How to Write Hagrid's Dialect

How to Write Hagrid's Accent

One of the most salient aspects of Rubeus Hagrid's character is his dialect, as reflected in canon by a plethora of alternative spellings and apostrophes indicating elided vowels and consonants. For the fan fiction writer, this poses an extra dimension of difficulty. In addition to taking the usual care to use vocabulary and sentence structure in line with the character's canon speech patterns, the writer finds him- or herself faced with the task of depicting Hagrid's accent.

Standard Spellings

One solution is to simply write the text with standard spellings. Here is an example:

"You came to see me. Does that mean you're not mad at me any more?" (Kerichi, Hagrid's Heart, 1)

Kerichi's decision to write Hagrid's speech with standard spellings was in part based on rule number 17 in The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes, by Jack M. Bickham, which says:

Words misspelled to indicate offbeat pronunciations, dialogue words full of apostrophes to indicate the dropping of letters, excessively fragmented sentences in character talk, and all such devices of realism are often extremely irritating to editors and would-be readers alike. (1)

In this case, the reader has to imagine Hagrid speaking those words with his own unique cadence. This is really no different than imagining Seamus' Irish brogue, Ron's Devonshire accent, or Justin Finch-Fletchley's RP speech. Everyone speaks a little differently, and it is rarely necessary to write speech phonetically in order to convey this fact. Therefore, writing Hagrid's speech without any indication of dialect is in fact a perfectly valid alternative... and certainly easier!

However, J.K. Rowling apparently does not set much store by Bickham's rule number 17, or has decided to disregard it for artistic reasons, since she shows the dialects of several characters through non-standard spellings, including Fleur Delacour, Stan Shunpike, and, of course, Hagrid. Therefore, if one wishes to be true to the way Hagrid was written in canon, some adjustments to spelling need to be made. A study of Hagrid's speech patterns in HBP reveals some general rules to follow when attempting to reproduce canon-accurate dialogue for him.

Hagrid's Dialect

1. Drop final g in -ing. Examples: arguin', bein', goin'.

2. Drop final t after a consonant. Examples: firs', nex', wan'. Leave final t after a vowel. For example: summat, let, eat. Exceptions: wha'; abou' is attested, but also 'bout.

2a. Drop final t in contractions. Examples: aren', didn', shouldn'.

3. Contract modal verb + have to modal verb + a. Examples: shouldn'ta, musta. Note that the dropped t reappears in the middle of the contracted form.

4. Contract common expressions. Examples: dunno, lemme, gotta, outta.

5. Make changes to many common words by dropping either the first or last consonant, or by moving the vowel towards the middle of the mouth.

Here is an example of Hagrid's speech when following these rules:

"Figured it would prob'ly las' longer if she did it than if I tried ter do it mesself." (Cyndi Black, Renewed Beginnings, 1)

This is entirely accurate according to canon patterns. The final t after a consonant is dropped (las'), but not after a vowel (it). My has become me (mesself). To has become ter. The form prob'ly is not attested in HBP, but nor is the standard form probably. This would fall under the contraction of common expressions and seems quite reasonable.

Inaccurate Dialect

It is important not to get carried away with leaving out letters. The result of such over-dialectization can range from the non-canonical to the downright unintelligible. Here is one fan fiction writer's attempt at reflecting Hagrid's speech:

"'Ello you three, nice seein' ya, wa'n't sure if ya'd make it." (Anutheal, Promises)

On the surface, at least, the speech resembles what we are used to seeing in canon. Words have been contracted, consonants dropped, and vowels altered. However, all but one of the dialectal indicators in this example are inaccurate; or, rather, they are not attested in canon. In canon, Hagrid never said 'ello, ya, or wa'n't. Those three expressions can also not be extrapolated from Hagrid's canon speech patterns. He doesn't drop initial h (except for the word 'him'); change /u/ to /a/; or drop s.

It is a very common, and understandable, error to have Hagrid drop his h's; it is true that in some dialects of English, the initial h is often dropped. Stan Shunpike speaks one such dialect. Hagrid, however, does not. He always says Harry, Hermione, hello, and so on.

It is also understandable that one might think that Hagrid would say ya rather than you. In writing some American English slang expressions, ya is an alternate form that is often used, e.g. see ya. One might even argue that when Hagrid speaks, it sounds like he is saying ya for you. In canon, however, the alternate spelling always used is yeh.

Less is More

Finally, it is not necessary to change every single word in Hagrid's utterances according to the rules given here. In some cases, less is more. In canon, Hagrid also says you at times, as in:

"It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen." (PS 5, p. 57) (2)

He also sometimes pronounces the final t, as here:

"Just yer wand left -- oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present." (PS 5, p. 62) (2)

The words just, left, haven't, and present would all qualify to have their t's dropped, but that would mean a lot of apostrophes in one sentence, which might confuse the reader. The three small changes to yer, an', and yeh are enough to convey Hagrid's dialect here.

By applying the rules strictly, yet judiciously, one will achieve canon-compliant speech patterns which will aid in the accurate depiction of the character of Rubeus Hagrid.

Appendix

Complete corpus of alternative spellings in Hagrid's utterances in HBP (3)

abou' - about

an' - and

aren' - aren't

arguin' - arguing

beau'iful - beautiful

bein' - being

bes' - best

bin - been

bindin' - binding

'bout - about

can' - can't

chasin' - chasing

comin' - coming

couldn' - couldn't

didn' - didn't

doesn' - doesn't

doin' - doing

don' - doesn't

don' - don't

dunno - don't know

d'you - do you

'em - them

evenin' - evening

ev'ryone - everyone

feelin' - feeling

fer - for

firs' - first

gettin' - getting

gettin' - getting

givin' - giving

goin' - going

gotta - got to

hasn' - hasn't

'im - him

inter - into

int'rested - interested

jus - just

lemme - let me

los' - lost

lyin' - lying

makin' - making

me - my

meself - myself

musta - must have

'n - than

nex' - next

nothin' - nothing

o' - of

on'y - only

outta - out of

readin' - reading

righ' - right

's - it's

shouldn' - shouldn't

shouldn'ta - shouldn't have

shuttin' - shutting

sneakin' - sneaking

'spect - expect

stayin' - staying

summat - something

talkin' - talking

ter - to

tha' - that

trainin' - training

turnin' - turning

visitin' - visiting

wan' - want

wasn' - wasn't

wha' - what

won' - won't

yeh - you

yeh're - you're

End notes

(1) Jack M. Bickham, The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes: (And How to Avoid Them), F&W Publications Inc, 1998; information on Kerichi's motivation in private message to author, 14 Feb 2007.

(2) Examples taken from J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, London: Bloomsbury, 1997 (37th printing, softcover).

(3) J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, London: Bloomsbury, 2005 (1st edition, hardcover).