Linguists Explain How to Change Your Accent, Like Austin Butler
PEOPLE ARE STILL talking about Austin Butler’s Golden Globes acceptance speech a month after he gave it.
It wasn’t what he said when he accepted an award for playing Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic, but how he said it. Butler seemed to still be speaking with the low-pitched, Southern drawl that Elvis is known for.
Fans (and the internet) had strong reactions, with many questioning how he could still have the accent years after filming. And, videos of Butler pre-Elvis have circulated, depicting his noticeably different speaking voice.
To prepare to play the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Butler, who’s also nominated for an Oscar for the role, has said he fully immersed himself into the character. Backstage at the Globes, he said, “I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot. I had three years where that was my only focus. So, I’m sure there’s pieces of him in my DNA, and I’ll always be linked.”
Linguistics experts say Butler’s new way of speaking is likely genuine. And, that it’s possible for anyone to adopt a new accent long-term. It just takes some effort.
The method-acting approach, watching archival footage of Elvis, and generally immersing himself “to live and breathe and think like Elvis” resulted in the voice and accent changes, says Jonathan Howell, Ph.D., associate professor of linguistics at Montclair State University.
“So, it doesn't totally surprise me that he's taken on a lot of these characteristics,” he says. “I think it's genuine as far as I can tell.”
Though, recently, Butler said he’s “getting rid of the accent,” as he’ll soon star in Dune: Part Two. Still, if you’ve ever wondered if you could change how you talk, here’s a closer look at what goes into adopting a new accent.
What Influences How We Talk?
A lot goes into how you talk. Accents involve pronunciation, sentence structure, word choice, speech rhythm and intonation, and how the sounds all blend together, Howell says.
Speech is also influenced by your regional dialect or ethnolect, which refers to the distinctive speech of specific groups of people. But, not everyone from the same region or group sounds the same.
“Everybody’s speech is unique,” Howell says.
That’s where idiolect comes into play. An idiolect is your individual speech habits that are shaped naturally by many factors, like your age, all the places you’ve lived, where you grew up, and life experiences.
Butler appears to have picked up Elvis’s idiolect, Howell says. Not everyone born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1935 or who lived in Memphis in the 1950s sounded exactly like Elvis.
“It wouldn’t have been enough to just learn how people talk in Memphis, for example, because the idiosyncrasies of Elvis’s voice are so well-known that Butler really needed to dig deep into all of those,” Howell says.
Can You Actually Change Your Accent?
You can change how you talk, but it takes time, effort, and practice, Howell says.
By the time you become an adult, it’s much more difficult to change your speech. That’s why kids can often learn new languages more quickly than adults, he adds.
“You would have to study it the same way you study math or anything else,” Howell explains. Regarding Butler’s idiolect change, “He would have had to be very analytical about it, as opposed to a little kid who could just talk with someone who talks like Elvis, and it comes naturally to them.”
Adopting a new accent is a conscious effort, at least in the beginning. You’d first need to be aware of the idiosyncrasies of your natural speech and then become analytical about making changes, before it could become permanent.
It’s more than learning new pronunciations. It would involve using new words, speech rhythms, and intonation. “If you want to be able to do that spontaneously, you really have to do the work,” Howell says.
Speech Is Tied to Identity, Too
When you’re immersed in a new accent, it could leave a mark on how you talk. For instance, an American living in England may pick up new British words or speech patterns, but not always.
“It also depends on how much you identify with that other way of speaking,” Howell says. “If you really love England, for example, you might want to start adopting that, but if you’re in a place where you really want to keep your own identity, you won’t.”
Howell is from Canada and says that when he moved to the U.S., he made an effort to stop saying “eh,” which is common in Canadian speech. “I tried to suppress that and not say it because I wanted to fit in,” he says. “But later in my life, I decided to lean into my Canadian identity and then started not to do that.”
Why Are People Reacting So Strongly to Butler's Voice Change?
People have expressed skepticism that Butler’s accent change is genuine. But, his Elvis voice coach Irene Bartlett insists that it’s real. “What you saw in that Golden Globes speech, that’s him. It’s genuine. It’s not put on,” she said.
have never committed to anything the way austin butler has committed to the elvis voice
— zoë ✨🌙 (@zoenone0none) January 11, 2023
It’s the perceived lack of authenticity that’s likely causing most of the stir around the Elvis voice, Howell says. “It’s not a new idea that someone would adopt a different way of speaking for social mobility,” like in the movie My Fair Lady.
Others may be perceiving the lingering accent as a rejection of a previous identity, he adds.
“The way we speak is so tied up with our identity, and people have really strong feelings about identity,” Howell says. “So, why does he seem to be rejecting that old way of speaking? That could be part of the reason that people are really rubbed the wrong way by it.”
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