What does Harley sound like?
Does she have an accent? Does she have a particular way of dropping the last letter of certain words, skipping syllables, etc.? Does she have a certain way of speaking or enunciating that’s kind of trademark to her, the way the Joker’s voice is unmistakable?
Ooh, anon, you’ve inadvertently given me an opening to talk about Harley’s backstory!
Harley is usually depicted as having a Brooklyn or Queens accent—even in the comics she’ll drop consonants like “Mistah” instead of “Mister.” I think in the new Harley Quinn series she goes to see her parents in Brooklyn?
Harlequin Harley is from Metropolis. I’ve said before on here that she’s originally from a very boring middle class family in the suburbs who fell on hard times when her mother died of cancer and her father slowly killed himself with drugs & alcohol, leaving Harley to fend for herself.
To my knowledge, there is no Metrpolis accent, and Harley speaks with a neutral American accent, also known as “General American.” She is very well spoken after years in academia, her diction and enunciation is very precise, especially contrasting with the other characters.
If you look at the dialogue, characters like Marty say “yer” instead of “your” Bruno says “whaddya” instead of “what are you” and the Joker throws “ya” instead of “you” around along with dropping the “g” on verbs like “havin’” “goin’” “fuckin’” etc. His speech pattern is very specific in the dialogue, and hopefully you hear that as you read.
Harley doesn’t do any of that. Her dialogue is always near-perfect diction and enunciation. She will occasionallysay “gonna” instead of “going to”—it’s all there on the page, it would be weird if I was specific about every other characters accent/enunciation and not Harley’s. What you’re reading is General American with strong enunciation.
I actually got someone who couldn’t get past the third chapter because Harley didn’t have the brooklyn accent. But just like she doesn’t have pigtails, she doesn’t have a camp accent, and she doesn’t need one to be compelling and terrifying.
