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[pne]

Saw Harry Potter in the cinema tonight. Was a bit disappointed by Dumbledore's rhotic accent. Otherwise interesting.

Comments

[opal1159.livejournal.com]

What's rhotic?

[denial-land.livejournal.com]

Heh... I thought it was scary.. and it's supposed to be a KIDS movie!

[pne.livejournal.com]

Though they did change the rating from "6" to "12" in Germany, or so I heard.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Pronouncing the "r" in "ar, er, ur".

Most American dialects are rhotic; most British dialects aren't. So I associate rhoticism with America, which was a bit off-putting since all the other characters spoke with a British accent and it seemed out of place to hear rhotic endings. (And the flapped "t" in "Potter", which sounded like "Podder" sometimes.)

My basic accent is non-rhotic, so "ar" sounds like "ah" ("mar" and "ma" rhyme), and "or" sounds like "aw" ("law" and "lore" rhyme). In rhotic accents, they're separate and you hear an "r" sound or -- perhaps more commonly -- the vowel gets an r-colouring to it (but you don't hear a separate consonant sound).

[denial-land.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but it would make sense.

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

How does the rating system work in Germany? I thought it went by age, but I've seen movies rated "R" (Under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian) here that were rated "11" in Germany. I know social standards are different in both countries.

[pne.livejournal.com]

It does indeed go by age; as far as I know, the ratings are "suitable for all ages" (not that many films), "6", "12", "16" (roughly "R"), and "18" (roughly "X").

As you say, though, ratings sometimes differ between countries due to differences of opinion as to what is considered objectionable for certain age groups (e.g. sex is fine but violence is icky, or vice versa, or whatever).

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiwillige_Selbstkontrolle_der_Filmwirtschaft for details of the ratings.

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

But that doesn't necessarily make him not British - most Irish accents are also rhotic.

(Nevertheless, Michael Gambon ain't no Richard Harris, by any stretch of the imagination.)

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

In Australia, it's been provisionally rated M (recommended for viewing by mature audiences, 15 years and over). That being said, the book is also pretty scary, and I don't think an M rating is undeserved - although I'll be interested to see how they rate the next couple of films.

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

(For "British", read "from the British Isles". Like "United States", there's no adjective that will suffice.)

[pne.livejournal.com]

Hm, apparently he was in film 3 as well... but I think I didn't see that one, or I might have noticed it then, too.

[pne.livejournal.com]

But that doesn't necessarily make him not British - most Irish accents are also rhotic.

Yes, I was vaguely aware of that - but I still associate with rhoticity with non-(British Isles)-ness, perhaps because I haven't encountered (m)any rhotic speakers from there.

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

His part was very small - so small, in fact, that I'm not sure he had a speaking part. Even if you had seen it, you probably would have noticed.

(I can't speak for his accent in film 4 - Goblet of Fire comes out here on the 1^st of December, so I have not yet had the chance to see it.)

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The English Englishes are probably some of the most classically non-rhotic dialects in existence, although Australian English gives them a run for their money.

[node-ue.livejournal.com]

Are there /any/ rhotic dialects in the Pacific?

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

I can't think of any, unless you count Hawaiian English. :P

Seriously, there may be some, but I don't know of any.