Sean Connery

[Indy]

Joan McAlpine did an interview that is being serialised in the Sun (yes, God forgive me for going into the toilet of journalism) and is worth a look if you like Sean C that is.

Sean Connery: My 40-year love affair | The Sun |Home Scotland|Scotland Features

[FrenchCaroline]

Hi,

I'd like to know if Sean Connery's accent is typically Scottish, and especially if his lisp can be considered as part of the Scottish accent or is only a sort of speech impairement?
Can I have the opinion of native Scots about this?

[ANDY-J3]

Yes his accent is typically Scottish and to a native Scot it would be apparent that he came from Edinburgh or east Scotland. I'm not aware that he talks with a lisp or has any speech impediment. I think what you are referring to is his pronunciation of some words which isn't typical of someone with his Edinburgh working class background because obviously to make himself understood in films he has had to modify his pronunciation.

[FrenchCaroline]

Thanks for your reply Andy!
The reason why I asked this is that I've been reading Trainspotting and when Sickboy speaks to himself with Sean Connery's voice, he uses the sound 'sh' instead of 's'. So I wondered if this was related to his personnal pronunciation or to a sort of caricature of the Scottish accent, considering none of the characters speaks the same way in the book.

[ANDY-J3]

Sean Connery prounounces s as sh which I think is called a sibilant rather than a lisp and sickboy is making an exagerated caricature of his personal pronunciation - it's not a pronunciation that is common amongst Scots.

[Lachlan09]

Big Sean - we love you !!!

[hiorta]

In gaidhig, 's' is very often pronounced 'sh', especially at the start of a word.
Sile - Shiela
Sine - Sheena
Sean - Shawn
etc.