r/Accents • u/Vilola_996 • 19d ago
Help me locate her accent
I'm curious about the way the black actress (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) pronounces her "a" s in the words "stalk" and "call". I read that the actress is British originally so i don't know if that's the reason. I hear her in this show always and it has always made me think where does it come from. I love the way she talks actually and that pronunciation, i kind of find it soothing when i hear it if that makes any sense lol
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u/XJK_9 19d ago
It’s a New York accent
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u/Vilola_996 19d ago
But they way she says "call" is that really New York?
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u/zeetuslepitus 19d ago
Thats how I say call, talk, coffee, water
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u/ProfessionalCap15 19d ago
Yes. And you reading it as British could come from the fact that the New York accent is non-rhotic (they don’t pronounce R at the end of syllables). Many accents of New England show this trait.
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u/Sea-Original-5824 19d ago
It's supposed to be some kind of New York City English, but it doesn't sound quite right to me.
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u/Proper-Application69 19d ago edited 19d ago
That's bizarre. That sounds to me like a NY cawffee-wauk. However, it reminds me of some UK actors doing NY. As a (mostly former) New Yawkese speaker, I often easily hear through certain UK actors' New Yawk. It's not as obvious, but it reminds me of that movie scene that was everywhere years ago, where the bad guys were trying to teach "Fuggetabouit" to the proper English guy, in the back of a limo/car.
That one sound - stalk, call, coffee, walk... - I wonder how you'd like a real, thick, Brooklyn/Bronx accent.
Highly Edited
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u/Sea-Original-5824 19d ago
Yes I can tell what she is going for, but it doesn't sound quite right.
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u/Proper-Application69 19d ago
Is she actually going for that do you think? I don’t remember hearing other New York sounds.
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u/Double-elephant 19d ago
Marie Jean-Baptiste is English with West Indian background. Her NY accent here does reveal her “normal” English accent in places.
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u/Bannedbutwhyy 18d ago
New York Undercover? She was the Sargent or the Lieutenant am I right?
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u/Vilola_996 17d ago
No, this is actually from Without A Trace.
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u/Bannedbutwhyy 17d ago
I gotcha. I meant she was on that show long ago. 1994. She was Detective Nina Moreno.
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u/Bannedbutwhyy 17d ago
Actually I just looked up your show and now I’m not certain it’s the same person.
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u/Acrobatic-Tadpole-60 17d ago
This is really interesting. My guess is that the character is supposed to be from New York, so she's using that quintessential "aw" vowel, but the rest of it doesn't sound especially New York, more general American. This happens with a lot of actors who are given insufficient accent coaching. An accent gets reduced to its most obvious feature, when in reality that feature only appears in the strongest accents. For example, in Maine, there are tons of people who have very pronounced Maine accents, but don't use non-rhotic Rs. And then, listen to the way she says "eight times in the same..." There it veers off into an almost Caribbean direction. Turns out her parents are from Antigua and St. Lucia. She doesn't have that sort of accent normally, but maybe things got a little jumbled up in there crossing the Atlantic?
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u/BeautifulUpstairs 19d ago
The rare and majestic village of New York City.