Jared Leto’s film accents
American Southern/Deep South
Irish
RP
Katka Dudáková 21 October, 2014
Jared Leto
• musician (30 Seconds to Mars), actor, film
director, editor, and producer,
entrepreneur=artist
• most know movies: Requiem for a Dream,
Alexander the Great, Dallas Buyers Club
• movies analysed: Chapter 27, Basil, The Last
of the High King
American Southern/Deep South
American Southern/ Deep South
• [aː] followed by a voiced
consonant, or a continuant
– Price [ˈpraːs], five [ˈfaːv],
time [ˈtaːm]
• Southern drawl
– [æɪə]: Cab [ˈkæɪəb], path
[ˈpæɪəθ], ham [ˈhæɪəm]
– [ɛɪə]/[ɛə]: Step [ˈstɛəp],
bell [ˈbɛəl], red [ˈrɛəd]
• /ing/ present participle: [ɪn]
– Running [ˈrʌnɪn], hiding
[ˈhaɪdɪn]
General American
• [aɪ]
• [æ]
• [e]
• [ɪŋ]
Southern American/Deep South
• [ə]: unstressed endings
– Yellow [ˈjelə], potato
[pəˈteɪˌtə]
• [ɜː]
– Cup [kɜːp], pulse [ˈpɜːls],
blood [ˈblɜːd]
• Rhotic/ Non-rhotic: both possible
– Earth [ˈərth]/[ɜːθ], sharp
[ˈʃɑːrp]/[ʃɑːp], war
[ˈwɔːr]/[wɔː], fear [ˈfɪr]/[fɪə]
• Lingering on key words
General American
• [oʊ]
• [ʌ]
• Rhotic
Chapter 27
• 2007
• Jared Leto as Marc
David Chapman (John
Lennon„s killer)
Chapter 27
I [aː] believe [bəˈliːːv] in Holden Caulfield, and the book.
And what it was saying, what it was saying to a lost generation of
phoney people.
…
If you wanna know...
I mean, if you really [ˈrɪːli] want me to tell [tɛɪəl] you about it...
I will [wɪːl].
Chapter 27
But the first thing you probably want to know is all that stuff
[ˈstɜːf] about my dad [ˈdæɪd] and what he did to my mom and
me and all.
The whole goddamn [ˈɡɑːddæɪəm] childhood [ˈtʃaːldˌhʊd].
But I'm not gonna tell you any of that stuff.
That stuff isn't important. Not anymore.
The Last of the High Kings (Summer Fling)
• 1996
• Coming of age comedy
• 1977, Dublin
• Jared Leto as Frankie
Irish accent
Irish accent
• Rhotic: /r/ after vowels
– Start [ˈstɑːrt], quarter
[ˈkwɔːrtər], hire [ˈhaɪər]
• Medial and terminal /t/ as [d] or
[ɾ]
– Writer [ˈraɾɪər], lot of [lɒɾ ɒv]
• /t/ sounded with breathy release
stage
– Later [ˈleɪtər], part [ˈpɑːrt],
Peter [ˈpiːtər]
• [θ], [ð] dentalized, plosive not
fricative
– Think [ˈtɪŋk], them [dəm],
bathing [ˈbeɪdɪn]
RP
• Non-rhotic
• [t] unvoiced, aspirated, released
plosive
Irish accent
• [ʊ]
– Cup [kʊp], done [dʊn],
mother [ˈmʊdə]
• [ɒɪ]
– Ripe [rɒɪp], type [tɒɪp],
time [ˈtɒɪm]
• [n] present participle
– Running [ˈrʊnən], hiding
[ˈhɒɪdən]
• [ɛʊ]
– Out [ɛʊt ], mouth [mɛʊt],
crowd [krɛʊd ]
RP
• [ʌ]
• [aɪ]
• [ɪŋ]
• [aʊ]
Irish accent
• [oʊ]
– Soap [soʊp], hole [hoʊl],
blow [ˈbloʊ]
• [ə] in unstressed syllables
– Cabbage [ˈkæbədʒ], stop
it [stɒp ət]
RP
• [əʊ]
• [ɪ]
The Last of the High Kings
Kings - video
I had it all planned, college a place of my own,
hang out all day in cafes with beautiful girls
[ˈɡɜːrlz ] with legs and blonde hair [ˈher], that
you could talk to about the Stranglers
[ˈstræŋɡlərz] and Hemingway, and who you could
spend loads of [loʊdz ɒv] time in bed with.
Instead [ənˈsted], I‟ve blown my exams, how
absolute was Luis the Fourteenth? Absolutely no
idea.
The Last of the High Kings
Oh God, I‟ve ruined my life [lɒɪf ] before it
[ɪtsˈiːvn̩] even started [ˈstɑːrtɪd]. They might as
well take me out and shoot me. If a fail, I am
gonna have to get a job [ˈɡeɾ ə dʒɒb], I am not cut
out [kəɾ ɛʊt] for that. I am too young [jʊŋ] to
work. Look at them, Jayne Weyne a Romy
Thomas, the fruit of the gods, I am never gonna
slow dance on the a moonlit beach and whisper
[ˈwɪspər]: “ I love [lʊv] you Romy, or Jayne”,
which ever I happen to be dancing with. No, I am
looking at a life sentence, solitary confinement.
What am I gonna do?
RP
RP
vs.
• /t/: unvoiced, aspirated, released
plosive
– Better [ˈbetə], lot of [lɒt ɒv],
motive [ˈməʊtɪv]
• [ɑː]
– bath [bɑːθ] , dance [dɑːns] ,
laughter [ˈlɑːftə]
• [ɔ]: open, rounded back vowel
– Thought [ˈθɔːt] , call [kɔːl] ,
awful [ˈɔːfl̩] , daughter
[ˈdɔːtə]
General American
• [d], [ɾ]
• [æː] open, unrounded, long, front
vowel
• [ɒ] rounded, back vowel
RP
• Non-rhotic variety
– [ɜː]: her [hɜː], journey
[ˈdʒɜːni], first [ˈfɜːst], bird
[bɜːd]
– [ɔ]: sport [spɔːt], sword [sɔːd],
warm [wɔːm], morning
[ˈmɔːnɪŋ]
– [ɑ]: harm [hɑːm], army
[ˈɑːmi], heart [hɑːt], sergeant
[ˈsɑːdʒənt]
– [ə]: mother [ˈmʌðə], hour
[ˈaʊə], letter [ˈletə], perhaps
[pəˈhæps]
General American
• Rhotic variety
/r/ in all positions
RP vs.
• Linking /r/, intrusive /r/
– Here is [hɪər ɪz], her eyes [hər
aɪz], fear of death [fɪər əv deθ]
– Idea of it [aɪˈdɪər əv ɪt], Shah
of Persia [ʃɑːr əv ˈpɜːʃə]
• [ʌ]
– Hurry [ˈhʌri], worry [ˈwʌri],
Durham [ˈdʌrəm], borough
[ˈbʌrə]
• [æ]
– Harry [ˈhæri], marry [ˈmæri],
arrow [ˈærəʊ], Paris [ˈpærɪs]
General American
• No intrusive /r/
• [ə]
• [ɛː], [æ]
Suprasegmental features
RP
• Begins weakly and ends
strongly
• High pitches for emphasis
General American
• Begins strongly and ends
weakly
• Lower pitch
• Volume for emphasis
Basil
• 1998
• Based on the novel by
Wilkie Collins (1852)
• Jared Leto as Basil,
young aristocrat
• Story about family,
love, friendship,
betrayal and revenge
Basil
• Basil - Basil - video 3:47
• I do not want to lose Julia.
• …
• Then I must have her [hɜː].
• …
• By proposing marriage [ˈmærɪdʒ].
• ...
• Yes, why not [nɒt]?
• …
• Then I will love her [hər ɔːl] all the more [mɔː].
• I cannot live without her.
• …
• How do you know?
• She s the first [ˈfɜːst] image in my mind when I rise and last
[lɑːst] when I go to sleep, she fills my waking hours [ˈaʊəz]
nor [nɔː ] my dreams free from her, there is [ðər ɪz] but one
thought [ˈθɔːt] in my head one theme to my life, have you
felt this way about any one?
• …
• Flee ? where [weə]? Those whom I have loved have fled
me. My father [ˈfɑːðə ], he took me away from my mother‟s
[ˈmʌðəz] bedside during her last moments, he sent Ralph
away and diskept us brothers [ˈbrʌðəz] apart [əˈpɑːt] for all
these years [ˈjiəz], for long I feared [fɪəd] loving anyone
for fear he would come like a prying falcon and take them
away. Now I must face that fear and face him. I will not let
him come between Julia and me.
Jared Leto„s natural accent
• born in 1971 in Luisiana
• High school in Virginia
• University in New York
• 1992 to Los Angeles
• Acceptance speech Oscars 1:16
Resources
• Meier, Paul. Accents and Dialects for Stage
and Screen, 2010
• http://www.imdb.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/
• http://www.photransedit.com/
• http://www.dialectsarchive.com/