Alan Rickman and the English Language
24.02.2021
On February 21, Alan Rickman could have celebrated his 75th birthday. Today, we honor the memory of the great British villain, who in real life was the soul of the party.
Alan Rickman’s English is highly recognizable. Even among native speakers, he sounded exceptionally unique. This is because he had one of the purest received pronunciation (RP) accents among actors—“crystal clear and perfectly suited for villains,” as The Times described it. Today, let’s explore what makes Alan Rickman’s accent and his on-screen characters so special.
Why Alan Rickman and His Accent Are So Recognizable
Rickman acquired his aristocratic accent at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he enrolled at the age of 26.
Despite coming from a working-class family and beginning his acting career at a relatively late age, his instructors managed to refine his natural London accent into a true “posh” aristocratic style, which Rickman successfully used both in films and in public.
The second reason behind his distinct speech is physiological. From childhood, Rickman suffered from temporomandibular joint dysfunction, often referred to as “locked jaw syndrome.” This condition contributed to his deep, slow, and elongated speech.
And when he added a touch of arrogance to his roles, it made him the perfect villain.
Thanks to his distinctive and highly recognizable nasalized vowel pronunciation, Alan Rickman’s voice was considered one of the “perfect” voices according to the BBC. Interestingly, he was also fluent in Irish and Welsh accents, but as he himself noted, filmmakers never asked him to use them in roles.
Accent Breakdown
Let’s analyze the features of aristocratic English using his most famous role—Professor Snape from the Harry Potter franchise.
In fact, Alan Rickman did not add any extra accent to the character beyond his own. According to the books, Snape was supposed to speak with a West Midlands accent, which contains many Welsh elements. However, in the films, Snape speaks in classic Upper Received Pronunciation (Upper RP), also known as “aristocratic” or “high” English—the same accent Rickman naturally used.
His tight jaw muscles did not affect pronunciation but did restrict movement. Pay attention to his articulation. Even when speaking in a calm tone, Rickman’s mouth rarely opens wide. His articulation is mostly driven by intonation and subtle lip movements.
However, there are some pronunciation differences in Snape’s speech that hint at the character’s humble origins. Let’s break it down step by step.
The [r] Sound
In posh accents, the [r] sound is almost always dropped after vowels. Notice how Alan Rickman pronounces words like Potter, stopper, bezoar, other, and are not.
This is especially noticeable at the end of words. Mister Potter sounds like Mis-teh Pot-teh. Additionally, the final vowel is articulated with a slight breathy quality, which contributes to his distinct accent.
This also happens in the middle of words. For example, the phrase are not is pronounced more like aunt—[ɑːnt]. The [r] sound is simply replaced with a lengthened vowel and a slight breathiness.
The [t] Sound – No Flapping
Another noticeable feature of Upper RP is that the [t] sound is always pronounced clearly, especially when doubled.
This is particularly evident when comparing RP to an American accent. In the U.S., the word better sounds like beder, but in posh accents, the double [t] is clearly articulated. Snape’s pronunciation of Potter is a perfect example of this.
Diphthongs and Triphthongs?
“High” English ignores most diphthongs and almost all triphthongs.
One great example is powerful. In classic RP, it would be pronounced as [paʊəfl], with a clearly audible triphthong [aʊə]. However, Snape pronounces it as [pa: fl], replacing the triphthong with a lengthened [a:].
In the word down, the vowel is so broad that instead of [daʊn], it sounds more like [deʊn]. This is a common characteristic of posh accents, where narrow vowels become wider and shift to a more open position.
For musicians: the pitch variations in posh-accented speech can span a full octave. This is highly unusual to the ear—both for non-native speakers and for native speakers from regions with more grounded accents.
Snape, as portrayed by Rickman, speaks almost monotonously, emphasizing important words primarily through pauses rather than tonal changes.
That said, Alan Rickman did not use every feature of Upper RP—neither in his portrayal of Snape nor in real life.
For example, he did not use the classic posh trait of de-yodization, where the you sound loses its [ju] glide. In posh accents, you can sound similar to the Ukrainian letter “ю,” which can sound quite unusual to a Ukrainian student learning English as a second language.
The American Accent
In Die Hard, Rickman played a German character. However, his German accent was only partially convincing—it sounded more like a variation of RP than a traditional harsh German accent.
More interestingly, Rickman had to switch to an American accent when McClane encounters Hans Gruber on the rooftop and Gruber pretends to be a hostage.
In Upper RP, the [r] sound is usually dropped, but in this scene, it appears. Words like work, New York, and hear all have a clearly pronounced [r] sound.
This scene was added only after Rickman proved to the director that he could convincingly speak with an American accent.
Alan Rickman gave us some of the greatest villains in cinematic history. And his posh accent was one of the reasons his characters were so unforgettable.
