Comments on: Fargo accent and dialect notes http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/ An Irishman's blog about the English language. Sat, 25 May 2013 19:41:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Claire Stokes http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/#comment-37098 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:20:27 +0000 http://stancarey.wordpress.com/?p=13681#comment-37098 It does seem like that to me too, speaking as a non-linguist though. Some other films that could possibly confirm/deny (and that I also like quite a lot): Frozen River (Canadian & Native), and Powwow Highway (Native, from next door in South Dakota). Also the Dakota Commemorative March is going on right now http://www.gotothecrow.com/2012/11/2012-dakota-commemorative-march/ .. various coverages of that would provide current spoken language samples.

]]> By: Martin Doonan http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/#comment-37094 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:10:06 +0000 http://stancarey.wordpress.com/?p=13681#comment-37094 I remember seeing this in the cinema with a Norwegian friend of mine who also spent some time living up that way. She thought the accents were hilarious but indicative of the large numbers of Scandinavian descent living in the area. that’s why I think the Swedish references. the accents portrayed in the film also have striking similarities to rural Norwegian & Swedish I’ve come across (after some years living in remote Norway).

]]> By: Stan http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/#comment-37093 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:31:02 +0000 http://stancarey.wordpress.com/?p=13681#comment-37093 Lane: Maybe. That note confused me a bit, because I don’t hear any “UH-EE” vowels.

Jonathon: Raising Arizona may well’ve been the first of their films I saw, and I’ve seen it once or twice since, but I don’t remember the accents in it. Will have to go back for a proper listen. There could be a cross-blog series in this!

WWW: Oh yes, O Brother… is another gem, and a glorious soundtrack. And you’re right, Oirish cinematic stereotypes (phonetic and otherwise) are like water off a duck’s back by now.

Charles: I will take your word for that. Accents were never my strong point, though I do enjoy their boundless variety.

]]> By: Charles Sullivan http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/#comment-37088 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:06:41 +0000 http://stancarey.wordpress.com/?p=13681#comment-37088 I could swear there are Canadian accents and Native (Indian–First Nations) accents in the US and Canada that sound like ‘thicker’ versions of these Minnesota accents.

]]> By: wisewebwoman http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/#comment-37077 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:20:35 +0000 http://stancarey.wordpress.com/?p=13681#comment-37077 Up there on my top 50 list of all time, Stan. Another Coen fave is “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”.

I’ve seen Fargo more than a few times and it still enthralls me, accents too.

I guess us Oirish are so used to accent exaggeration we are almost desensitized at this stage.

XO
WWW

]]> By: Jonathon Owen http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/#comment-37047 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:40:13 +0000 http://stancarey.wordpress.com/?p=13681#comment-37047 I love the Coen Brothers, and Fargo is definitely one of their best. I have to admit that my real favorite is Raising Arizona, and I’ve always wondered about the accents in that movie. I was born in Arizona and still have a lot of family there, but the characters in the movie don’t sound like any Arizonans I know.

]]> By: Lane http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/fargo-accent-and-dialect-notes/#comment-37041 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:24:48 +0000 http://stancarey.wordpress.com/?p=13681#comment-37041 The most Irish-sounding vowel to me is the [ai] in “I’m” and “right”, which she transcribes as “think UH-EE’”.

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