I posted this in the Talk Like a Pirate Day thread, but it’s sinking there like a lubber that’s walked the plank, so I’m giving it its own thread.
The Yahoo entry on TLAPD at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070918/od_nm/pirates1_dc ends with this:
Why should it be difficult to talk in Spanish? They had spanish-speaking pirates. And french, and others.
but then I recalled that our “Pirate Talk”, as established in past threads, is a bastard creation probably not related at all to the way pirates talked, and probably adapted from English stage “stock accents”. So “talking like a pirate” is a wholly fictitious thing anyway.
So the question is, is there “pirate talk” in any other language? When they translate “Pirates of the Caribbean” into other languages for the international market, does Jack Sparrow have a characteristically “pirate” way of speaking? Do they use some weird accent in the German edition? Do the Spanish dubbers use a particularly regional accent, or something? Inquiring minds want to know!
Do other languages have dialects from areas historically (or fictionally) linked with maritime concerns–including piracy? In English, “pirate speech” seems to be based on the English spoken in Southwestern England–AKA “The West Country”.**
Francis Drake came from Devon–& his resume definitely included “privateer.” Some of the area’s longstanding maritime traditions were later considering “smuggling” by small-minded bureaucrats.
The article also mentions that Tom Jones was set in Somerset. The BBC adaptation featured Brian Blessed’s over-the-top portrayal of Squire Western–who used a wonderful West Country accent.
Of course, later examples of “pirate speech” have more to do with silly (& non-silly) movies than serious linguistics.
In colonial-era Mexico, two of the biggest pirate towns were Campeche and Bacalar – in the western and southeastern corners of the Yucatan Peninsula, respectively. So, if a movie dubber wanted to be clever, they might dub pirates with a Yucatecan accent – that is, with hard consonants (influenced by Maya’s glottal stops) and a sort of slow, singsong lilt to it – but, really, pirates probably sounded more like Cubans, Veracruz port dwellers, and other coastal Hispanics – that is, dropping their syllabl-final “s” (the way many English, etc. drop syllable-final “r”).
BB, you’re trying to answer what I’m not asking – I’m not asking how you’d go about producing a pirate accent, but what they do actually use. In the previous thread on pirates it was suggested that the pirate accent used was a theatrical nstandby that stood out and was easy to do – and just happened to be West Country (not because of Drake – I’m sure Pirates came from all over). And it’s not just “Nautucal” language – “Piratespeak” contains words and phrases – “walk the plank”, “shiver me timbers”, , etc., that I doubt and real pirates used, in any accent. I’m sure you could create a fake pirate speech in any language by choosing an odd country accent, using a lot of nautical terms, and throwing in a few made-up phrases. My question is – Do they actually do this? I’ve got no idea – I haven’t watched foreign dubbings of Pirate films, and don’t know enough about languages to be able to tell.
Judging from our one data point – Mr. Dibble’s – they don’t dub in an odd accent. If this is generally the case, then I submit that the Rest of the World is missing out on part of the Pirate Experience. And wouldn’t BEGIN to understand “Talk Like a Pirate Day” if they heard about it.
I’m just guessing, but if French has a dialect/accent version associated with Carribean piracy, it probably is similar to Haitian french. Tortuga and all.
As you mention, there were notable French pirates. However, whenever pirates are portrayed in French movies, appart from the liberal use of naval slang and cursing, they don’t speak with a particular accent.
