Accents and the supernatural: Code-switching in the TV miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

Abstract

“The Fall of the House of Usher” (2023) is an American gothic horror drama TV miniseries about a wealthy family haunted by a mysterious stranger called Verna, a shape-shifter who assumes a different identity before meeting each of the Usher heirs prior to their deaths. Verna not only alters her physical appearance, but she also puts on various accents, which ultimately adds richness to her transformations. This paper will examine closely an important scene from Episode 5 where Verna, who has assumed the identity of a patient named Pamela Clemm, is speaking with Victorine LaFourcade, a researcher and one of Roderick Usher’s illegitimate children. I aim to see why Verna code-switches from the accent that she uses as Pamela Clemm to the accent that she normally speaks with whenever she is not in disguise.