France 5

Listen to France 5, a 23-year-old woman from Besançon, France. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 23

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1976

PLACE OF BIRTH: Besançon, France

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: French

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: university

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

The subject moved to Lawrence, Kansas, in the United States, a year before the recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Despite learning English in school, she confesses that her ability to speak English was very poor until a year before the interview.

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): 1999

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 come from uh, uh, Besançon, a town in the east of the France, and it’s close to center, it’s, it’s close to Switzerland; it’s a little town, when, where I grew up. And, uh, uh, I stay here. I, uh, uh, did my studies here. And last year I decided to to come here, er, to learn how to speak English. So it’s, uh, … first time I go in ano- I live in another country. And uh, I just, er, its an, it was an exchange student so I just stay for one year. I learn English during my the school … for ten years. But the system in France is not really good to learn a language so, uh, when I came here I couldn’t speak; I couldn’t understand anything so, I took some AEC classes for one semester and, uh, now, uh, I, uh, follow some KU classes. I don’t know when, when I lived in Besancon before moving in another town, I was, um, I lived in an apartment and I used to, to play with a, a guy who has the same age than me. It was in the same levelope [unclear] the … building, and we usually, we play, we played with, um, a bicycle … together, and, uh, we made a lot of noise, and something like that and, uh, I remember a neighbor who didn’t like when we play in the, in the all [hall]. So, usually ww … I don’t know, we had, we were … two years … ago, 2 years old, I think. And, but I am remember, she was always angry about it.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jessica Pinker

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

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

If you are a dialect researcher, or an actor using this sample to develop your skill in the accent, please see my instruction manual at www.paulmeier.com. As the speaker in this sample is a unique individual, it is highly unlikely that she will conform to my analysis in every detail. But you will find it interesting and instructive to notice which of my “signature sounds” and “additional features” (always suggested only as commonly heard features of the accent) are widely used by most speakers of the accent, and which are subject to variation from individual to individual.

COMMENTARY BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/11/2016

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