If, for example, someone said : "How are you today?", how would you go about "translating" this into sounding like they were talking with a full-mouth? Like, phonetically.
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Distantly related question: How do you handle slang with questionable spelling?– Goodbye Stack ExchangeCommented Oct 1, 2018 at 15:25
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Do you want to the reader to get the full meaning of this speech, or there's some ambiguity that has to be resolved later?– AlexanderCommented Oct 1, 2018 at 17:09
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As Thomas Myron mentioned in a comment on Matthew Dave's answer, JK Rowling uses this a few times, and is a pretty good example. It looks like at least one case occurs somewhere in the Order of the Phoenix, but I don't know where.– Ben SandeenCommented Oct 1, 2018 at 19:50
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This question would be improved by indicating whether you intend to explain, outside of the quoted speech, that the speaker's mouth is full. Are you looking for a method which makes that apparent without coming right out and saying it?– BeanlucCommented Oct 1, 2018 at 21:11
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6 Answers
If you intend to phonetically represent speech with one's mouth full, there's a very easy way to do it; speak with your mouth full. Listen to how it distorts your speech and think about how it alters the phonemes.
That's a good starting point if a phonetic spelling is what you're after.
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3I would also like to note that JK Rowling has a passage where Ron speaks with his mouth full and she alters the spelling appropriately. I cannot remember the book or chapter, but if found, it could also help shed some light. That being said, this answer will definitely yield the most complete resource. Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 17:06
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8"‘Aaah, 'at’s be’er,' said Ron, with his mouth full of mashed potato." Is this what you were referring to?– klippyCommented Oct 1, 2018 at 17:34
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6Terry Pratchett in general is also pretty good at altering dialogue text based on speech-impeding factors.– John DoeCommented Oct 1, 2018 at 22:39
For me, phonetically translating mouth-full speaking would deter my focus and make me dwell on words missed and other incomprehensible text which would arise.
Instead, I would focus on the experience of the interaction:
There the three of us sat talking about the business proposal. Sam was focused in reading the details while Eric continued eating and interrupting with questions.
Eric asks "So, what are the (munch) proposed (chew) percentage distributions?"
Sam responds that she hasn't made it to that section yet all the while Eric gulps his drink and tells her to read faster. He also muttered something else but I was too grossed out by the sputter of potatoes and gravy which was exiting from his mouth.
But, if you are truly set on phonetically spelling mouth-full words then you can write the dialogue and read it out loud while eating and record yourself. This will provide the most realistic result.
However, you might need to provide context to avoid confusing the reader:
For example:
As I entered their office, they greeted me with "Hi, mmph, ghow are you?"
versus:
As I entered their office in the middle of lunch hour, they greeted me with "Hi, mmph, ghow are you?"
The former makes you question:
- Did the person have a stroke upon greeting?
- Did the person hold back a sneeze?
- Were they totally caught off-guard at an awkward time?
- Did they hit their funny bone?
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3I think both phonetic spelling and your method is unnecessarily distracting, tbh. A better way would be to just say that the words are obscured by their chewing, but OP has commented that they want phonetic spelling, alas. Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 16:20
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Yeah, there's always more than one solution to a problem but I've amended my answer. Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 16:25
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1Very distracting, not good writing at all. Not to mention you shifted tense twice in five sentences.– WildcardCommented Oct 2, 2018 at 19:07
Although I don't recommend trying to reproduce the phonetic sound; it is pretty easy to figure out. The tongue cannot touch the palate (roof of the mouth) or the teeth because it is blocked by food; so plosives like "T", "K", palate "G" (like in "Get"), "D" are suppressed. Lip plosives ("P", "B") could still be voiced.
Replace the plosives that cannot be voiced with single apostrophes.
"That's better" would become "'a's be'er". A Word like "dog" that begins and ends with a plosive would be unintelligible; "'o'".
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'The tongue cannot touch the palate (roof of the mouth) or the teeth because it is blocked by food', that depends where in the mouth the food is, if someone pushes a bolus of chewed food into their check to talk, rather than literally trying to speak with the vault of their mouth full, you get a different set of conditions.– SpagirlCommented Oct 2, 2018 at 14:56
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1@Spagirl Under those conditions; with the food in the cheek, I think visually that is different but audibly not phonetically different than when the mouth has no food at all. Offhand, I cannot think of any sounds that would be different. If the OP wants an audible difference, the food must block a normally used pathway for producing words.– AmadeusCommented Oct 2, 2018 at 15:47
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1@Amadeus, maybe my English isn't what it should be but isn't "G" a "throaty" sound that would maybe sound strained but would get through... meaning "dog" becomes "og"... or even "gog"... try with some food or a spoon on top of your tongue...– ErkCommented Sep 13, 2021 at 16:43
The easiest way is to state another character guessed that's what they said.
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yeah but I'm trying to work out how I'm going to write it phonetically– klippyCommented Oct 1, 2018 at 15:19
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It depends on what sort of speech you tend to write. Personally, I would approach this like method acting. Write the character's script, make a sandwich, turn on a voice recorder, then read the script with your mouth full.
When listening to the playback, write down what you hear. If it is meant to be unintelligible, don't try to shoehorn your original script in there to make words guessable. Have the narrator indicate why there is confusion and (probably) have the other characters ask for clarification (depending on the power dynamic of the group).
I walked up to her and she greeted me with a "ghffuh mmnet". "What?" came my reflexive response. After she swallowed the bite of what looked to be a deliciously ripe tomato, she clarified herself: "'Just a minute', I said."
The convention to represent any deviation from normal speech in literary writing is by naming the deviation in the accompanying description.
Examples:
- "Wait a minute, I'll just chew and swallow," John mumbled with his mouth full.
- Joan couldn't make out what Heather was saying. She had her mouth full and all that came out were strangled noises and some bread crumbs.
- "That's it!" Bob shouted / whispered / said with his Southern drawl / Russian accent etc.
Loud speech isn't printed in bold face, whispered speech isn't printed in smaller letters, you do not (commonly) write in dialect (unless you want to limit your audience to those who understand it), and so on. The convention is to write Standard English and to tell the reader in which way the speaker doesn't speak it.
Of course, many writers have attempted to write what they think is "ye olde English" or some other variant of the language, mostly with the unintended effect of irritating their readers. I recommend not to attempt it.
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You mentioned this "convention", but who has determined that is the convention? Or so you mean, that you've observed this? Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 8:23
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@Pureferret I'm not sure what you are asking. The word "convention" means that something is done by most people most of the time. Like greeting persons you meet. It is not "determined". It is learned by example. ––– From your reading experience, would you say that what I describe is not the convention??? I very rarely read phonetic representations of incoherent speech, and mostly in Middle Grade novels for humorous effect. In writing for adults it seems exceedingly rare to me. In fact, I cannot remember having encountered it at all, at least not recently.– user52044Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 8:32
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I think I ascribed too much authority to the word convention, assuming it was like set of standards. This is a completely valid answer, but I think it's enhances by incorporating what you've just told me in your comment into the answer with an edit Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 8:40