Thoughts on Troi's Accent

[cosmic_llin]

So, I've been thinking about Deanna's accent. How it starts out with this cool Eastern-European-y vibe, and then by the end of the series it's this sort of American-ish thing. Sometimes it's even hard to imagine early-Deanna saying the things that late-Deanna says. And I think I've figured out why.

As a child of two cultures, Deanna could well have been raised bilingual, learning English from her father and a Betazoid language from her mother. When it sounds to viewers as though she has an unusual accent, that's when she's speaking English, but with a Betazoid accent since she's lived there for so long and was very young when she stopped having regular contact with English-speaking relatives.

At some point, for some reason, Deanna decides to stop speaking English and speak Betazoid, letting the Universal Translator do the work for her. This sounds to viewers as though she's speaking in a fairly neutral accent, similar to what the UT normally provides. She's also speaking a little more freely and easily, and is happier to use colloquialisms.

This could even explain Lwaxana's comment that Deanna's accent sounds like her father - Lwaxana is presumably speaking Betazoid all the time, so to her ears Deanna's accent sounds different than it does to anyone else.

Anyway, that's what I've been pondering, on this day when I have a million more important things to be getting on with...

Comments

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I like this retcon a lot. I'm totally adopting it.

[cosmic-llin.livejournal.com]

Yaay! Seriously, this has been bugging me for years, I'm so pleased to finally have thought of a plausible explanation...

[oparu.livejournal.com]

Oh this is briiliant! Points to you for the logic. It's a great retcon (even though I love Deanna's accent when it's strange)

[seti-fan.livejournal.com]

Best explanation I've yet heard for it! Way to go! I really like that idea. :) Adds something to her character journey too, perhaps accepting her mother more and not trying as hard to "fit in" with the Starfleet norm, realizing she can be completely herself? Becoming more settled with her shipmates and relaxing? Good options to think about.

(And yes, I've had many days like you're describing. Some of the best fanfics come out of days when you have a million other things you should be doing.)

[cosmic-llin.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And awww, yeah, I wish she'd kept her original accent, it was awesome.

[cosmic-llin.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like that idea!