Jackie Kennedy's accent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biographers have said Jackie's accent (aka "Little Girl Voice") was a public affectation; that her everyday, off-camera speech was much more typical.

Same with Paris Hilton and Michael and Janet Jackson.

[Anonymous]

You don't hear the accents that FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt had anymore, either.

[Anonymous]

It is also sometimes called a trans-Atlantic accent. I don't think it was made up--it's just how posh old money upper class people used to speak through elocution lessons and so on. There is a similar accent for a lot of hollywood actors of the time (Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Carey Grant), and a lot of old school politicians (Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt). It's the East Coast prep school kind of accent. I don't think it was an affectation, just a reflection of her time and social class.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_English

I don't know if it's an affectation but it does sound similar to the accents of other women of that time - look at some old movies. I don't know why people think it's sounds British/French. I don't hear any of it. To me (i'm from the midwest), it sounds very East Coasty.

[Anonymous]

To me she sounds more southern, like an old money Richmond or Charleston accent, but trying to hide it at the same time, so that it comes out suttley, and her slow speech doesn't help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always thought that she sounded high as a kite

Me too!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To me she sounds more southern, like an old money Richmond or Charleston accent, but trying to hide it at the same time, so that it comes out suttley, and her slow speech doesn't help.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Sounds more Boston mixed with upper-class... can't hear her tawking like a Lawn Guylander

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_English

[Anonymous]

She had what would be considered a speech impediment today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me she sounds more southern, like an old money Richmond or Charleston accent, but trying to hide it at the same time, so that it comes out suttley, and her slow speech doesn't help.

Huh?

sluttley?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me she sounds more southern, like an old money Richmond or Charleston accent, but trying to hide it at the same time, so that it comes out suttley, and her slow speech doesn't help.

Huh?

sluttley?

subtly? As in "in a subtle manner"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's casually referred to as "Locust Valley lockjaw" - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust_Valley_lockjaw

Her speech is slow and deliberate on the White House tour but if you listen to the recordings of her interviews with Arthur Schlesinger (published as "Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy") you can hear what she sounded like in a more casual setting -- less deliberate, at times (but not always) less whispery, but still with an accent.

I doubt she was faking it -- she didn't have to.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't that known as a mid-Atlantic accent? (midway between the East Coast of the USA and England)

What a bizarre interpretation of the phrase... if you just made that up, I like it.

PP didn't make that up. It's how the accent of movie stars who spoke exceptionally well / cultured was described around the middle of the 20th century.

[Anonymous]

She looks like Sheldon on Big Bang with a wig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not the old money poster, but Jackie's accent is that of Miss Porter's School in Manhattan. I know women who went to that school, and they all have that breathless, unidentifiable European accent way of speaking. They are 40 years younger than Jackie, but still sound the same.

Miss Porter's is in Farmington, CT. Before that she went to Chapin which is in Manhattan. I know many many people who went there and none of them speak like that.

Also the late great Michael Jackson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny, her voice is not so different from Marilyn Monroe's....

Agree. It sounds dated. That's what women sounded like in those days (or aspired to).