Writing Lister

[lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com]

Sorry for posting so much on the group, but I have SO many questions.

So I'm still working on my "epic" and I've been going back and forth between writing Lister phonetically and not writing him phonetically. I want to be consistent throughout the fic and I can't decide which I prefer. Sometimes it just feels right writing Lister with an occasional dropped consonant and in' instead of ing. Other-times it feels... I dunno, forced? Maybe like I'm trying TOO hard to sound like Lister.

I know I've encountered both phonetic and non-phonetic Listers in my fanfic readings, and I was curious what everyone else thinks of it. Do you have a preference? Does it irritate you when you read, "smeggin' hell" instead of "smegging hell" or do you prefer it?

This has probably been discussed before, so I apologize if I'm dredging up a dead-horse to beat. :)

Comments

[rosecathy1.livejournal.com]

I prefer non-phonetic, mostly because his dialect (and anyone's dialect, for that matter) is more complex than dropped g's and h's. There are prominent features that can't really be rendered in written English, such as the vowels (as in "son" "funny" "first" "chair" etc., etc.), the hard consonants ("k" becoming "khh") and the trilled r, although we hear less and less of the latter two as Craig's accent gets softer. I think people who are familiar with the character can read non-phonetic dialogue and hear him speak the way he's supposed to sound.

The only thing that occasionally gives me pause is the me/my alternation, but I usually avoid writing that out too because it doesn't seem to be systematic in Craig's/Lister's speech, at least not anymore. In general, though, I think a different approach is needed when the actual words vary. For example, if a character uses "nowt" instead of "nothing," it would be weird to make them say "nothing."

I promise I'm not saying this to slag anyone off or to be self-righteous, but it almost seems unfair to portray, say, Rimmer's speech as a standard/norm and therefore not in need of any changes to the transcription.


Also, I may be biased because faithful phonetic rendering in books like Wuthering Heights drove me insane.

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

You know, it's odd, the me/my thing is the one thing that gives me pause too - for the reasons you state.

Oh, and as you mention Rimmer; he's... semi-canonically meant to have a "thick Ionian accent", going by the books, but of course we don't know what that is yet. I like that idea though.

[rosecathy1.livejournal.com]

Ooh, what if the Ionian accent = Essex-ish and Rimmer would therefore sound like Gordon Brittas if not for his upbringing/facade? Though that wouldn't explain the "thick" part (since it's supposed to be noticeable). Hmm. Hmmmmm.

[(Anonymous)]

OOOOH I HAVE A HEADCANON ABOUT THIS my headcanon is that Rimmer's accent in the show is a thick Ionian accent, because "received pronunciation" has moved on by the ?23rd century (and probably sounds kinda mid-Atlantic, what with all the "dollarpounds" stuff?), and therefore modern Standard British English sounds massively regional!

It comes as a pair with my other headcanon, that Io is a specifically British colony (which explains why Rimmer asks to be taken to the British Embassy in Terrorform, rather than to the Ionian Embassy, because Ionians still think of themselves as British), ergo the Ionian accent developed out of modern RP, in isolation from whatever became "RP" back on Earth :D

(Hello, I'm Feckles, and I'm such a language geek this is one of the few kinds of thread that will have me wishing I had a proper LJ account instead of having to post on anon. :) )