England 42

Listen to England 42, a 44-year-old man from Dagenham and south London, England. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 44

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1957

PLACE OF BIRTH: London

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: white

OCCUPATION: car-parks contract manager for local government authority

EDUCATION: N/A

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

The subject is originally from Islington, north of London. He lived in Dagenham from age 5 to 18, and then lived in East Ham (East London), the Isle of Wight, Denmark, southern France, and, for last 17 years, south London.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Subject worked as a teacher of English as a Second Language and is married to a Portuguese woman.

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

RECORDED BY: Paul Meier

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

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: 

wə ˌhɪːz ə ˈstɔɹʷɪ fɔ jɯ | ˈsɛɹʷə pʰɛɹʷɪ wəz ə ˈvɛtʰənəɹʷɪ nɜːs hɯ əd bɪm wɜːkɪŋ dɛɪlɪ əʔən ˈaʊd̚ ˈzᵊɯ | ɪn ə dəˈzɜːtʰɪ dɪstɹʷɪk̚ tʰəv ə ˈtʰɛɹʷɪtʰɔɹʷᵊɪ | səʊ ʃi wəz ˈvɛɹʷɪ hæpʰɪ tʰə stɑːʔə ˈnɯ d͡ʒɒb əz ʔə sɯˈpʰɜːb ˈpʰɹʷaɪvəʔ̚ ˈpɹʷæk̚tʰɪs ɪˈnɔf skwɛə | nɪː ˈd͡ʒɯk̚ stɹʷiʔ ˈtʰawə | ˈdᶞæɛɹʷɪəz mʌt͡ʃ ˈnɪɹʷə fə hɜː | əˈmɔˑtʰɯ ə ˈlaɪkʰɪn | ivn̩ ˈsaʊ ɒn ə ˈfɜːs mɔnɪn ʃi fɛʊʔ ˈstɹʷɛst | ˈʃɛɪtʰ ə bo̟ʊl ə ˈpʰʌɹʷɪd͡ʒ̥ | ˈt͡ʃɛk̚ təsɛʊf ɪn ə ˈmɪɹʷə | ˈwɒʃtə ˈfaɪs ɪn ə ˈhʌɹʷᵊɪ | dɛʒɪpʰʊdɒnə ˈpʰlaɪn jɛloʊ dɹʷɛs n̩ ə fləis ˈd͡ʒækʰɪʔ̚ | ˈpʰɪk̚ tʰʌpʰ ɜ ˈkʰɪʔ̚ ən ˈhɛdɪd fə ˈwɜːkʰ | ˈwɛn ʃi ˈgɒʔ dᶞɛ dᶞɛ wəz ə wʊməmwɪvə ˈgɯs ˈwaɪtʰɪn fɔ hə | dᶞə ˈwʊməŋ gɛɪv sɛɹʷənəfɪʃʊ ˈlɛtʰə fɹʷəm nə ˈvɛtʰ | dᶞə ˈlɛtʰəmpʰlaid dᶞəʔ dᶞi ˈænɪmʊː kʰʊbɪ sʌfɹʷɪm fɹʷəmə ˈɹʷɛː ˈfɔˑm əv̥fʊtʰ ə ˈmæʊf dɪzᵊɪːz̥ | wɪʃ wə səˈpʰɹaɪzɪm | bɪkʰɐz ˈnɔˑmlijɯˈdo̟ʊnɪ əspɛtʰəsɪːdᶞæʔɪn ə ˈdɒg ɔw ə ˈgaʊtʰ | ˈsɛːwəˈsɛntʰəmɛntʰʊ | sə ˈðɪs maɪd ɐ fɪʊ ˈsɒwɪ fə dᶞə ˈbjɯtʰɪfʊ ˈbɜːd | bɪfɔː ˈlɒŋ | ðᵈæˈʔɪt͡ʃɪ ˈgɯs bɪgæn tʰə ˈstɹʷʌtʰ əwaʊn ɪ ɒfɪs laɪk ə ˈlɯnətʰɪkʰ | wɪʃ maɪd n̩  ənˈsænɪtʰəwɪ ˈmɛs | də gɯˈsəʊnɐ | mɛɪ ˈhæɪsəŋ ˈkʰɛʔ̚ kʰɔːlɪŋ | ˈkʰɒmə ˈkʰɒmə | wɪːˈsɛwə fɔʔ wəzənəˈnɒd̚ | ˈʔɒd t͡ʃɔis fəw ə ˈnɛɪm | ˈkʰɒmə wəstɹɒŋn̩ˈhjɯːd͡ʒ̥ | səɪʔwəˈtʰɛɪksəmː | fɔːs tʰˈtʰɹʷæpʰə | bə ˈsɛwə hæd ə ˈdɪfɹʷən ɑɪˈdiə | ˈfɜːʃɪtwaɪ ˈd͡ʒɛntˡɪ stɹʷo̟ʊkʰɪn | dᶞə gɯsɪz lo̟ʊə ˈbækʰ wɪv ə ˈpʰɑːm | ðɛn ˈsɪŋənə ˈt͡ʃɯːn tʰə hɜ | faɪnəlᵊi | ʃəɪmɪ ʔəmɪnɪstəd ˈʔiːfə | hə ˈʔɛfəts wə nɒʔ ˈfjɯtʰaʊ | ɪˈnaʊ tʰaɪmnə ˈgɯs bɪˈgæn tʰə  ˈtʰaɪɐ | sə ˈsɛwəwəz ɛɪbʊ tʰə ˈho̟ʊd ɒntʰə kʰɒmə ʔəŋ ˈgɪv hə wəlæksɪm ˈbɑːf | ˈwʌnsɛwəhəd mænɪd͡ʒ tʰə ˈbɛɪvdə ˈgɯs | ʃɪ ˈwaɪp̚ tʰəɹɒf wɪv ə ˈkʰlɒf n̩ lɛɪd ə hɒn ə ˈɹʷaɪt̚ ˈsaɪd | dən ˈsɛwə kʰəɱfɜmnə ˈvɛks | da̠ɪəgnaʊsɪs | ˈɔːmoʊstəˈmᵊɪdʲəˀlᵊi | ʃəɪˈmɛmbəd ən ɪˈfɛk̚tʰɪv̥ tɹʷəˀmən ət̚ ˈmɛɪ | dᶞætʰ | ɹʷɪˈkwɑəd hə tʰə mɛʒəɹʷaʊʔ ˈlɒts ə ˈmɛdəsən | ˈsɛwə ˈwɔːnd̥ də ˈdɪs | kʰɔs ə ˈtɹʷɪʔməˈmɑ̟bɪ ɪksˈpɛnsɪv | ivə ˈfɑɪv ɔ ˈsɪks tʰaɪmz̥ ə kʰɒst ə pʰɛnəˈsɪlɪn | ɐ ˈkʰɑːntəmæd͡ʒɪm ˈpʰɛɪn saʊ ˈmʌt͡ʃ | ˈbʌʔ mɪsəz ˈhæwɪsən | ə ˈmɪjənɛˑ ˈlɔːjə | fɔtʰ ɪʔ wəz ə ˈfɛː pʰɹʷaɪs tʰə ˈpʰaɪ fəwə ˈkʰjɯ ||

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/03/2013

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in London, in 1957, accordingly to my mother within the sound of Bow Bells, near Smithfield Market, she was caught in a pre-Christmas rush, so that’s why I was premature. I was born in St. Bart’s hospital. My family at that time was living in Islington, which is a suburb of North London – very fashionable today – I wish we still lived there. And my parents moved out of London when I was about 4, 5 years of age, and we moved to a new settlement in Dagenham, which was a re-development area from the Second World War. It’d previously been a large bomb site, and it was very heavy manufacturing,  and the – and the actual site of the Ford’s manufacturing plant. Basically, I stayed there in Dagenham, up until I was about 18 or 19, at which time I left Dagenham and decided to seek newer fields into London.  I basically started living around East Ham, Stratford, which is more of the east of London, but quite close to the center. After this some time, I actually managed to go – get a – sorry – to get an eventual teaching job, working on the Isle of Wight, where I taught English as a foreign language for two years, which was quite entertaining. I enjoyed it, uh, much, but I couldn’t afford to live as a full-time career.  Mainly we taught English to Scandinavian students: Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and also, for some unknown reason, Italian. Through this contact, and working for a language school I was able to secure a job in Denmark. And I spent nearly two years living in a place in the north of Denmark, called Âhrhus. After this I also had another opportunity to go the south of France – Bordeaux. After this I decided I wanted to travel and see more of the world. So I decided to basically save money tsk and hitchhike all around Europe, which I did. And then my “piece de la resistance” was to go and spend some time in America, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Having met a lot of American and Canadian people on my travels. I decided that I would go and visit them and I did. I returned back to England in 1984, 85? And found out I was practically unemployable. So, I decided to work for a local authority, um doing rubbish survey projects. I have been with that local authority now for 17 years, and I’m now a car-parks contracts manager – operations. And I’ve also done a business studies degree. So, I’ve had an eventful life in the short time. I’m now married, have been married for the last 14 years. My wife is Portuguese, and we have three children.

TRANSCRIBED BY: James Spencer

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/02/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Although working briefly as a teacher of English as a Second Language, and despite his travels and other possible dialect influences, such as his marriage to a Portuguese woman, he retains a few classic Cockney features among his consonants, notably the use of “f” and “v” for the “th” in words like “through” and “although.” This is a quite consistent feature. Notice that on this recording he carefully articulates his “h” sounds, which were it not for the formality with which he approached the session, might have been elided more frequently. His treatment of “L” is consistent with Cockney. His vowels, although modified toward RP, are consistent with Cockney. His labialized “r” is personal and should not be regarded as a feature of his group dialect. For more on the Cockney dialect, visit PaulMeier.com.

COMMENTARY BY: Paul Meier

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

The archive provides:

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