Bulgaria 4

Listen to Bulgaria 4, a 36-year-old woman from Sofia, Bulgaria. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 36

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/02/1982

PLACE OF BIRTH: Sofia, Bulgaria

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: university professor

EDUCATION: Ph.D

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject has lived about 11 years of her life outside Bulgaria, all in the United States. She lived in Honolulu and Waikoloa, Hawaii, from 2006 to 2008, during her graduate studies. She also lived in Cleveland, Ohio, for one year in 2009 and in Fort Collins, Colorado, for six years (2010-2016). And she had been living in Ashland, Oregon, for two years at the time of this recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

She studied Spanish for many years.

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

RECORDED BY: Kris Danford

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 16/03/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Ah, I was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, the capital of Bulgaria, a big city of over two million people. Um, I studied for my, my bachelor’s degree there and moved to the States for my master’s. Um, I studied for my master’s in University of Hawaii and then moved around a lot. Um, I lived in Colorado and, uh, Ohio, and I have two little girls. Um, they’re awesome, very smart, and amazing. And I’m teaching at a university now and very fortunate to be able to do that, uh, considering English is my second language. Um, tourism and hospitality and sustainability. Um, my research is focusing on sustainable tourism and, uh, corporate sustainability, and, uh, yeah, I dunno. That’s it.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Kris Danford

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 16/05/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Note the following features of this subject’s accent:

• resonance in the mid/back of the mouth.
• “duke” has liquid u.
• strong retroflex on R’s.
• “hurry” and “her” utilizes the uvular fricative [ χ ].
• “dog” and “goat” use a dentalized d and t.
• “different,” “administered,” “six,” and “beautiful” employ an [ ɪ ] in Gen American but shift to [ i ] for this subject.
• “studied”: In opposition to the previous note, [ i ] tends to shift to [ ɪ ].
• “goose”: [ u ] shifts to [ ʊ ].
• “her”: This vowel with rhoticity is darker, more rounded.
• “thought,” and “north”: [ θ ] shifts to dentalized [ t ].
• [ l ] tends to be dark, velarized.

In addition, the subject drops the article “‘the” in the phrase “in [the] University of Hawaii.”

COMMENTARY BY: Kris Danford

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 16/05/2018

The archive provides:

• Recordings of accent/dialect speakers from the region you select.

• 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).

For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here, please go to Other Dialect Services.