{"id":205713,"date":"2023-01-27T11:18:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T16:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/?p=205713"},"modified":"2023-01-27T11:18:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T16:18:32","slug":"how-did-elvis-star-austin-butler-change-his-voice-linguistics-expert-weighs-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/2023\/01\/27\/how-did-elvis-star-austin-butler-change-his-voice-linguistics-expert-weighs-in\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did \u2018Elvis\u2019 Star Austin Butler Change His Voice? Linguistics Expert Weighs In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor Austin Butler had social media buzzing in January when he accepted a Golden Globe for his starring role in 2022\u2019s Elvis<\/em> biopic, with perplexed viewers asking, \u201cWhy does he still sound like Elvis Presley?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In interviews, Butler \u2013 who has since earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal \u2013 has said he does not think he still sounds like the King, but admits he gets the question a lot. So is it possible?<\/p>\n

Here, Linguistics Associate Professor Jonathan Howell explains how the Oscar nominee might have developed his idiolect \u2013 the accent of a specific person \u2013 and what it takes to adopt a new voice.<\/p>\n

How does someone change their accent and voice?<\/h2>\n

First, there are several components to an accent, Howell says. Yes, new vocabulary pronunciation is part of it, but attention must also be paid to sentence structure and the rhythm and tone of speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are often surprised to learn that every accent comes with its own set of rules,\u201d Howell says. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to just memorize a few words or phrases. Instead, you have to learn the predictable patterns, so that you can apply them even with new material.\u201d<\/p>\n

A dialect coach can help with this learning curve. Howell says these professionals have taken the time to notice all the different components of a dialect that a speaker typically takes for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also find a way to explain them in an understandable way, and to develop practice materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Butler\u2019s case, Howell says, the accent he picked up is what linguists call an idiolect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe each have our own constellation of different linguistic features,\u201d Howell says. \u201cNot everyone born in Tupelo, Mississippi \u2013 Elvis\u2019 hometown \u2013 in 1935 sounded exactly like Elvis. He is unique!\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the new, lower pitch of voice? \u201cSpeakers exploit this for different scenarios,\u201d Howell says.<\/p>\n

Voice pitch goes up and down all the time for meaningful distinctions \u2013 such as saying something as a statement versus a question \u2013 and other situations like using a low pitch to convey authority (e.g. a parent telling their child to go to bed), or a high pitch when attempting to seem deferential (e.g. asking a supervisor for permission to work from home).<\/p>\n

This is also a practice a voice coach can help with, Howell says. \u201cA voice coach can help a person become more aware of their own voice, in order to manipulate it more deliberately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can you permanently change your accent?<\/h2>\n

Yes, but it\u2019ll take a lot of work.<\/p>\n

Howell says the patterns of language that make up an accent are something we pick up naturally as a child merely by growing up in a particular speech community.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike algebra or poker, it doesn\u2019t take any conscious effort or explicit teaching to learn your language,\u201d he says. \u201cBy the time you hit adulthood, though, changing your language becomes much harder. Exposure to a new accent helps, but it typically takes lots of deliberate practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

That seems to be the case for Butler. The actor has said in interviews that to prepare for his portrayal of Elvis Presley, the singer was his only focus for three years. \u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way,\u201d he told reporters after winning the Golden Globe.<\/p>\n

Whether or not it happened on purpose, Butler\u2019s seemingly new voice and accent became trending topics on social media during the film\u2019s promotional tour and award season. But why is it such a hot topic of discussion?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe communicate a lot about our identity by the way we speak, including where we grew up, our age, our gender and racial identity, and our socioeconomic status,\u201d Howell says. \u201cThese are all things that people have strong feelings about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is this the same as the \u2018Peppa Pig Effect\u2019?<\/h2>\n

Anecdotally, some American parents noticed that their children were starting to sound more British after watching the children\u2019s show, Peppa Pig<\/em>, which is produced in the UK. It got a lot of attention early in the pandemic when kids were suddenly enjoying a lot more screen time.<\/p>\n

Howell says word choice was the most common change; for example \u201ctelly,\u201d \u201cFather Christmas,\u201d or \u201cgive it a go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin Butler\u2019s change takes it one step further to include pronunciation, voice quality and sentence structure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expert discusses how our speech patterns and tone of voice can change<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":205714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-259_linguistics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205715,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205713\/revisions\/205715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/linguistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}