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Accent Breakdowns Production Materials University of Michigan

A Little Night Music

Actor Resources for the 2024 University of Michigan Production

The “Mid-Atlantic” or “Transatlantic” Accent

Please see How to Work on an Accent for advice on using an accent resource.

Context

The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent, is a consciously learned accent of English, fashionably used by the late 19th-century and early 20th-century American upper class and entertainment industry, which blended together features regarded as the most prestigious from both American and British English (specifically Received Pronunciation). It is not a native or regional accent; rather, according to voice and drama professor Dudley Knight, “its earliest advocates bragged that its chief quality was that no Americans actually spoke it unless educated to do so”. The accent was embraced in private independent preparatory schools, especially by members of the American Northeastern upper class, as well as in schools for film and stage acting, with its overall use sharply declining after the Second World War.

Wikipedia: Mid-Atlantic accent

Due to its association with Hollywood’s golden age, this accent has historically been taught in drama schools as “Stage Standard” or even simply “Good Speech.”*

It’s important to acknowledge in our context that no speech variety is intrinsically good or bad, and there is no such thing as culturally “neutral” speech. Mid-Atlantic may once have been considered a so-called standard, but just like any speech variety, it is coded with specific cultural implications, particularly in this case around wealth, prestige, and access.

For that reason, the Mid-Atlantic accent helps convey our story for A Little Night Music…a story about characters who have those kinds of privileges. We can imagine that most of these characters would have been educated to speak a certain way by virtue of their social location/class.

*For a deep dive into the history of the World English movement, including its problems, see Dudley Knight’s 1997 article “Standard Speech: The Ongoing Debate” (accessible via the U-M library.)

Accent Models

Holiday (1938)

Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn in Holiday (1938)

(The full movie is available to rent here.)

Additional Samples

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Other Speakers

Accent Features

Unless otherwise indicated, practice phrases are excerpted from Lexical Sets for Actors by Eric Armstrong under a creative commons license.

Audio examples are taken from the audio cassette accompanying Edith Skinner’s Speak With Distinction, a textbook of mid-century “Stage Standard” speech. Unfortunately, the audio quality is sometimes not ideal.

General Considerations

In general, the accent uses a spacious, open vocal tract configuration. For many speakers, this will mean dropping the jaw somewhat and adding some range of motion and muscularity to the action of the lips and tongue.

In general, speakers of this accent pronounce the maximum number of sounds in each word, avoiding common fluency/efficiency strategies such as cluster reduction and devoicing.

Note the “hi-hat” rhythm of the STS endings:

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts
With stoutest wrists and loudest boasts
He thrusts his fists against the posts
And still insists he sees the ghosts.

Note the buzzy quality of the final plural endingZ in this poem by Arthur O’Shaughnessy:

We are the music makers,
    And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
    And sitting by desolate streams; —
World-losers and world-forsakers,
    On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
    Of the world for ever, it seems.

Vowels of R

This is a non-rhotic accent, meaning that R sounds are not produced when they come in final syllable position.

Another way to say this is that R is only pronounced in front of a vowel sound.

Drop the R’s in words like NEAR, SQUARE, START, NORTH, CURE, NURSE, lettER, etc.

The example sentence from Speak With Distinction: “Fearless bears surely roar far.”

In the following practice phrases, do not pronounce the (r) sounds. Instead, focus on adding a little length to the “vowel of R”.

  • The wo(r)st bu(r)nt si(r)loin.
  • Bette(r), stRonge(r), faste(r).
  • Clea(r)ly fea(r)less.
  • Upstai(r)s Downstai(r)s.
  • A la(r)ge sta(r) cha(r)t.
  • Play the cho(r)d on the o(r)gan.
  • She(r)lock sea(r)ched fo(r) the mu(r)deRe(r).
  • Futu(r)e conse(r)vative leade(r).
  • They pe(r)seve(r)ed as a voluntee(r).
  • Swea(r) with flai(r).
  • Spa(r)kle(r)s fo(r) the ga(r)den pa(r)ty.
  • No(r)man dRove fRom Yo(r)kshi(r)e to O(r)kney.
  • The ea(r)ly bi(r)d catches the wo(r)m.
  • Tea(r)s fo(r) Fea(r)s appea(r)ed in Tangie(r)s.
  • A squa(r)e hai(r)line.
  • Skyla(r)ks da(r)kened Denma(r)k’s skies.
  • Co(r)gis have sho(r)t legs and long to(r)sos.

Consonant R (“Crispy”)

R sounds are pronounced when they occur:

  • At the beginning of syllables (e.g. “red roses”)
  • Between two vowels (e.g. “marry”)
  • At the end of a word when the next word starts with a vowel (e.g. “bear attack”)

The consonant R sound in this accent is produced with the tongue tip angling up toward the alveolar ridge, or even slightly farther back, with the back of the tongue low in the mouth. You might recognize this as the sound that has been circulating in the media recently as so-called “crispy” R.

To find this vocal tract shape, start with the “zh” sound in the word “leisure”. Feel the place on the gum ridge where the air is buzzing through, then gradually drop the jaw and allow the tongue tip to move away from its contact with that location until the sound no longer buzzes and you have an R-like sound.

In the following practice phrases, it may be helpful to practice first with a “zh” sound (i.e., “zhound the zhugged zhock…”), then with the consonant R sound.

  • Round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
  • Round and round the great arena
    Race the Roman charioteers
    Reckless of life, heedless of risk,
    Striving to gain that rich and rare
    Reward that men call fame

Here are some practice phrases for linking R. Drop the (r) but keep the R!

  • JennifeR‿is a junioR‿in unive(r)sity.
  • My caReeR‿as an enginee(r).
  • The chaiR‿of the libRaRians association.
  • The cashie(r) woRE‿ea(r)plugs.
  • The su(r)fe(r)’s tRaineR‿is fRom ove(r)seas.
  • Did you hea(r) the LibeRians cheeRing?
  • CaRe(r)s, paRents, and gRandpaRents.

Rounded Back Vowels

This accent uses actively rounded lips for most back vowels. In the example from Speak With Distinction, all but the last word has some degree of lip rounding: “Do good poetic laws foster drama?”

The recording includes space for you to practice along after each example word:

  • “You do that voodoo that you do so well”—Cole Porter
  • The Blue Danube
  • Once in a blue moon.
  • The good cookbook.
  • By hook or by crook.
  • Your woolen pull-over
  • Don’t go home.
  • Row, row, row your boat.
  • Moan and groan on the phone.
  • Prawns in sauce
  • The flawed chalk drawing
  • Her daughter brought water
  • Melt the chocolate in your coffee.
  • You’ve gone above and beyond.
  • Moth-eaten cloth

Liquid U

Liquid U refers to the OO sound preceded by a Y glide (as is always the case in words like “music” or “computer”).

In this accent the liquid U sound also happens:

  • Following T, D, and N (e.g. “Tuesday”, “duty”, or “news”)
  • Often following L and S (e.g. “lewd”, “suit”)
  • But not when the vowel sound is spelled with O (e.g. no liquid U in “do,” “too”, etc.)

Try not to use liquid U in the places it doesn’t belong!

  • The students got used to the school’s new rules.
  • Yoo-hoo! Who’s snoozing on duty?
  • He knew all the news before you.
  • It’s a beautiful Park Avenue duplex.

*Practice phrases from American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers by Amanda Quaid

Wine/Whine Split

This accent differentiates between the voiced W sound and the voiceless WH sound. Word pairs such as witch/which, wine/whine, and Wales/whales are distinct.

Note that WH shows up frequently in common question words: what, where, why, when, which.

Whether the weather is cold,
Or whether the weather is hot,
We’ll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

Liaison (Linking)

There are two important ways this accent handles the transition from one word to the next:

When words begin with a vowel sound, use the preceding consonant to start the word, avoiding glottal vowel onsets.

  • Elliot ate an apple and offered Andrew another.
  • Each and every avenue is open at eight o’clock.
  • I am in agreement on every aspect of our association.

*Practice phrases from Speaking With Skill by Dudley Knight

Yod coalescence is the linguistic term for the fluency strategy that makes “can’t you” sound like “can chew.”

In this accent, we want to avoid yod coalescence and ensure that each sound retains its original character.

  • Can’t you? Won’t you? Don’t you?
  • Did you? Would you? Could you?
  • Didn’t you? Wouldn’t you? Couldn’t you?

“Ask” Words

This accent includes a set of words that use a more open vowel quality than in other varieties of North American English. You can hear this sound in the final word of the front vowel sentence from Speak With Distinction: “Lee is telling airy Ann’s answer.”

An alphabetized list of “Ask” words is available here. If you say a word with the vowel sound in the word BATH, it’s a good idea to check the list to see if you need to open that vowel a bit.

Some usual suspects: ask, rather, dance, laugh, can’t…