California 6

Listen to California 6, a 52-year-old man from Clearlake and San Francisco, California, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 52

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1958

PLACE OF BIRTH: Washington State

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: mechanic

EDUCATION: N/A

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

The subject moved to the San Francisco Bay area, near Richmond, at the age of 3. At 18, he moved to Clearlake. In 2008, he moved to back the Bay area.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: Lisa Wentz

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 09/08/2010

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Well, I was born in 1958 in Washington. At 3 years old, I moved to the Bay Area, worked in refineries. At, ss, 18, I moved to Clearlake and worked in the oil fields. At 50 years old, I moved back to the Bay area, where I once lived and started. Talk about a complete circle. I now work in refineries again, and life is good, period.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Lisa Wentz

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/08/2010

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

This is an excellent example of Northern California working-class white male. He has a very strong American R and a very open relaxed /a/ with no lip rounding in words such as “talk,” which is often present in General American. Occasionally his TH sound is short, which you can find in the areas east of San Francisco (his locale, Richmond). His “vocal fry” or “creak” is extremely light compared to what you might hear in the San Joaquin Valley, San Fernando Valley or Southern California.

COMMENTARY BY: Lisa Wentz

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/08/2010

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.