House-Elf Speech

[TM_WandStick]

I'm writing a fic where the main characters are all house-elves, and it's really hard trying to get their speech down. Does anyone have any tips?

[mudbloodproud]

One thing I always do is make sure the elf talks about themselves in the third person. For example:

"Kreacher is making dinner for Master. Kreacher is a good elf."

I would also grab OotP and DH to check Kreacher's speech as well as CoS and HBP to check on Dobby's.

Hope that helps.

[OliveOil_Med]

Also, they never refer to themselves as he or she. That is something else to remember when you are writing dialogue in the third person.

[TheCursedQuill]

They don't a very large vocabulary either. Using little words like "Dobby has been bad" is something to keep in mind. They also seem to have extreme emotions. There is nothing in-between. One can very easily tell when a House Elf is sad, angry and of course happy.

[bellatrix-black-lestrange]

Erm just wondering are these house elfs more like dobby or kreacher ?

Well house elf's talk to them self a lot like dobby is washing masters dishes or something similar and always refer to them self in the third person. I'm not sure if it is because they are not allowed to address their master/mistress or if they are just lonely ?

The easiest way would be to study dobby, kreacher and Mr.couch's elf in the HP books.

Good Luck

- Lauren

[OliveOil_Med]

Well house elf's talk to them self a lot like dobby is washing masters dishes or something similar and always refer to them self in the third person. I'm not sure if it is because they are not allowed to address their master/mistress or if they are just lonely ?

I also almost wonder if House-elves are like any other creature with the ability to learn human speech: it all depends if there is someone there to teach them. After all, aragog had a fairly advanced vocabulary because Hagris would come and talk to him regularly. But I don't think a lot of families like the Malfoys or the Blacks would have seen giving there House-elves a good vocabulary as being something of high importance.

I'm just saying, certain parts of speech (such as the third person) might just be inbred, but as far as the actual level of vocabulary they have, their background might be something to put into consideration.