#jamrock

"All in the Same Boat" The Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise Documentary Part 2

ok - i just wanna know. from a watsonian perspective – why would different people who were born and raised Vacholière have different accents? because Kim, Jean, Alice, Jules Pidieu, Lizzy, and Judit all have a vaguely Suresne accent, but Garte, Harry, Dora, Acele, Noid, Andre, Cindy, and the Deserter all sound Vespertine. And then Ruby, Titus, Torson, and McClaine sound American (Messinian??).

The thing is, given that Harry and Kim are the same age and both grew up in some degree of poverty, it can't be a thing of age or class. There's a bit of class involved, perhaps, in that the Vespertine equivalent of Received Pronunciation does seem to be a thing for the more middle/upper-class characters (see Dora and Joyce), but even then, what accounts for the American accents?

Presumably, throughout Revachol, different accents exist (much as there are different accents in London) – but even then, with such strong phonetic disparities? Maybe Revachol is a city where there are several linguae francae (i.e. some variant of Vespertine and some variant of Suresne) – which would make sense, given how much gratuitous French Suresne pops up, and given that Harry, in his amnestic state, still understands all the Suresne dialogue. In which case the different accents would perhaps depend on whether you grew up speaking Vespertine or Suresne at home. But even then, if Revachol was founded almost 400 years ago, some kind of blended accents should have still developed (for reference: see modern post-colonial states which feature accents that developed from a combination of immigrants' phonetic tendencies. Like how the Australian accent is the ungodly offspring of various British accents mingling and simmering under colonial pressure + a couple centuries of radio isolation).

Still, some preliminary headcanons:

The most stereotypical Vacholière accent is strongly Suresne-influenced (much as Kim, Jean, or La Revacholière's voice). However, compared to actual Suresne accents, it does feature some lenition and phonetic shifting.

Accent is at least somewhat indicative of class in Revachol – those from wealthier backgrounds either tend towards a sorta Received Vespertine Pronunciation, or a much posher Suresne sound. Meanwhile, poorer backgrounds feature far more variation (in part due to the fractious nature of growing up in a post-revolutionary police state – radios are expensive, so people's accents will be formed largely in response to in-person communities). Most prominently, Vacholières who speak Vespertine at home tend to tend more towards Vespertine-influenced accents, while those who speak Suresne at home tend more towards Suresne-influenced accents.

In West Revachol, the generic Vespertine-speaking accent is a little Cockney, sometimes sliding towards Essex. The further west one goes, the more East-Ender–y the accent gets. The further northeast, the more Scouse.

Faubourg has a very Essex-esque accent; meanwhile, the closer we get to Jamrock, the more the Scouse influence sets in. The Martinaise accent, in particular, is distinctly Scouse.

Generally, once we get to Couron, pronunciation gets a little more received.

Harry naturally sounds more Scouse than his speaking voice would indicate. However, he's deliberately trained himself to sound more neutral, lest people immediately judge him as Jamrock trash.

Upon crossing from West Revachol to East Revachol, it becomes increasingly common for children to grow up speaking Suresne, rather than Vespertine. As such, Suresne-influenced accents begin to predominate. (I don't know enough about different accents in French to give more detail here – sorry.)

Generally, people in West Revachol are more likely to be (heavy) smokers than those in East Revachol. As such, a deep, gravelly, or hoarse vocal tone can often be exploited to profile Vacholières by birthplace. (Jean grew up speaking Suresne, but his specific gravelly tone, heavy smoking habit, and certain fine phonetic details of his voice immediately reveal him as someone who grew up in Central Jamrock. Meanwhile, Kim's vocal tone makes him sound like he's from a decently nice part of East Revachol. He is from East Revachol, indeed, but not from a remotely nice part.)