Where be the accent of the Pirates from me maties?

[Undesired Walrus]

Yar, it seems throughout the world, regardless of the culture, the Pirate accent is always represented the same, Arr yes it be.

Is it based on any actual regional accent that somehow found itself into representing all pirates throughout history, or is it just completely made up?

The 'maties' seems to suggest some British connection, but I can't think of anywhere that possesses such an accent on these shores.

[Madouc]

It be from the West Coun'ree as far as I be able to discern

[pauldmin]

I suggest Bristol as a good candidate, as it was a major port at the time. The local accent is quite thick, with rolling 'r's.
Take Justin Lee Collins as an example and you can see how this would match the pirate accent quite nicely.

[Undesired Walrus]

It be? Now why would thar Pirates be from the West Coun'ree? Yar, they must have been quite notorious pirates to spread thar accent into the cultural zeitgiest it be.

[sphenisc]

Robert Newton

[Madouc]

Because thar be a long seafaring culture. Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake were Devon men. Bristol is a port.
From Wikipedia article on West Country dialects:

The West Country accent is probably most identified in American English as "pirate speech" – cartoon-like "Ooh arr, me 'earties! Sploice the mainbrace!" talk is very similar. This may be a result of the strong seafaring and fisherman tradition of the West Country, both legal and outlaw. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) was a native of Bristol, and privateer and English hero Sir Francis Drake hailed from Tavistock in Devon. Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Pirates of Penzance may also have added to the association. It has also been suggested that Westcountryman Robert Newton's performance in the 1950 Disney film Treasure Island may have influenced people's preconceptions of what accent a pirate "should" have[3].

[Big Les]

Clearly Robert Newton - the co-incidental seafaring tradition of the South West just makes it more plausible (after the fact).

[Bikewer]

I would have guessed Wallace Beery.

[ElMondoHummus]

Well, not to take this in a more boring, historic direction - but since I got all this out of my system on Talk Like A Pirate Day (and got odd looks as well as mucho suspicion (he's Asian... oh, man, there's piracy in the Straights of Malacca... beat him!!!!... :()), I do have a serious question: Is there indeed evidence that pirates really, truly talked like we image them to have talked? Yes, I see Madouc's post there, and it would explain some of the more famous pirates accents (Blackbeard's, Drake's), but all of them? I was under the impression that piracy was a worldwide phenomenon, and that they came from a variety of countries. As an example, the Barbary Pirates were Mediterranean based, and I find it hard to think that even with all the exposure they'd get in that famous port that they'd all end up affecting the West Country accent.

But then again, maybe it's merely cultural perception driven by entertainment that's creating this image we have of "Arrrrr, Matey!" speech. I actually lean towards that... but I'm digressing. I'm wondering what real evidence we have that even a subset of pirates did indeed... ummm... talk like pirates. For example, I'm wondering if we have diaries/journals, observations by writers, parodies of the affectateous speech in entertainment pieces from the time (indicating that the accent would've existed, else there would be nothing to parody), or anything else like that. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I doubt Madouc's source - on the contrary, I find it a compelling piece in the puzzle - but rather I simply was curious to see what other lines of evidence might converge on that explanation that the West Country accent was the source, or if any alternate lines of evidence exists. That's all.

[brodski]

Penzance.

[Ysidro]

I'm thirding Robert Newton.

[Fnord]

Yar?

[Akhenaten]

Aaaarghstraliaaaaargh.

:pismile:

[boloboffin]

Treasure Island be wherrrre landlubberrrrs aquirrred the pirrrate accent.

[Akhenaten]

Penzance.


Orphan? Often!

[learner]

Wiliam Dampier, pirate extraordinaire. Born over the road from me. Somerset ooh arrer.
He'd be A Wurzel if he was around now.

[dudalb]

Clearly Robert Newton - the co-incidental seafaring tradition of the South West just makes it more plausible (after the fact).


Not coincidental...most accounts I have read have Newton making a very conscious decison to give Long John a West Country accent precisely because of the seafaring tradition.

[Big Les]

Well, that would make sense. Do you have a reference at all?

[Soapy Sam]

I'm with boloboffin.

Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and the character of John Silver in particular.
I imagine Hollywood had a lot to do with propagating the notion that piratical character goes with a (south) west country accent- Devon / Cornwall / Somerset.

Stevenson picked that area because - as others said above- a lot of pirates were west country men.

[Wudang]

To sum up then: why do Pirates sound like they're from the west country?
Because they aaaaarrrrrr!

[John Jones]

Three Pirates playing Wheel of Fortune:

Pat Sajack: Blackbeard, pick a letter!

Blackbeard: Arrr!

Sajack: Sorry Blackbeard, R has already been used. Bluebeard, pick a letter.

Bluebeard: Arrr!

<Klaxxon sounds>

Sajack: Oh. Too bad. Yellowbeard, Pick a letter.

Yellowbeard: Arrr!


. . .

[Audible Click]

As a side note, September 19 is Talk Like A Pirate Day....Arrrr!

[Caustic Logic]

I do have a serious question: Is there indeed evidence that pirates really, truly talked like we image them to have talked?
Does anyone know how we'd even find out what old time pirates before tape recorders sounded like? Has anyone written much about actual pirates and how they talked that gives any meaningful detail? We have only a media image that's fun to speak in. I always thought it sounded Irish but I've no wide basis to stand this on. It's from movies, and the "Arrr" put in by Robert Newton is apparently it, as you reasoned. Maybe we're all wrong, and Mr Newton found out some genuine Pirate secrets...

I was under the impression that piracy was a worldwide phenomenon, and that they came from a variety of countries.
Wrong. Despite geographic disparity, all pirates from the Yangtzee delta to the armpit of Africa to the Caribbean were required by that council of pirates (as in the docu Pirates of the Caribbean), to go to England and study West Country accents. S true!

Real accents for world pirates, we could only guess without some actual evidence. I'm sure there is some around. Probably based in large part on how the people talk where they came from, with perhaps travel-learned bits thrown in for fun. I don't think they interbred at see enough to either develop flippers or their totally own dialect/language.

[Fnord]

As a side note, September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day....Arrrr!
... corrected...

All Ship-Shape & Bristol Fashion!

[Ron_Tomkins]

Hmmmm, I'm actually listening to the first movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony and as I read this thread I feel this is like the perfect Pirate music.

[Akhenaten]

Hmmmm, I'm actually listening to the first movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony and as I read this thread I feel this is like the perfect Pirate music.


It's very hard to get "I am the very model of a modern Major General!" to fit the music though.

[BPScooter]

Totally accidentally, I'm reading a 1990 biography of Francis Drake, and have learned many things. Drake was from Devon, and probably talked something funny. It seems like his origins and accent always were noticeable, even when he was knighted and was a Member of Parliament. He was also the biggest kick-ass famous fearsome navigator ass-kicker of his day, against the people he didn't much like. He didn't like the Catholic religion, the Spanish, and the Pope neither. He wrote: "The wind commands me away. Our ship is under sail. God grant we may live in His fear as the enemy may have cause to say that God doth fight for Her Majesty as well abroad as at home ... Let me beseech your honour to pray unto God for us that He will direct us the right way... Haste!"

That was in a letter to the Queen hoping she would fund the voyage as he hoped (adequate food for the sailors, etc.).

The whole Elizebethan English conceit, through Hollywood via Bad Shakespeare and over-acting. That's where "Pirate" dialect in modern versions comes from IMHO.

I would be willing to bet real pirates from the 1500s-1800s would probably have been able to speak pidgins composed of words/phrases of a universal nature, with vocabulary drawn from East and West.

[BPScooter]

"Par-AAAARGLey-vous Français?"

"¿Donde esta-AAAAAAAGH la casa del jefe?"

[Basilio]

Often, often, often!

[imjohn]

The Elizabethan English accent was probably very different than the modern English accent. American, Irish and Scots English contain vocalizations that have disappeared from English English but they have evolved as well.

[shadron]

According to wiki at the link above on Robert Newton,

He is best remembered for portraying the feverish-eyed Long John Silver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_Silver) and inventing the phrase "Arrrgh, matey!" in the Walt Disney version of Treasure Island. His Disney portrayal became the standard for screen portrayals of pirates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates) and he is often credited with inventing the stereotypical "pirate voice" by exaggerating the accent of his native West Country. Newton has become the "patron saint (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patron_saint)" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day) on September 19.

[BPScooter]

Well, that about settles it. We're all right! Let's have some ship's biscuit and celebrate, mateys. Aaarrrrgh!

[dafydd]

I'm thirding Robert Newton.

I'm fourthing it.

[Ysidro]

Well, that about settles it. We're all right! Let's have some ship's biscuit and celebrate, mateys. Aaarrrrgh!

You don't celebrate with ship's biscuit. You throw it overboard and eat something that won't break your teeth.

[Verde]

OK, we've got the language bit sorted out.

Where did the eye-patch, wooden leg and parrot come from?

V.

[Seren_]

OK, we've got the language bit sorted out.

Where did the eye-patch, wooden leg and parrot come from?

V.

Long John Silver from Treasure Island?


Silver claims to have served in the Royal Navy and lost his leg under "the immortal Hawke". He was said to have been the only man whom Flint ever feared. He had a parrot on his shoulder.


He doesn't have an eye patch though.

[Aitch]

You don't celebrate with ship's biscuit. You throw it overboard and eat something that won't break your teeth.

You can't do that - you'll drown the weevils! ;)

[Lensman]

From Wikipedia:

Admiral (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_(United_Kingdom)) Sir Henry Morgan (Harri Morgan in Welsh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language)), (ca. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circa) 1635 – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales) privateer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privateer), who made a name in the Caribbean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean). He was one of the most notorious and successful privateers from Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales), and one of the most dangerous pirates who worked in the Spanish Main (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Main).

Not ALL British pirates were from S.W. England :p

[BPScooter]

Hey, the "biscuit hypothesis" (breaks teeth, contains weevils) could also explain the AAAARRGH, perhaps? That could be a transcription of a combination of retching and hurting your teeth...becomes habitual with time. The gravelly voice could be due to the tobacco smoking they introduced to the Old World ("curse Sir Walter Ralegh" as the song says).