The accent work that I did for this show was largely done by watching videos and trying to recreate the sounds that I was hearing. To begin this process, I used this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S4YQJ9Tx1k
In this clip, the dialect coach gives a general breakdown of the sounds found in a Minnesota accent. She starts by focusing on the posture of the accent. Minnesota has a closed jaw and lots of lip-corner tension. This means that the corners of the mouth are pinned to the side, stretching the mouth taught. This creates a wideness in the lips, which has led to a reputation of the “Minnesota smile.” This comes from the general look of the mouth as a Minnesotan forms their words.
She then draws attention to specific vowel sounds like the lack of diphthong in “o” or the front-of-mouth “i”. She explains that the closed nature of the jaw will lead to a different sounding vowel. It will also affect the rhoticity of “r” and where certain sounds appear in the mouth. A lot of vowels are moved towards the front of the mouth because of the overall posture.
She then proceeds to describe the pitch and prosody of the accent, discussing the upward inflection and overall buoyancy of the sounds. She uses the term “Minnesota friendly” to illustrate the accent stereotype better.
All of these suggestions were taken into account as I began to navigate my own dialect path. Once I had a starting place, I took to podcasts to listen to native speakers using the accent. I particularly enjoyed the podcast Curious Minnesota. I watched the episodes “Inside the mines and megamachines of the Iron Range,” “How a Twin Cities ammunition factory dominated by women helped U.S. win WWII,” and “Why are there so many stucco homes in the Twin Cities.” These really helped me to pinpoint key sounds and practice with a native speaker.
Along with these resources, I watch small snippets of the movie Fargo to figure out what not to do. I did not want to produce a caricature of a Minnesotan, nor did I want my accent to sound farcical. Therefore, I noted the differences between Fargo and my podcast to create a map of sorts.
Here are the notes that I took for this accent:
Initially, I was asked to do a second accent. When Mrs. Hubbard drops her guise and becomes Linda Arden, her accent would undoubtedly change. Marc asked that I prepare a neutral accent that followed the patterns of Edith Skinner’s “Good American Speech.” He sent along suggestions of what I might watch in order to approach the speech properly. I began by watching The Philadelphia Story, studying Katherine Hepburn’s accent. I then watched All About Eve, and took notes on Bette Davis’s accent. I found that Linda Arden’s voice paralleled Davis’s accent more because of age, style, and career (Linda is a stage actor, just like Davis’s character in the movie).
Here are the notes that I took for this accent:
