i do, but its def not a typical Minnesota accent Dont CHA Knooow

on THE DANCE when hes screaming "its just not Fey-uh !!. he kinda sounds like a Bostonian

What are some other parts of songs where his diction makes you laugh?

Prince has changed his accent from time to time, but everybody has an accent.


I find it funny when Americans say that somebody has an accent. I'm thinking, "bitch, so do you!"

TheVoid said:

Ive always been curious to know what Americans sound like to non-Americans

They always do an annoying country/surfer/valley/black-slang all mixed into one voice

He leaned toward a fake English accent during the spoken bits on the 1999 LP. Not over-the-top Madonna fake English accent, but it's there none-the-less.

PicklesMcMillan said:

Everybody that sounds 'country' is automatically tagged with the cowboy boots and hats and is caucasian and comes from Texas
Alot of ppl here say that all Americans sound alike except the 'country and westerners' lol...but I can differentiate when an African American is speakin from any other race. It's in the nose ie., the sound.
I'm also tryin to be careful with my words since Americans are so sensitive about race

PicklesMcMillan said:

black-slang

They used to call it 'talking black' but now that's not PC. It's "urban venacular' now.

But still quite funny when I see middle class white teenagers speaking it. Shit, it's even funnier when I see middle class Asians doing it.


But I'm American even though my ethnicity is Asian, and I speak English in a semi-Mid Western/Semi-California accent most of the time. Sometimes, it slips into a psuedo-New Yorker tone. But never ever a southern redneck tone (ironic as I grew up in Alabama).

I hear the accents (even the normal 'newscaster' accent) because I've lived in many parts of the world. EVERYBODY has an accent.

I don't know about Minnesotian accents but sure Americans have very distinct accents. The heaviness also depends on the region they're from.

I can hear Prince's accent clearly when he sings in Gold...

"There's an ocean of despair"

I naturally sing "there's a notion"

If I have to sing the former I feel like I have to open my mouth REALLY wide and exaggerate the mouth widthways. If you sing the latter, you'll notice the mouth doesn't move much, the jaw drops and the "notion" part, moves the lips to a kind of "pout" in the front. Kind of funny actually.

Yeah definitely an accent.

FUNNY as hell, believe me. One can always tell a bunch of Americans are around when you hear loud ass talking, and all the rrrrr'ssss

can I have some waterrrrr

look overrrrr, therrrrre

rrrrreally?


[Edited 5/14/10 2:47am]
[Edited 5/14/10 2:47am]
[Edited 5/14/10 2:48am]

NelsonR said:

OMG, I love it when my British friends put on their fake American accents.

They love exaggerating the 'rrs'

I love it.

PicklesMcMillan said:

Myself and many many others have discussed this. I'm talking 100s of people
We classify it generally as a kind of "twang or whine" and very loud!

French, Spanish, Russians, (whole Eastern Europe region)Germans, Dutch, Chinese do not open their mouths very widely in their language, particulary on the vowels. The Thai do tend to because they because they add "ka" or "khab" at the end of their sentences which is what gives them their infamaous "land of the smile" fame.

Play around with the word "bank" in all those languages and you'll get the general idea.

Most of the time, Prince sounds like a white guy from the urban upper midwest.

Genesia said:

Close enough. lol

ernestsewell said:

I had to specify "urban" because, in some parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, in particular, folks are all "cripes" and "ya know" and "oh, geez."

Imagine if he sounded like Edie McClurg. That is a classic northern Wisconsin accent.

TheVoid said:

Exactly!!!! Its always made me chuckle, coz we all have some sort of an "accent"...

squirrelgrease said:

Yeah, he loved that kind of accent back in the day. He even pushed his associates to do it, I think. Sheila definitely does it on "Sister Fate" and kind of in "One Day (I'm Gonna Make You Mine)."

JayJai said:

huh? what about black people who talk who sound just like white people?

Zinzi said:

Like Prince, you mean? Cuz he does.

Genesia said:

0.0

I was saying that you can't necessarily hear whether someone's black or not

Zinzi said:

That isn't what you said. But whatever.

Genesia said:

I agree, I've always thought that voice sounds better with his music. It's who he is. When he started trying to add the 'homeboyish' character to his singing and it just doesn't sound real. "We be like..." There is a line or 2 in 3121 where he says something like that. Where the Purple Party B at...?

squirrelgrease said:

Yeah, that proper English thing was popular in the early - mid 80's Sheila E did it a lot on her 1st 2 albums. Ready 4 the World did it in their songs, a lot of bands white & black did that English thing.

Zinzi said:

True, that's why the 'black talk' makes me laugh.

There is something called code switching in speach found mostly among 'ethnic people' African- Asian- Latino- Italian- and others but these groups tend to have very regional dialects. And when at home you let loose your relaxed voice or speech, and when out in the work place or taking care of business you put on a more 'mainstream' way of talking.

Having a family that come from the south, I grew with it, What a lot of people call 'black speech' is actually Southern. But white-americans who hear this way of talking aren't southern. So it became a 'race' thing. Yet many white southerners talk the same. Of course according to what state, you going to get different dialects. Louisiana has a stronger French background, so you get Creole & Cajun, which would sound totally different from people from South Carolina

Zinzi said:

I'm a person of mixed heritage, but most of the people in my family black or mixed either code switch or sound 'white' Over the phone I'm assumed to be white most of the time. In person I'm assumed to be Dominican or Puerto Rican sometimes Middle Eastern or Indian. I have a cousin (black-american) who is totally a valley girl. Her way of speaking doesn't even remotely sound like a "black person" Her mother is the same though.
[Edited 5/14/10 8:46am]

everyone has an accent depending on where they are from. who's the judge of perfect articulation(s)?

In his normal speaking voice (close to how he sounds when he had the press release about changing his name back to prince, or on the bootlegs of concert rehearsals when he talks normally) Prince has a Minnesotan accent... kind of like people in the movie Fargo.

He seems to drop this for his deep "prince" voice he uses when in character as the rock star.

Genesia said:

here's what i said:

'' what about black people who talk who sound just like white people''

so that isn't saying that you can't tell someone's race from their voice?

Zinzi said:

What does "talking white" or "talking black" sound like? Just kidding, Zinzi, but I often hear people say that, and at times, you cannot tell one's race, for example , like speaking to them via telephone, what race they truly are. I think most people say that because of specific accents they've been exposed to and tend to associate specific accents, if you will, with specific individuals/groups.

I agree with others who state, that it depends on where you live or who you are raised by, that has a lot to do with one's permanent speaking voice, i.,e state, country, evironment, community, family members etc., It's more than likely the types of accent you are exposed to especially if you're living within a specific environment, over a long period of time, is how individuals, either adapt to or adopt specific accents, either temporarily/permanently, as their speaking voice(s).

I think with Prince, well, he just basically has a Minnesotan accent moreso than can be depicted as a black or white accent. I believe though, when he's around his close friends/loved ones/family, those are the ones that more than likely know his true speaking voice. Just my two cents.
[Edited 5/14/10 18:29pm]

Zinzi said:

No, it isn't - because you're implying that all white people sound a particular way. Which they don't.

Genesia said:

no i wasn't i was saying ''white people'' to the person because obviously they think whites and blacks 'sound a certain way' whites being the 'mainstream accent'
it was sarcasm

so don't assume i was implying anything

OldFriends4Sale said:

yeah i'm mixed race too
if someone heard me over the phone they wouldn't be able to tell if i was black or white..quite frankly i think half the people who talk in those 'steryotype accent' make themselves do it