Alabama 7

Listen to Alabama 7, a 13-year-old boy from Auburn, Alabama, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 13

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1988

PLACE OF BIRTH: Columbus, Georgia

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: When recorded, subject was a middle school student.

AREA(S) OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject was born in Columbus, Georgia, but was raised in Auburn, Alabama, in the east-central part of the state.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

His family has lived in this region for at least three generations.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Daydrie Hague

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/02/2001

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in Columbus, Georgia, but I’ve always loved it here in Auburn. I love to go huntin’, fishin’, playin’ sports, anything that you can do outside. I like to drive trucks in the country, look at all the animals. I like to watch birds and squirrels play with each other. Squirrels chasin’ each other ’s pretty funny. Um, basketball, I like to play. Not too good at it, though; everybody beats me. I like to play football, ’cause I like to hit people, and i-, and it’s fun. Um, baseball I play ’cause I’m pretty good at it. I play centerfield. My mom was born in Hurtsboro, so she’s a farm girl, and we do everythin’ down there on the weekends. Um, my dad was from Columbus. He was in the Marines, so he’s tough on me a lot. I like to go to school sometimes, just to see my friends and talk. Teachers get on my nerves. I make pretty good grades, sometimes. I like science, ’cause I wanna be a vet. I like dogs, and cats, and pretty much any animal, except snakes. Snakes are a little annoying. Rats are kinda cute sometimes, if they’re not too big and fat. Um, I don’t really read that much. It’s not too fun sometimes. Like to watch movies about football, wars. Pretty much anything, that I can do lyin’ down. Uh, I like to eat. I like bein’ down South ’cause we have all that good food. Fried stuff: fried pork chops, country ham, green beans, anything that you can get on a farm, I pretty much like. I like to go down to Hurtsboro and jump on trampolines, play basketball, do nothing. That’s fun. Um, I like to play baseball with my cousins. ’Cause, I have a little cousin and we’re teachin’ him how to play baseball. He’s actually pretty good at it for a 6-year old. He hurt his knee a little while back, so we had to carry him around everywhere, but he’s better now. My grandfather died when I was in the second grade. And last year my grandmother died. One of my grandfathers died before I was born, but I still have a grandmother living, now. I like to go visit her. She makes good cookies. Um, my aunt’s, my aunt’s house is in Hurtsboro. I like to go there ‘cause she’s always got food, and we can eat any time, anything that we want. Um, Columbus, I like to go shoppin’ with my family. My sister’s a little annoying, but you have to be nice to her ’cause she grumps. Um, we fight all the time. I like makin’ money. Makin’ money’s fun. Get to go buy stuff. Expensive things, everybody thinks you’re cool. Uh, baseball, I’m playin’ this year. I have a nice team. I like to get free food, too. Free food anywhere you can get it. …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jacqueline Baker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/01/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject speaks through a set jaw and uses very little lip rounding, which softens all consonant action. The relatively slow rhythms of his speech and the slight elongation of the vowels contribute to the sound of the “Southern drawl.” Evident in the speaker are the speech characteristics typical of this region: the i-e substitution (git for get) in’ for ing (shoppin’, goin’) the use of the hard [r] and the elimination of certain diphthongs, as in “drahv” for drive and “ah” for I. Another feature often found in Southern speech is the addition of [sh] to words that begin with str, so you have “shtrict” for strict and “shtrong” for strong.

COMMENTARY BY: Daydrie Hague

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/02/2001

The archive provides:

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• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.
• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.
• In most cases, an orthographic transcription of the speakers’ unscripted speech. In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list). The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages are Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage) and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings).

 

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