Feature: Writing Dialects

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According to Dictionary.com, Dialect is defined as "a regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary." Not to be confused with speaking with an accent, defined as "prominence of a syllable in terms of differential loudness, or of pitch, length or of a combination of these." Dialects relate to the way the words are used, such as slang, and accents relate to the way those words are uttered, or spoken. For this feature, I am going to concentrate on dialects.


It's the way we talk. The words, the sounds, even the pronunciations. We all speak with a dialect (whether we know it or not), and it's natural to want to use the dialects we know best, letting them flow into the dialogues we painstakingly use in our fiction. It brings an authentic slant to the story, and defines the character while we're at it.

This is all well and good, as long as we don't take it to the extremes. The characters need to sound real. Their words and the way they use them has to reflect the characters we all know and love. It doesn't ring true when Teal'c, from Stargate SG-1, talks like a teenager who grew up in the streets of Chicago, or when Buffy Summers adopts the words and slang of the British. Our characters need to sound believable, which is where dialects come into play.

Dialects in Fanfiction

Writing dialects in fanfiction is easy. We already know our characters, how they act and speak, as well as their dialects. We have a solid base on which to draw from when writing the dialogue in fanfiction, even when the characters change over the years. Buffy, for instance, used the words and slang of a California teen when the show first aired. It fit the character, as did her choice of words as she aged, eventually evolving into the battle-weary adult who had stepped away from the language of the modern day teenagers.

Writing dialogue for our original characters in our fanfiction stories, on the other hand, is harder, if only because we are making them up from scratch. We have to take their background, education (or lack thereof) and the very way they were raised when writing their dialogue to create a believable persona. Characters from the southern portion of the United States, for instance, will speak with a drawl, are usually more polite and have the most wonderful sayings when describing things. People from the American Midwest generally tend to be more direct, while people from England have their own dialects and slang to keep in mind when writing dialogue.

And then there is the science fiction genre which can be a little trickier. First of all, we have to get past the fact that everybody in the universe apparently speaks English (or whatever language your story is in), which in reality wouldn't even be a factor. But, in order to have a story, we sometimes have to be able to understand those aliens when we visit their worlds, which means they miraculously speak our language.

How Not to Write Dialect

On the flip side of all this, there are several things on the Don't Do List:

In writing the dialogues for aliens in science fiction (just as we’ve done with original characters from Earth), we must take their education and cultures into consideration. Even if the alien/human from another planet is a teenager, that person would not be talking about a hamburger, or "hanging out" with friends. I once read a Stargate SG-1 story where the natives from a planet peppered their speech with modern American slang, without ever having any contact with an American. The story was an easy read, but credibility was lost the moment the first alien told Jack, "I'm going with you guys".

Still, the best part of writing science fiction is the ability to create new slang, to go along with the new cultures and worlds we create. Just remember to make your characters "real" when he/she speaks. The main thing to remember here is, don't base every character on your own education and lifestyle.

For all other original characters, don't overdo the dialects. Many people want to make their bad guys appear stupid, so they tend to simplify, or add gangster slang to the dialogue to prove their point. Unless your original character is living in 1940's or 1950's America, they won't be saying, "All right wise guy, turn over the green or I'll bust your chops."

Something else to remember is that American characters don't use British terms, just as Harry Potter characters may not know that an elevator is the same thing as a lift. Keep it real so that your readers don't have to complain. For more information on this subject, see green_grrl's Writing Tips Feature, American for Brits, and the upcoming feature on "How to Make Your Fic Sound Brit."

Along the same vein, don't over emphasize where a person is from by their speech. Your Tennessee farmer may say something like, "Yeppers. They's a storm a coming all right, and we'd best be hangin' out the shingles afore it gits here." Language like this, while common in a few rural southern areas of America, is hard to read and could quite possibly confuse people from other countries. And because of its degrading nature, will most likely offend your readers who are from southern rural America. Rule number 1 in any work of fiction: Don't offend your readers.

Also, it is definitely not a good idea to use "netspeak" or "lolcats" (nao, I can haz, etc.) language throughout your story. No matter how easy or fun it is to write, "R U 2 sick 2 B here?", most people bypass the fic because a) they don't care for that type of dialogue, and b) it's too hard to read. The only exception to this rule would be when your characters are actually texting or using the internet in the story. Even then, keep it to the bare minimum.

Writing Dialects

So how do we accurately work in dialect for our characters' dialogues? We have them speak in terms that the average person understands, yet still use the words that reflect their society and lifestyle in a way that is unique to them. Keep all this in mind and your characters will shine!

Comments

[akasha-lilian.livejournal.com]

Lovely article, really enjoyed it!

[http://users.livejournal.com/traycer_/]

Yay! Thank you!