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When I had the chance to go on a Jungle Cruise at Tokyo Disneyland, I noticed the skipper talked with sprinkles of prolonged vowels and uncommon rising and falling intonation patterns.

Is this "dialect" original, or was it borrowed from existing profession/region?

Edit: you can check video recordings of the ride on Youtube:

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  • Can you find a video that demonstrates the speech you're talking about? YouTube seems to have several if you search for 東京ディズニーランド ジャングルクルーズ. For example, here's one of Captain Satō (which, to me, sounds a lot like the kind of Japanese you'd hear from store clerks stationed along shopping arcades with megaphones to advertise sales). – Derek Schaab Jun 13 '11 at 17:53
  • Are you talking about something like this? – Boaz Yaniv Jun 13 '11 at 20:54
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    Doesn't seem all that unusual to me, it's just showman talk. I don't think it qualifies as a dialect or has any specific origins, but then again I'm not a linguist. :) – deceze Jun 13 '11 at 23:03
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    @ento: To be honest, I don't really hear it either (but I'm far from an expert). They definitely have the typical "いらっしゃいらっしゃ" swagger of market-sellers/street-entertainers, but not to the point where it sounds like a style in its own... – Dave Jun 14 '11 at 9:55
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    I agree it's nothing special. Listen to some children's tv in Japanese for this kind of exaggerated "rangey" talking. Sorry I've flagged this for closure. – crunchyt Jun 17 '11 at 15:19
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It's just typical for entertainers who want to capture the attention of the audience.

It's not even unique to Japanese. When you take the English one in Disney World (Florida) they talk the same way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtDKnYCTIh0 The guide in this one does the same thing in English, if not quite as often. On the rides I've been on, some of them have done it just as often as those Japanese videos.

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