Everyone has an accent. Typically, it’s a marker for where someone grew up, or in some celebrity cases, a bored rich person trying on a new persona. But did you know Fortnite players have their own accent too?
The so-called “Fortnite accent” refers to how players speak while playing Epic Games’ massively popular online battle-royale. After watching a solid 20 minutes of YouTube shorts and TikToks about it, I’ve determined it’s a specific sort of cheery, high-pitched tone that sounds a lot like the stereotype of a teen girl uptalking, or ending even declarative statements in a way that sounds like a question. Or, as one Reddit user asking how to shed the accent put it, “I speak like a 8 year old.” Sadly, their plea for help only got one response: “what in gods name is a fortnite accent.”
For years, across YouTube and TikTok, players have recorded themselves playing while speaking in the accent, or trying not to do it. (Headphone warning: There’s a lot of screaming in those clips.)
Adam Aleksic, a linguist and author who goes by Etymology Nerd online, bravely spent three hours of his one wild and precious life listening to videos of the so-called Fortnite accent. He describes the trend as “fast speech and sharply rising intonations, almost like they have to communicate a feeling of excitement or shock they just experienced.” He goes on to explain that the accent is functional: It conveys reactions to what’s happening in the game, but it’s also done for “social performance.” It’s part of a greater “Ludolect,” he says, which is a dialog specific to a game.
Communities often create their own languages, whether it’s slang they use or the specific way in which they talk to each other; even couples develop their own codes. It makes sense that video games, which introduce new worlds and rules to abide by, follow the same pattern.
While I don’t think the Fortnite accent is anything to be ashamed of, per se, if you want to shake it, treat it like any other type of code switching. Focus on how you pronounce words, listen to how speakers you want to sound like talk, and practice, practice, practice. If it worked for my friends who managed to ditch their Boston accents, surely it can work for you—at least until you’re a couple drinks deep.
