Mispronunciation Can Help Create Distinctive Characters

We Don’t All Sound the Same: Writing Should Reflect That

Dialogue Adds Atmosphere to Writing

Readers will struggle to identify characters who all talk the same. One way to differentiate them is to create dialogue that includes mispronunciations.

Sixteen Out of the Millions of Words People Might Say Wrong

In each case, the key word is first (underlined), followed by the mispronunciation, with the correct pronunciation in italics.

ask … ax … ask
cavalry … cal-va-ree … ca-val-ree
espresso … ex-press-oh … ess-press-oh
February … Feb-you-air-ee … Feb-roo-air-ee
hyperbole … hy-per-bowl … hy-per-boh-lee
library … li-bair-ee … li-brair-ee
lingerie … lawn-ger-ee … lawn-jer-ay
mischievous … miss-chee-vee-us … miss-chiv-us
nuclear … nu-cu-ler … nu-clee-er
often … off-ten … off-en
probably … praw-blee … praw-ba-blee
quinoa … kee-no-ah … keen-wah
ragout … ra-gowt … ra-goo
salmon … sal-munn … sa-munn
supposedly … su-pose-a-blee … su-pose-ed-lee
Wednesday … Wedd-nuz-day … Wennz-day

Find thousands of writing tips and word lists in
The Writer’s Lexicon series
and additional resources on my Facebook page.

–

Sample Sentences Using the Above Words

Note: Expresso is so common that it no longer activates spellcheck warnings.

“He axed her where the calvary were hiding.”
“Febuairy is a good month to drink hot expresso.”
“I debunked all the hyperbowl in his speech.”
“Nobody wears lawngeree to the libairy.”
“He’s a real mischeevious boy.”
“He says he’s gonna use nuculer force.”
“I should prawbly go now.”
“That keenoah didn’t agree with me.”
“The menu offten has ragowt and salmunn on it.”
“Supposably, he’ll be here on Wednuzday.”

Note the overt misspellings: Readers will notice the words and realize they’re deliberate — not typos.

Differences in Pronunciation Could Hint at Several Factors

People from the UK will usually pronounce lieutenant as lefftenant, and they exhibit many other speech variances compared with North American English. Remember who came first, though, and don’t disparage a Brit for speaking the King’s English.

You might think that ax instead of ask is an idiosyncrasy of Black American speech. Not so, according to this YouTube video (9 minutes).

Regional accents affect a person’s speech patterns.

Conditions such as stuttering, ataxia, larynx injuries, and cleft palate will play a role; as will native language, gang association, education level, age, aptitude, historical period, country, etc.

But Please Don’t Do This

This excerpt from Reader Gripe #2 illustrates a writing technique that alienates readers:

“’E don’ care wha’ yo s’pose,” Wart said, “an’ I don’ neither. Ev’body no th’ truth, drefful as ’tis, an’ ev’body sayin’t. I tell yo agin, ’em guys’re tryin’ ta kill th’ l’l weesel, bu’ wha’ wi’ all th’ kops watchin’ ’is place —”

“Po-lice! Yo’ think jus’ ’cause th’ po-lice’re watchin’ ’im, ’e’s gonna be a’right? Yo’ crazy,” Sash answered.

“Crazy? Yo th’one wha’ crazy, bro. ’N a coupla days th’ po-lice gonna get Monk, dey gonna getchu an’ ev’one else wha’ no ‘im.”

“Hmmph. Nob’dy dare mess wi’ me, ’cludin’ th’ po-lice, th’ DA, an’ all there dawgs. Munny talk, man. ’Sides, I’ got th’ goods on to many kops. They don’ dare lay a finger’n me.”

Read the preceding excerpt out loud or ask someone to read it to you. It’s a mess, right? Don’t force that mess on readers.

Show mispronunciations, yes, but make them effortless to read.

A Couple of Comparisons

Which of the sentences in the following two pairs are easier to understand?

Th’ hahdest thang I ev’r dunn was leave that critt’r b’hind.
The hahdest thang I ever dunn was leave that critter behind.

Won’t n’b’dy n’er b’lief whot that guy dunn did ta me.
Won’t nobody never believe whot that guy dunn did ta me.

Apostrophes muddle text. The dialogue might represent what real people say, but real readers will drop a story if they have real problems deciphering what an author is trying to say.

A combination of distinctive grammar or stilted speech, and minor variances in pronunciation, will make a character stand out. If one character consistently says whot and dunn, their dialogue will separate them from an uppity maître d’ with impeccable English.

How to Find Other Words You Could Use

Search the internet for phrases such as the following:

commonly mispronounced words
street slang
how [German, French, Russian, Swedish] people pronounce English words

The above searches will locate internet sites as well as appropriate videos at YouTube — which is a great first place to visit and listen. (Note that most search engines ignore capitalization, but it doesn’t hurt to include it.)

Consistency and Repetition Are Important

Making a character mispronounce a word once won’t generate an impact. The variance should be a quirk that comes up often in conversation, but not so frequently that it annoys readers.

Readers Must Remember Which Character Has Which Quirk

One way to do that is to match quirks with names.

Someone who says whot could be named Wolfgang or Wolfie.

A character who continually spouts supposably could be Abbey or Abbott.

Dexter or Exton might suit a person who says excetera.

Need more name ideas? Check out this post for creating catchy character names.

A Few Final Words

Leverage mispronunciation as a subtle tool. A touch here, a caress there, a pat somewhere else, and you’ll create distinctive characters that come across as believable.