History Main / ElectiveBrokenLanguage

* ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'', Jiltanith speaks FloweryElizabethanEnglish (she learned it when she stayed on Earth during the Wars of the Roses), and refuses to modernize it as a way to show disdain for the modern world.

'Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'', Jiltanith speaks FloweryElizabethanEnglish (she learned it when she stayed on Earth during the Wars of the Roses), and refuses to modernize it as a way to show disdain for the modern world.

* In ''Literature/{{Firekeeper}}''
series by Jane Lindskold, the titular character usually speaks pidgin language because she believes proper grammar to be "unnesessary"; however, she can, and does, speak normally when she needs to make sure she is understood.

* In ''Literature/{{Firekeeper}}'' series by Jane Lindskold, the titular character usually speaks pidgin language because she believes proper grammar to be "unnesessary"; however, she can, and does, speak normally when she needs to make sure she is understood.

* In ''Literature/AForgottenMagic'' by Kathleen O'Brien, the housekeeper Frances knows English perfectly, but "occasionally chose to ease tense moments by affecting [[FunnyForeigner a comical foreign confusion]]" (in particular, she likes to [[{{Metaphorgotten}} mix up]] [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma metaphors]], like "take the lion by the horns").
* In ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'', Jiltanith speaks FloweryElizabethanEnglish (she learned it when she stayed on Earth during the Wars of the Roses), and refuses to modernize it as a way to show disdain for the modern world.

* One of the interns on ''Series/Bones'' chose to do this for a long time, simply to stop people commenting on his deeply committed Muslim faith.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', Yoda's peculiar speech pattern is strongly implied to be be choice, since he ''does'' speak standard English occassionally. As speculated by Ben Skywalker in ''Fate of the Jedi: Backlash'', he mangles his speech to get people to listen attentively to what he says (and perhaps also [[{{Trickster}} to mess with them]]).

May overlap with LanguageFluencyDenial. See also HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': The leader of the Scavengers drops many supporting words from her speech, giving her an oddly clipped manner of speaking. It's later revealed that she can speak normally if she wants. She apparently just thinks that this makes her more eerie to outsiders.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Hanma likes speaking in [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/2017-07-31-goonmanji-2-01 broken Japanese]] (it being poorly spoken mostly due to [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/2017-08-21-goonmanji-2-10 using honorifics indiscriminately]]) due to [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/2017-08-23-goonmanji-2-11 her love of Japanese pop culture]].

* It's revealed late in ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' that [[spoiler:Donovan's broken Orcish]] is a choice, and he can speak it perfectly when he wants to.

* Goh Wye Mun, father of the protagonist Rachel's best friend Peik Lin, introduces himself to Rachel while the latter stays in the Goh family's mansion in Singapore with a wildly exaggerated AsianSpeekeeEngrish accent as a joke before dropping it and speaks in a perfectly normal American English accent (having studied at Cal State-Fullerton). He ''is'' played by Creator/KenJeong, so...

* Ivan Vanko, the BigBad of ''Film/IronMan2'', pretends to speak poor English around [[BigBadWannabe Justin Hammer]] (whom he, like everyone else, considers an idiot), but speaks coherently to Tony Stark because he views the latter as a WorthyOpponent.

Just like a character may [[ElectiveMute choose not to speak]] or [[ElectiveUnintelligible not to speak coherently]], he or she may also willfully employ [[YouNoTakeCandle broken]] or [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker idiosyncratic language]]. There may be various reasons for this: for instance, it can be part of ObfuscatingStupidity, a part of {{Fauxreigner}}'s image, or a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}'s peculiar way of self-expression. An increasingly common use of this trope is a subversion of JapaneseRanguage, AsianSpeekeeEngrish, TontoTalk and other similar tropes: an exotic foreigner who actually has a good command of English may amuse him/herself by deliberately playing up with racial stereotypes.

* As quoted above, the eponymous wizard in ''Film/SevenFacesOfDrLao'' casually switches back and forth between speaking in a heavy Chinese accent and perfect English.