a question for british ilxors: what is jon ronson's accent?

I just watched some of his documentary about David Icke and I kept getting distracted by the way that Jon Ronson speaks. Particularly, the way he says the word "World". He seems to lisp it slightly, in a way that sounds to my (American) ear like someone speaking in 'babytalk', i.e. his "ell" sound becomes a sort of "w"- it's hard for me to phonetically spell out what he's doing with this word, but it's like he says "wowd" instead of "world". I don't hear an "r" or an "l" in this. Is this a regionally specific accent? A class specific accent? Fill me in.

oh, and here's the link to his documentary- he says the word "world" many times in the first minute or so.

Why are they talking like that??

2002 ilx!

its amazing how similar our questions are, really.

but nobody really answered your question! I hope some Brits weigh in here and sort me/us out. I've been trying to watch the rest of the documentary and it's becoming comic because he's constantly saying the phrase "new world order" (since it's about conspiracy theorists etc.) and it's just getting ridiculous with the lisping.

<3 jon ronson - he seems to speak in an affected faux naive style all his own - part of his genius as far as getting people to trust him imo

i hear this accent/impediment on npr sometimes and want to scream, it bugs. i have been wondering about how much of an affectation it is, or if it is tied to a region.

jonathan rosshire

just listened to his voice, his is mild compared to some i've heard

btw i was watching secret rulers of the world today too via gawker and i have to say for those who havent seen it crazy rulers of the world is way better - truly wonderful delightful nutz movie - super recommended

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RraLw0MIeY

louisa lim is the npr/bbc(?) reporter i was thinking of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FkQGcC5kus

is there a relationship between the "wowd" thing and pronouncing "Anti-Semite" Auntie- SEEEE-mite"?

think it's a mixture of accent and speech impediment. his pronunciation of the letter r is a bit weak anyway - he says "conspiwacy". the W instead of L is a bit of a london/estuary english kind of a thing - sorry i can't think of any good examples at the moment. he grew up in cardiff, but he doesn't have a trace of a welsh accent. i'm guessing that he's got the sort of non-descript middle class accent which tends to be a bit malleable and he picked up this element of the accent.

ah, wait, this is what i was looking for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-vocalization

That's it! Thank you! Perfect!

terry jones used to do this accent a lot iirc

wiki also reminds me that bristolians do this to - he's more likely to have got it from there, i guess, given it's just over the other side of the severn bridge from cardiff.

his accent is broadly Manchester region (he was born in Cardiff but seems to have spent more time in Manchester area inc as a student and music scenester) i think but the feyness compounds the effect to make it sound a bi more unusual at times perhaps.

I think ice cr?am may be onto something about the child-like effect it produces perhaps leading to the payoff of a more trusting, self-incriminating interview. The "little ole me" strategy might produce further disclosure. Perhaps it also avoids the "voice of authority" problem that voiceover on docs inherently raises.

Anyway, it seems like it can show up in quite a wide swathe of British accents if it's a Cockney thing *and* an Estuary thing etc.

yeah he sounds like some type of british child more or less - i remember being in marthas vinyard in the mid 90s watching the fireworks where they do a section on the ground depicting a drunk boozing it up and pissing everywhere - the english family in front of us just could not figure out what was going on when finally their little boy yelled out EATS BIEL CLINT-ON PLAYING THE SAX-IF-OWN - they were relived he figured it so they could relax and enjoy the fireworks

haha. i think the child-like effect is more a product of his weak r speech impediment. the W for L thing can sound a lot tougher in a less fey voice than ronson's. pittsburgh's accent does something similar apparently, and i'm guessing that doesn't sound childlike? or maybe it does. but yeah, seeming completely unthreatening is central to his interview technique and to the comedy of him being caught up in terrifying conspiracies etc.

xp cockney and estuary are pretty closely related btw - estuary is an accent that's taking over the whole of the south east and supplanting cockney to an extent: cockney 2.0.

EATS BIEL CLINT-ON PLAYING THE SAX-IF-OWN

did they relocate via several years in Johannesburg?

The Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL first took to the field as the Pittsburgh Baby Talk on September 20, 1933, losing 23-2 to the New York Giants.

stfu thats how u write how an english kid talks case closed xp

i think they were australian

thats part of england, no

i keep reading the saxamphone bit as a southern kid.

i switch out er and el a lot :(

fish finguhs aww linna loine
and vuh mihwk bottiws
stand empty

I concur with joe, l->w after a vowel is a London/southeast thing and "r" is non-rhotic for much of the UK (so I wouldn't pronounce the "r" in "world" except to modify the vowel), but the extent to which he does it seems like there is a r->w impediment going on too. Haven't listened to enough of it to determine whether this fits with the rest of his speech, mind.

cockney and estuary are pretty closely related btw - estuary is an accent that's taking over the whole of the south east and supplanting cockney to an extent: cockney 2.0.

Except Estuary, which is horrible enough, is beginning to be supplanted by that "New London" accent, which is worse

What is the New London accent?

Innit, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaike

It's more of a teenage accent I suppose

Ah. I noticed that type of elongation in a Ms Dynamite interview once - she does that with 'raaaaaight' too, must be something in the water in Camden because all the youf do it.

Yeah, I've noticed it outside of London too though, Midlands and even the North

Saw a thing about crime in Sheffield and one lad was talking laaaaaaaaaaaaaaike that

It makes me laugh because they're all trying to sound "American" except with interjections about 'my endz' innit.

Can't wait for it to hit Glasgow!

What a car wreck that'll be!