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...

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...

every so often you could hear it. I forget which show but the host was requesting a song, he said "we're gonna try to werk that in fer,ya". He always did have his own way of speaking, I used to think it was an affectation, to try to be sexy, but no, when you watch Morris and Andre and the rest speak, they all seem to have picked up each other's mannerisms and speech patterns.

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.

beacheemom said:

I thought of this too... I never noticed it in his speech either. I have noticed how at the end of his words he kinda makes them go "up". I do t know how to describe it on here so I apologize if what I'm saying makes no sense at all lol.

Ha! You mean like --

The reason my voice is so clear
Is there's no smack in my brain

He sometimes has a strong accent when he's talking to the band in some of the bootlegs. I remember there's one Nude Tour rehearsal where a friend of mine heard him talking, and asked incredulously if that was Prince. He cracked up because it was like a movie where a character talks a certain way on guard, but then off guard reveals a really goofy voice.

He put on a "Prince" voice on camera or on recordings. But yes he dipped into the natural accent from time to time. Who knows how he was around friends off camera or not trying to be in charge.

ufoclub said:

His father was from Louisiana. Can hear that in the way he talks sometimes too.

sonshine said:

I never noticed his accent because I wasn't aware we had one until I was traveling in Colorado last year and people asked me if I was from MN because of my accent lol

We're all like this about different things! You get used to what's around you.

I never heard the typical Minn-i-sow-da accent..I picked up more of a Southern Twang from time to time...not always though. But never heard the Minnesota/mid-western one. I assumed it (southern twang) was from his parents who were orignially from the South....

Listen to him when he's joking in "voices":

https://www.youtube.com/w...DxvWPsFYd8

"The South" has many accents. New York and Minnesota accents are very different even tho both are from "The North". Twang just doesn't mean anything IMO.

If you're not liking the term 'twang', that is fine...but I think you catch my drift. I didn't realize we were talking semantics or linguistics....just pronunciations. Safe to say....I believe my opinion to be valid considering he has 2 parents from Louisiana or Alabama (forgive my forgetfulness). I'm sure he picked up some of that from the parents...

purplepoppy said:

"The South" has many accents. New York and Minnesota accents are very different even tho both are from "The North". Twang just doesn't mean anything IMO.

If you read my post before the one you answered then you would know his father was from "Lose y anna" as am I. There are specific accents even within the state. Do (google) homework before you get upset. And all "Southern Food" ain't the same either.

Ok...seems you have your purple panties in a twist and you seem to want to argue about it. I did read the posts..yours too.....Upon me responding....I said I had forgotten and YES too lazy to scroll up. So what.

WHat I can tell you about myself is this.....I speak 3 languages, (2 fluent, and 1 fluent enough to get by when I am in that country) lived out of the US for 2 decades, am very well traveled, meet people from all over the world. I have to say I am pretty damn good with guessing where people are from not only by country, but often state if from the US-due to accents. (and sometimes dress).

I am sorry you don't like to hear it..But we all have 'accents' to others. I don't need to google anything about food or accents or north or south for that matter. ....No kidding there are specific accents within states....There are even specific accents within a city/suburb....we know that... What is your point???

I was not upset at all..I can't say the same for you sadly.

purplepoppy said:

If you read my post before the one you answered then you would know his father was from "Lose y anna" as am I. There are specific accents even within the state. Do (google) homework before you get upset. And all "Southern Food" ain't the same either.

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.

I don't think the MN accent applies as easily to black Americans. Black Amerians have different cultural roots. White Minnesotans have Scandinavian heritage.

foreverfanpurpleman said:

I don't think the MN accent applies as easily to black Americans. Black Amerians have different cultural roots. White Minnesotans have Scandinavian heritage.

Yeah, Black Americans from the midwest have very southern tinged accents. Black people from Chicago have STRONG southern accents.

vandeluca said:

ToraToraDreams said:

Not EVERYONE from a locale speaks with a noticeable and consistent common accent of that locale. IS it THAT surprising?

ToraToraDreams said:

foreverfanpurpleman said:

I don't think the MN accent applies as easily to black Americans. Black Amerians have different cultural roots. White Minnesotans have Scandinavian heritage.

Yeah, Black Americans from the midwest have very southern tinged accents. Black people from Chicago have STRONG southern accents.

This is a really cool thread. I appreciate all the interesting and informative responses from folks. Thanks!

PeteSilas 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...

every so often you could hear it. I forget which show but the host was requesting a song, he said "we're gonna try to werk that in fer,ya". He always did have his own way of speaking, I used to think it was an affectation, to try to be sexy, but no, when you watch Morris and Andre and the rest speak, they all seem to have picked up each other's mannerisms and speech patterns.

The underlying Midwestern accent beyond whatever ebonics u may hear

GirlBrother said:

I associate any accent in the U.S. mid-west with Kermit The Frog.

Heh--Jim Henson, the voice of Kermit, hailed from Mississippi--as southern U.S. as you can get, but perhaps he dressed his puppet-voice to sound different.