UT didn't work in the Forge - it's better to assume Surak's katra translated Vulcan for him, and had him speaking in native Vulcan, and he just never never realized it.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

I believe so. It's been awhile. Anyone else think her voice sounded "different" in that scene?

I've just been looking at that scene again, and yes, her Vulcan seems to have a different inflection than her Terran Standard. I don't think anyone was trying to channel Celia Lovsky, but rather they likely wanted the Vulcan to sound more...alien.

Plus, she's conducting an ancient ritual, so her (English) words have a deliberate air of gravitas. (And the looping they did for part of the dialogue in the scene seemed a bit stilted, too.)

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Accents are also known to change, even in adulthood, simply because of the passage of time. The way your voice sounds now will probably be different from the way it sounds in ten years.
....

One of my friends and his bother and three sisters who were born in England but moved to Canada in the sixties have no trace of the accent. His parents still have it, his dad’s sounds kind of like Brian Jones's of AC/DC.
So you can lose it, just as you can pick up, I know some people who have moved to NC and you can hear that they have picked up the southern accent.