Viking/Norse/Danish Accents?

[Ireth]

Lots of useful stuff here -- I'll definitely be coming back to it for my latest project involving Norse mythology. ^^

 

[Shockley]

A lot of people are suggesting you go the route of Anglo-Saxon - I don't support this suggestion, since it's a distinct language from what the Vikings would have spoken (Old Norse and regional variants) at the time. Same root language, of course, but you're still dealing with about five hundred years of separation (to show how big a difference that can make, UK versus USA).

Your best bet for the most accurate version of Old Norse would probably be Icelandic. Icelandic is probably more reflective of the way that Vikings would have spoken (not that Vikings were a distinct people from other Old Norse speakers), since it is a simpler language.

 

[Jabrosky]

Considering how different British, American, and Australian accents (or rather sum of accents) all sound from each other despite having diverged from each other within only a few centuries, I doubt we could even imagine how people a thousand years ago talked. That said, I find it fun to imagine people in ancient or medieval civilizations talking in certain familiar accents. In my imagination, for instance, Republican Romans sound like the Sopranos, ancient Egyptians like Rafiki from The Lion King, and Gallic Celts like, well, Frenchmen.

EDIT: Actually, this comes closer to how I imagine the ancient Egyptian accent.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Try this bit from the opening credits of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail":
"A møøse ønce bit my sister...Nø realli! She was karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge–her brother-in-law–an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: “The Høt Hands øf an Oslo Dentist”, “Fillings of Passion”, “The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink”
...Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti..."

Hope this helps.

You forgot this, å

Just whatever you do, don't say BY ODIN'S BEARD!

]:cl>

 

[Lucas]

So, I know that someone is going to tell me not to bother, but I'm writing about Vikings and I need to do something to keep their dialogue from sounding too "modern."

What I'm most looking for is a linguistics essay on speech patterns for one or more of the Scandinavian countries, with an emphasis on accents in English. I'm not out to mimic a perfect accent or fill the dialogue with dropped letters and funny spellings (although I was thinking I might use such a thick accent for characters who are drunk). I just want to know a little bit about how they speak, phrases that are common, easy ways to make the language a little harsher and distinct, and especially ways that I can use speech patterns to differentiate one nation of Vikings from another. So an essay comparing Swedish accents to Danish to Norwegian to Icelandic would be incredible.

Google gave me nothing but cheesy youtube videos, and I've looked several times. I figure I need a more mythical resource.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqY3OGY-95Y