Why do frasier and niles have accents

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In the television show Frasier , the protagonist's brother, Niles Crane, is a haughty, snobby, obsessive-compulsive psychiatrist who frequently obsesses about knowing the right people and climbing the social ladder. Unique to him is his accent, which serves to complement his upper-class persona. People often call the stereotypical "upper-class" accent the Mid- or Trans-Atlantic accent, but this certainly doesn't describe the accent in question. While the Transatlantic accent includes clipping "r" sounds in words like "butter," Niles's accent is abounding in rhoticity c.

Does calfskin puck er? Furthermore, he doesn't have the Transatlantic accent's characteristic sharp "t" in words like "getting" and "better" c. Nile Crane's accent is an educated, refined Broadcast American, but quite distant from the so-called mid-Atlantic accent of Kate Hepburn or the early Bette Davis. Crane adds a few features, however: a slight overarticulation of stops, an unflapped medial t here and there, a full pronunciation of words like conditionally.

It isn't full-on stage diction, but just enough to convey a certain punctiliousness. The permanent pout along with other characteristics of his speech is affect , not accent, and one could argue that the overly careful diction is more affect than accent as well. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Would you like to meet some new people to talk to on a topic you find interesting?

Check out these Zoom mixer meetings to chat about your hobby or obsession. Colleen Nair is a full-time writer. She earned a combined Environmental Studies and Sociology B. Her writings range from blogs to e-books, and she also does copywriting and editing.

In her free time, she loves to read, hang out with her chickens, and longboard. View all posts. Ashtin is an American freelance writer and aspiring editor. Alongside her freelance work, Ashtin pursues the hobby of creative writing. Plus, it helped that the accent didn't make the actors sound like they came from any particular region, which allowed them more versatility when it came to roles.

Instructors stopped teaching it in finishing school and boarding schools, seemingly in a rejection of classicism. At that point in time, rich Americans who boasted about their accent were pretty much ridiculed by everyone else. Kind of in the same way that people laugh at Frasier's accent today. Obviously that shift took some time, and some Americans both on-screen and off- were still heard using the accent up until the late '40s and '50s. As a new generations of actors took over, none of them had been taught the accent in theater school, and spoke much more similarly to the American English we all speak today, which is how it eventually became extinct in films.

These days, it's predominantly used for snobbish comedic effect and for characters, like Frasier, to make it clear that he's much more pretentious than you. The Frasier character along with his brother Niles are elitists and take on an accent to symbolize their perceived sophistication.

Jane Leeves grew up just north of London, but since her character was from Manchester she used an affected Mancunian accent which received a lot of criticism from fans when Frasier aired in the UK.

Leeves worked with a voice coach to ensure that her accent would be understood by American viewers. Allen Kelsey Grammer born February 21, is an American actor, comedian, producer, director and writer, best known for his two-decade-long portrayal of psychiatrist Dr.