Does she have a Posh Accent?
In her interviews, she seems posh, but l can't really tell the difference. Does she have a posh accent?
shareNo. Not for uk standards. She is from a modest upbringing
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MovieChat Forums > Gemma Arterton Discussion > Does she have a Posh Accent?
No, her natural accent is pretty East London working class. Listen to her here, talking to Graham Norton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDShRa4vvaQ
Dropped aitches aplenty, glottal stops for Ts etc - "Sa'uday night", "Saff London", "cuppla nights", "summing like tha'" etc.
But she is an actress and can change her accent for different roles and different occasions. In this interview for US TV, her accent has almost none of those cockney elements - it's far more classic "BBC English":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ueiL10PUY
This is a middle range, middle-class London accent, not posh but certainly not identifiably "East End".
Can you hear the difference?
Call me Ishmael...
You seem to know about these things so let me ask, many English women seem to have a very nasal delivery when they speak, and Arterton does in the clip your link directs us to. Do English grow up learning to have this nasal delivery? Is it part of the "proper" way to speak?
As another example, listen to the following short clip of newswoman Laura Trevelyan, she does a BBC America news show on weekdays and her nasal delivery here is typical, is very noticeable and distracting on the news show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU7KBd0y7po
..*.. TxMike ..*..
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes not.
Laura Trevelyan certainly does have that quality but Sophie Raworth, who introduces the clip, doesn't have it at all. From Wikipedia, I see that Laura Trevelyan seems to have grown up in North London...Sophie Raworth south of the river. Gemma Arterton was brought up in Gravesend, in Kent, on the Thames Estuary. I wonder if the Geography makes any difference.
Thinking about nasal voices, I heard an Australian man being interviewed on TV the other day and he had an extremely high nasal voice which I think of as pretty rare in the UK - specially for men - but quite common amongst Australians .... or am I just imagining that?
Call me Ishmael...
No, doesn't ordinarily speak posh I would say. But she is an actress who went to rada, so can if called upon.
If I remember correctly, when she was in the bond movie she seemed to be speaking with a rather plummy accent
Ha ha no English girls do not grow up learning this kind of nasal delivery!! Gemma grew up in Gravesend, Kent in Southeast England, so did I. Accents vary there: anything from really quite posh to closer to Cockney. Or just horrible generalised 'estuary accent'. I vary how I speak depending on where I am and the company I'm in; not on purpose btw!! I turn most posh around my Dad.....
shareLaura Trevelyan is Ms Marble Mouth. Luckily when she hosts BBC news I can display hard of hearing subtitles to understand her Cockney accent. Compared with Katty Kay she is hopeless as a newscaster.
shareHer natursl voice is very difficult for me to listen to.
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