It’s always kind of bothered me that The Sarentu/Tamtey has no Na’vi accent whatsoever, even though Teylan who is younger, does have a Na’vi accent. So the argument that being raised from a young age by the RDA is the reason for Tamtey’s lack of accent kind of goes out the window.
I also don’t particularly care for any of the three voice options for Tamtey as they are all equally white bread and naive. So I’m head-canon-ing my way out of this.
I propose that Tamtey perfects their/her/his English accent as a means of survival for both themselves and their fellow Sarentu. Walk with me here. It’s made clear that Mercer and Harding have little to no care for the Na’vi language and TAP focuses more on making the Sarentu “human” rather than true human and Na’vi ambassadors. So I believe that Tamtey loosing their accent and becoming fully fluent in English is something that would be applauded by Mercer in some way. I think it’s also possible that if at least one of the TAP kids became fully fluent in English and/or completely lost their accent that might take some of the heat off of the others to do the same. Maybe Tamtey allowed their accent to be stripped from themselves so that Nor, Ri’nela, Teylan, and at some point maybe even Aha’ri, could be allowed to keep theirs
I know on some level it may make more sense for Teylan to be the one to have no accent, or less of an accent at least (especially since Nor claims Teylan can barely speak Na’vi), but I can headcanon my way out of this too. Within the heacanon I’ve presented, I theorize that Teylan would have been too young to develop a proper accent at the offset. He was likely still learning words as any toddler would, and was not yet old enough to make conscious decisions about the way he spoke. I theorize that while Tamtey was “distracting” Mercer and Harding with her linguistic skills, this allowed Teylan to spend more time around Aha’ri, Nor, and Ri’nela. Who all had Na’vi accents themselves, and nurtured that same voice in Teylan during his earliest formative years. Before he was old enough to seek and gain more and more of Mercer’s attention.
This is getting a bit too sad for my liking, so I also propose that Tamtey/The Sarentu stayed perfectly fluent in Na’vi (or the closest thing to it they can be while respecting the lore) and that Tamtey speaks Na’vi with no accent either. I think this is Tamtey’s silent rebellion against Mercer and loosing their accent. To outwardly sound the most “human” of all the TAP children, but to inwardly retain that closeness to their language and heritage. I believe that at least in this respect, Alma would aid Tamtey in their goal of fluency in both languages because it’s at least something she can do as a teacher. Plus, she can argue that it’s to the benefit of The Ambassador Program if Mercer inquires about it, because how else are these potential ambassadors meant to communicate between humans and Na’vi without proficiency in both languages?
Anyway, that’s my little anecdotal headcanon to explain Tamtey’s accent. Let me know your thoughts!! Or if you know any lore that I don’t that could affect this whole little headcanon, I’d love to hear it!
