How do we distinguish how a character pronounces a word and how it is spelled in a dialogue?
How do we distinguish how a character pronounces a word and how it is spelled in a dialogue? For example, some people pronounce words in a different way than they should, how do you show that in a dialogue? Is there a way to do this properly? Is there a standard way?
For example:
"I don't want to buy Ae-pple products, because they are too expensive for the quality you're getting."
"It's A-pple, not ae-pple. There are two a's in English, the pronunciation is different, but they are spelled in the same way."
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2 answers
The trope you're looking for is referred to as phonetic accent, or Funetik Aksent. That is, spelling out words as they are spoken by a particular character, rather than they way they should be written.
This is a trope you should be very wary of using. It makes the text significantly harder to read. For several reasons:
- Normally, we do not read a word letter by letter or syllable by syllable. We recognise the word as a whole. Using phonetic accent you're breaking this process, making the reader slow down.
- For an ESL reader, words spelled phonetically are a "what was this word supposed to be" puzzle.
- Letters in English aren't exact representations of sound. So your phonetic accent even in a best-case scenario isn't an exact representation of the accent. If your reader is unfamiliar with the accent you want to show, you haven't really created the particular sound in their mind, nor whatever you would associate with that sound.
That is not to say that phonetic accent can never be used, in fact it is used by many authors, albeit sparingly (mostly). Nonetheless, you might want to consider alternatives.
@NofP provides an example of how you can put on paper the information you seek to transmit. "'A' like ask" gives the reader exactly what you need them to understand. @TitaniumTurtle provides examples of very mild phonetic accent, that isn't hard to read. The discussion How to describe accents can give you more alternatives for when an accent is concerned.
But for my part, mostly, this is a case where I find it convenient to tell rather than show, unless for some reason it is absolutely necessary. I would tell that a character has an accent, I would tell he mispronounces certain words, and I would leave the details to the reader's imagination. To me that's just the same as describing the tone and quality of a character's voice: I can tell a character talks in a deep baritone, or tends to raise their voice at the end of every sentence, but those are not things I can put on a page - all I can put on a page is how it is perceived by other characters.
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Show it.
Using a different spelling is akin to telling: you could similarly just make a recording and ship it with your story. It does not make much sense, right?
You could instead show it. Write down the dialogue in proper English, but show what the words sound like, show the face that the character makes in producing the different sounds, and show the reactions of the other characters too, with as much detail as you think is necessary.
"I don't want to buy Apple products, because they are too expensive for the quality you're getting." Alice said.
Bob smiled at the way she leaned on that A in Apple, her lips protruding, and her teeth showing like a laughing horse. The grimace of that one vowel was the mask of her full distrust.
"It's Apple, with the A as in ask." said Bob opening his mouth on that first vowel as in a smile.
"Whatever. They are still too expensive." said Alice and went on repeating Apple a few times, alternating between the two sounds. "Does it really make a difference?"
"Yes! There are two a's in English, the pronunciation is different, but they are spelled in the same way." explained Bob.
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