Although I have no specific voice claim for Jack ( aside from me thinking, what would Gerard sound like with this specific accent ) I figured I’d give a little breakdown on his speech patterns and accent, as well as his residency history, since where he’s from + where he has lived plays a large part in all of that.
IMPORTANT NOTE : jack is not his legal name ! I’ll be referring to him as VICTOR throughout the duration of the post, as that is what he was going by for the majority of his youth, pre - vampirism. He only goes by Jack now because he is legally dead in the eyes of the law, and didn’t want to raise suspicion + he is reclaiming the name he was dubbed during the Whitechapel murders ( Jack the Ripper. )
WHERE HE WAS BORN. Vatra Dornei, Romania ; Thursday, March 22nd, 1860, at 5:05 AM, shortly before Romania is declared an official country in 1861. He remained here with his family until him and his mother moved to London, England in 1873 ( aged 13. )
ORIGINAL ACCENT. Taken from the INTERNATIONAL DIALECTS OF ENGLISH ARCHIVE (IDEA) , you can listen HERE to an audio clip of a man from the same region of Romania as Victor. Now, while I’m sure there is some difference between what the dialect sounded like in the late 1800′s as opposed to the 1980′s - 90′s, when this audio clip was recorded, this is the gist of the basis for his accent.
Another handy little tool this website provides is a transcript of the dialogue, written down phonetically. You can view this HERE, but I will try and provide a sample as best I can because this person’s handwriting is difficult to decipher, and while phonetics is intriguing to me, I’m nowhere near the expertise level to break down and properly transcribe an accent in English into a proper sentence spelled with the phonetic alphabet. If anyone would like to correct this, feel free.
“THAT AREA WAS MUCH NEARER FOR HER.”
“DÆT / ƐɝRI JA / WAS / MƏTS / NJIɚɝ (?) / FƆɚ / Hɚ.”
WHERE HE MOVED. Elizabeth and Victor moved into the Whitechapel district of London, England in 1873, and this would be where he stayed for the next 30 + years of his life. Neither of them spoke a lick of English upon arriving there, and learning English from people within the area, as well as being surrounded by the London accent constantly, influenced the way that he speaks.
THE LONDON ACCENT. Taken from the INTERNATIONAL DIALECTS OF ENGLISH ARCHIVE (IDEA) , you can listen HERE to an audio clip of a man who lived in London for a majority of his life ; there are slight differences in the accent depending on the region, as well as other external influences, but this was the closest match to what I was envisioning.
The phonetic transcript of this audio recording is, fortunately, not a photo of someone’s handwriting and is typed out in text, which you will see if you click the link and scroll down. But also, generally speaking, most know what a London accent sounds like, so I trust you all can use your imagination.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WELL, IT MEANS HIS ACCENT SOUNDS fucking weird, ALTHOUGH NOT UNPLEASANT. There are certain similarities in terms of the pronunciation of letters in the English language ; things he learned speaking Romanian for the majority of his youth coincide with the London accent.
EXAMPLES. The ‘T’ and ‘TH’ sound becomes something similar to an ‘F’ or a ‘D’, such as ‘that’ being pronounced ‘DAT’, or ‘THROW’ being ‘FROW.’ Specifically with the word ‘THROW’, while it’s not uncommon for a Romanian to pronounce this as ‘FROW’, with certain dialects from different regions, it may sound like ‘trow.’ Victor specifically pronounces it with an ‘F’sound, which was not unfamiliar to him, but was definitely something he picked up whilst living in London.
In English speaking countries, ‘T’ and ‘D’ sounds are pronounced with the tongue touching the roof of your mouth, but he pronounces them with the tip of his tongue touching his teeth, creating a slightly different tonality.
Overall, several things he learned how to do while learning English included lengthening vowels in stressed syllables, differentiating between /I/ AND /IY/ SOUNDS, and reducing the roll of his ‘R’S when speaking English.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. American English culture has more of a sway on Romanians learning English, not the British ; with this in mind, there were many times spanning over several decades where he would return to his home and stay there. As culture shifted, it became more and more common for Romanian schools to teach English, and it became a popular language. This influenced his English - speaking accent and gave certain vowels ( particularly the ‘o’ ) a slightly more American sound. On top of this, he has lived throughout numerous parts of the United States (currently oakland, ca), and while he still retains his weird Romanian-London blend of an accent, there have been subtle changes.
FINAL NOTES. When I write this character, I rarely type out the accent in his dialogue. I’ll do it with a few words here and there, but it’s not much. If you’ve made it this far into the post, just… imagine the accent as you read the dialogue, like you would with a book, thank u.
Okay, you all know that I have a fairly distinct accent on Sebastian, that I try to do as well as I can, however, it's a great pain in my ass to do his accent and make it legible, and honestly? I am going to stop doing it. However! That doesn't mean Seb's accent is gone, it's just not going to be phonetically inscribed into every single reply.
His accent is sort of a modern cockney accent but it also has some irish elements to it. You can look into it, or just trust me when I say it's pretty strong.
The problem is, it can be hard to understand him when he's speaking and when I'm writing, and so I'm going to stick with a typical accent. If you WANT me to write with the accent, I will certainly do the thing. However, I am essentially throwing my hands up in the air and saying "fuck it".
I hate when people try to correct my speech. I have a very northern accent but I say southern slang so my words sound different when I say them. Don't try to be slick & correct me.
