Goku's hick accent switch

[Unicorn_Bazooka]

In the japanese version, Goku has this hick accent, or sometimes I even hear it's a dialect.

In the manga, when Goku turns SSJ against Frieza, his hick accent is completely gone, with him using "ore" as his personal pronoun instead of "ora", switching the -nee suffixes to -nai. Basically it's him just using the more usual japanese language.
It's kinda creepy actually, because he had never in his life spoken proper japanese.

In the anime however, they kept the accent completely, aside from the "ore". Did they maybe want to keep some Gokuness? I dunno.

[eledoremassis02]

I'm gonna have to read the manga more now! That does sound creepy

[penguintruth]

I think it would have been cool if Nozawa's Goku didn't have the accent when he was SSJ at first, but then when he became more comfortable with being SSJ it crept back in. So SSJ Goku as he's fighting Freeza wouldn't have the accent, but fighting Cell he would.

[Unicorn_Bazooka]

I think it would have been cool if Nozawa's Goku didn't have the accent when he was SSJ at first, but then when he became more comfortable with being SSJ it crept back in. So SSJ Goku as he's fighting Freeza wouldn't have the accent, but fighting Cell he would.

Maybe. I really would've liked the accent-less Goku being voiced by Nozawa.

[Gaffer Tape]

Ooh, what? I don't think I knew this. Can anyone corroborate this? This is definitely something I'd want to cover in Dragon Ball Dissection when I get to that point.

[Unicorn_Bazooka]

Ooh, what? I don't think I knew this. Can anyone corroborate this? This is definitely something I'd want to cover in Dragon Ball Dissection when I get to that point.

The Youtube channel MANGAPOLO uploaded the manga chapters in full color and in japanese, so the chapters are still there for you to read.
The bad thing is that the channel seems to delete older videos as new come in, and only about five chapters or more are remaining from the fight. But you definitely should check that out. The difference is still present there.

[kei17]

You seem to have a misunderstanding. Except for the use of "ora," Goku never speaks like a hick in the manga. The -nee suffix is just a part of the chatty standard Japanese. I too occasionally use it when I talk with my close friends. In addition, Goku in the anime also weakens his accent when he is SSJ, like never switching the "ai" diphthong in nouns with "ee." But after training in the room of spirit and time before Cell Game, he starts to speak as usual even when he's SSJ because he comes to be able to keep calm.

[Unicorn_Bazooka]

You seem to have a misunderstanding. Except for the use of "ora," Goku never speaks like a hick in the manga. The -nee suffix is just a part of the chatty standard Japanese. I too occasionally use it when I talk with my close friends. In addition, Goku in the anime also weakens his accent when he is SSJ, like never switching the "ai" diphthong in nouns with "ee." But after training in the room of spirit and time before Cell Game, he starts to speak as usual even when he's SSJ because he comes to be able to keep calm.

So does he speak more like a hick in the anime? I'm not sure what to call his manner of speech, so maybe i used the wrong term?

[SaiyaJedi]

Masako Nozawa definitely played up his accent, though I think Toriyama also followed suit to an extent, after a while.

That said, I think it's not really true to simply call it "casual Standard Japanese" (as though such a thing existed). Certainly, his accent seems based on Shitamachi Tokyo (or perhaps rural Kantō?) dialect, but there's a conscious avoidance of the volitional/suppositional particle be, which has long been stigmatized as low-class/hick and associated with Tōhoku dialect. The manga is kind of inconsistent with the way he talks at first, though, and it isn't really until later (and especially once the anime gets underway, with Shitamachi-born Masako Nozawa voicing Goku) that his accent really solidifies.

It's always distinct from Chi-Chi's speech, though, which is full-on Tōhoku dialect at first, but gets easier to understand from her second appearance onward (mainly by ignoring the voicing of unvoiced consonants typical of the accent).

[Unicorn_Bazooka]

Masako Nozawa definitely played up his accent, though I think Toriyama also followed suit to an extent, after a while.

That said, I think it's not really true to simply call it "casual Standard Japanese" (as though such a thing existed). Certainly, his accent seems based on Shitamachi Tokyo (or perhaps rural Kantō?) dialect, but there's a conscious avoidance of the volitional/suppositional particle be, which has long been stigmatized as low-class/hick and associated with Tōhoku dialect. The manga is kind of inconsistent with the way he talks at first, though, and it isn't really until later (and especially once the anime gets underway, with Shitamachi-born Masako Nozawa voicing Goku) that his accent really solidifies.

It's always distinct from Chi-Chi's speech, though, which is full-on Tōhoku dialect at first, but gets easier to understand from her second appearance onward (mainly by ignoring the voicing of unvoiced consonants typical of the accent).

You're right. I'm not even sure what a "standard japanese" woulde be, as the speaking style differs so largely.
I read in Dao of Dragon Ball, that he speaks a sub-dialect of Tōhoku, and how there is supposedly a simple japanese dialect spoken in TV and anime, though i highly doubt the anime part.
I don't know how much to trust Dao of Dragon Ball, because I haven't heard any critique from it.

[kei17]

Masako Nozawa definitely played up his accent, though I think Toriyama also followed suit to an extent, after a while.

Did he? I've never noticed that. Could you show me some examples?

Certainly, his accent seems based on Shitamachi Tokyo (or perhaps rural Kantō?) dialect, but there's a conscious avoidance of the volitional/suppositional particle be

It's clearly different from Edo/Shitamachi Tokyo dialect. Maybe it's just west Kantou dialect that I too speak, but he doesn't use any words unique to it such as katasu, uccharu, and kadokko. As far as I know, except for ora, all of the features of his speech pattern in the manga does not differ from those of the very casual diction of Kyoutsuugo, which can be widely found in any kind of fictions.

[SaiyaJedi]

Masako Nozawa definitely played up his accent, though I think Toriyama also followed suit to an extent, after a while.

Did he? I've never noticed that. Could you show me some examples?

Early on, Goku's diction seems to switch back and forth between ai diphthong eliding to ē and remaining distinct, while later it's more uniformly ē — the timing of the switchover seems roughly similar to the start of the anime, which is why I interpreted it as the influence of the anime. Certainly, Toriyama has mentioned that Nozawa's voice for the character came to be the voice in his head as he wrote the series, and Nozawa has mentioned exaggerating Goku's accent a bit.

Certainly, his accent seems based on Shitamachi Tokyo (or perhaps rural Kantō?) dialect, but there's a conscious avoidance of the volitional/suppositional particle be

It's clearly different from Edo/Shitamachi Tokyo dialect. Maybe it's just west Kantou dialect that I too speak, but he doesn't use any words unique to it such as katasu, uccharu, and kadokko. As far as I know, except for ora, all of the features of his speech pattern in the manga does not differ from those of the very casual diction of Kyoutsuugo, which can be widely found in any kind of fictions.

Perhaps that's the term I'm searching for, then. While Goku's speech doesn't feature Kantō-distinct vocabulary, his pronunciation incorporates elements of Kantō dialects with the monophthongization of certain diphthongs. He also assimilates trailing ru — "Kekkon sukka", "Mattezzo", etc. — which I'm not sure about in terms of its distribution. I haven't personally heard Kantō speakers do that (although I suppose they might consciously avoid this feature when speaking to me as a non-native), but it definitely seems to be part of Toriyama's way of making Goku's speech seem "rougher" and less educated — nonstandard pronunciation alongside largely standard vocabulary (in contrast to Chi-Chi's nonstandard pronunciation and vocabulary). Granted, Toriyama himself is a speaker of Nagoya/Owari dialect, so I suppose he could be incorporating things from outside that range, as well.