gigilamorosa said:

He puts it on in the Jay Leno interview where he pretends to be a handy man. It's pretty hilarious.

Yes! I've always loved that he let his Minnesota show in that bit.

You really hear his accent in this video. At the very end, Jay Leno is filming upfronts with Prince and Kathy Lee Gifford and Prince decides to read the copy. It's pure Minnesota.

Its almost at the very end of this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9x427G_JO0

.... the Handyman clip is also in this video. Again, the real part is at the end.

[Edited 5/24/16 16:22pm]

ToraToraDreams said:

I can tell he has an obvious "telephone voice" during interviews. But, when he codeswitches, unlike most people, he doesn't deemphasize the obvious racial markers in his speech (obvious example, dropping Gs on the end of words. I wish I could pull out my linuistic notebook quickly so I could put that in a more articulate way).

What I do this he IS codeswitching out of is that stereotypical Minnesowwta accent we're all getting at.

So, think of him on Jay Leno when he does that carpenter impression. I swear he does that exact voice when this interviewer kind of catches him off guard and answers "Let's stay right here" THAT'S THE CARPENTER VOICE.

https://youtu.be/_4-qgKq0MZg?t=1h2m30s

I mean, I only had to skip through this video for five minutes until I found his kind of codeswitching. Which is to say, he does it a lot when he speaks too quickly or goes off script (as we all do). But I think Prince's accent is going to have an influence of both being from MN and also havent parents or grandparents who are most likely southern migrants by way of the Great Migration.

The interview was removed but i I'm super curious of who it was with so I can find it on my own do you happen to remember?

He does a great MN accent in "Zannalee," but in his everyday speech, I never picked up on it.

babynoz said:

speakeasy said:

Was there anything in Prince's speech which betrayed his home state of origin?

For the record--I think it's a cool accent, but I never detected it in Prince. Maybe my ears aren't sensitive enough to the subtleties.

Curious to hear from you locals and/or sociolinguistics...

Just listen to him pronounce the word "water" in the song Movie Star.

He sounds SO Minnesota/Wisconsin in that track.

Also on the lead-in to Calhoun Square, "Listen to the drummer but you still want to have fun - it shouldn't be work." Super hard "r" - you know exactly where he comes from.

I'm so glad to find this thread. I was just thinking to myself that folks that I have known or known of from MN (Jesse Ventura, Curt Henning a.k.a Mr. Perfect, Ric Flair for those that follow professional wrestling) had/have typical MN accents yet in interviews I never heard that in Prince's voice. Of course I cannot judge because I was born in KY and now live in TN. I was born stuttering and learned to annuciate my words as a means to keep from stuttering. This some how created a non southern accent about the time I entered high school. I have had folks ask me if I was from MI, central/southern IN or southern IL. Those that know me say that when I get very tired or upset that they hear the southernish accent come out.

I hear it on certain words, like "heart" at the very end of "Condition of the Heart."

I get a southern thing from him too with his use of y'all and just some of the ways he says things. Maybe that comes from his parents.

Germanegro said:

Genesia said:

babynoz said:

Just listen to him pronounce the word "water" in the song Movie Star.

He sounds SO Minnesota/Wisconsin in that track.

Also on the lead-in to Calhoun Square, "Listen to the drummer but you still want to have fun - it shouldn't be work." Super hard "r" - you know exactly where he comes from.

It's definitely noticeable when uses words containing r's. I find it very attractive (from a French lady's point of view).