Patrick Stewart
You probably know Patrick Stewart, the British actor (Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek, Captain of the Enterprise).
What kind of accent does he have? I've just watched "First Contact" and noticed that it's not a typical English accents (like BBC English or RP, the ohs and word like "commAnd"...)
What do you think? If you own the move, have a look! Or rather, have a "hear"...
It sounds very much like RP. What else could it possibly be?
Maybe there is a Scottish influence in his speech. I remember seeing Patrick Stewart on the Donnie & Marie Show about five or six years ago and he mentioned his Scottish background in passing. Immediately Donnie & Marie (Osmond) chimed in and said "We're Welsh!" (Which really is a closely related nationality to Scottish along with Irish, Cornish and Breton).
Patwhick Stewart: 2 b or not 2b, vat is da queschin
In Star Trek, shouldn't Patrick Stewart have put on a French accent
because he is playing the part of a Frenchman?
Patrick Stewart has what I would define as a "RADA" accent. It's the type of voice that only classically trained actors have. There are various differences between this an RP and many listeners may confuse the two. The most important difference is that there is a certain amount of rhoticity so an actor would pronounce the word "actor" with a specific "or", rather than acta or acter as in other accents. While some pronunciation leans towards the South East it is more general than RP.
Tom Baker is probably another good example of the above
RADA = Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ?
<<In Star Trek, shouldn't Patrick Stewart have put on a French accent
because he is playing the part of a Frenchman?>>
I've always thought that too! There was even one episode where they showed you his family in France, and they had French accents.
Rhoticity in Patrick Stewart's accent? Never! (I don't mean to sound like a purist). Though the pronunciation he received, outside of his homegrown one, may have been a little different to certain RP norms. Unique vowel pronunciations before 'r' don't count as rhoticity.
<<In Star Trek, shouldn't Patrick Stewart have put on a French accent
because he is playing the part of a Frenchman? >>
That throws me off too. Not being much of a Trekkie, and just watching the occasional episode now and then, it took me a long time to figure out that he was supposed to be French.
Patrick Stewart does have a Scottish heritage but he was born in West Yorkshire, England, and proudly regards himself as a Tyke (that is an official nickname given to people from Yorkshire, but unfortunately the word "tyke" has since become a form of insult, meaning a worthless person!)
He is a good Shakespearean actor in addition to everything else he has done.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/extras/guests/patrick_stewart.shtml
The UK has always adopted nicknames for people from the various regions, as do most other countries, no doubt.
We Scots call the English Sassenachs and they call us Jocks. The Welsh are Taffs, or Taffies; the Irish are Paddies; people from NE England are Geordies; Liverpool people (Liverpudlians) are Scousers; Manchester people are Mancunians; Glasgow = Glaswegian; Aberdeen = Aberdonians; Dundee = Dundonians; Birmingham people are Brummies, or Brums; down in Cornwall anybody who is not Cornish is an Emmett and over the River Tamar in next door Devon anybody who is not Devonian is a Grockle.
Down in Kent it depends on which side of the River Medway you live whether you are a Man of Kent or a Kentish Man.....(or woman)...I don't know which is which.
Some people use the term Cockney for any Londoner!
Glaswegians call anybody at any time of the day or night.....