Georgia 8

Listen to Georgia 8, an 80-year-old woman from Columbus, Georgia, and Elmore County, Alabama, United States. This sample contains only an unscripted reading, as the subject is visually impaired and unable to read Comma Gets a Cure. She is the mother of Georgia 7.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 80

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/09/1941

PLACE OF BIRTH: Columbus, Georgia

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Black

OCCUPATION: retired military (Army)

EDUCATION: high school graduate

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

The speaker was in the military and spent more than a year in Munich, Germany, and two years in Frankfurt, Germany, in the 1960s. In addition, though labeled a Georgia subject, she lived in central Alabama from ages 4-12.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

RECORDED BY: Jacqueline Springfield

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/10/2021

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY):

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1941, and I — up until, uh, 1945 — I lived in Columbus; then we moved to the country, which is called, uh, Elmore County [Alabama]. I lived in Elmore County for, uh, about ten years, no, not, uh, about eight years. I tell you when we first moved there, my mother is not a country person. She was born in the city, raised in the city; she knew nothin’ about the country. So the country was not her thing; she say she didn’t wanna live any place where when the di—lights go out at night you couldn’t tell what color you were. So she, soon as she could get outta Elmore County, we did.

But while I was livin’ there, I went to school, and, uh, then I remember we was livin’ first — we was livin’ down, way down in the country. Then we moved what we called, uh, Sandtown, a place called Sandtown, which is the upper part of, uh, Elmore County. And, uh, we was right on the bus line, uh, the school bus line; uh, we was in walking distance of the school. So sometime I would walk to school; sometime I would catch the bus and go to school. I went, uh, junior high school, Spencer Junior High School; then I went to Spencer High School. And then, uh, after I finish high school, I got married, and then we moved to Germany.

I, uh, have four kids: three girls and one boy. And my, uh, oldest one has, uh, now deceased. Uh, so that leaves me with two girls, and I remember when, uh, Nell’s sisters went off to school and she said, “Momma, I’m not gonna ever leave you, or you gon’ always be with me.” So she has kept her promise.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jacqueline Springfield

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/10/2021

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Note the velarized “L,” as in the end of “well.” Much of the speech is non-rhotic; especially note the absence of r-coloring at the end of “Elmore.” The diphthong in words such as “high” and “while” is monophthongized. The pen-pin merger appears throughout.

COMMENTARY BY: Jacqueline Springfield

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 09/11/2021

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• 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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