The Vekllei Accent

Part of the culture series of articles.

Vekllei comprises dozens of languages and so does not have a single, distinct English accent – but then again, few places do. Even among the islands that speak English at home, their histories and demography are remarkably diverse and sometimes have little common ancestry. Nonetheless, regarding the question of English as the working language of the Commonwealth, republics do share common phonology with roots in their colonial history and their early systems of education.

During the colonial period under British control, patterns of migration established common accents across parts of Vekllei. It has strong similarities with received pronunciation (RP) and the transatlantic accent, infused by the language of their servants and slaves. This class distinction persists to this day as regional variations, with Volcanic republics generally having stronger RP influences and Caribbean republics sounding like the Irish, Indian and South London peoples who were sent there. Most people today sound like a mix of them.

In most of Vekllei, the predominant influence is Irish and an array of West African languages, and so to most foreigners Caribbean Vekllei people sound Irish or Jamaican. In parts of Vekllei like Allia and Hetland, Irish is still spoken. In general, very few Vekllei people speak with a rhotic accent outside of the American expatriate community in Conch.

This basic, quasi-Irish and quasi-RP lilt is then further hybridised by the country’s secondary languages, many of which are spoken at home. In Oslola this is the native Oslolan of its Algic and Scandi peoples. In Verde it is Portuguese and Forro. Many other ‘home languages’ exist and they bring with them local ways of speaking into the general Veletian accent.

Because of this, foreigners sometimes describe Vekllei English as a cross between Irish and cultivated South African or Australian pronunciation, punctuated with unrecognisable odds and ends that may be regional variations, African inflections or some other secondary language influence. It is quite a pretty accent and helps set them apart from both the European and American continents, as a distinct oceangoing people.