Greece 5

Listen to Greece 5, a 58-year-old woman from Athens, Greece. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 58

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/10/1958

PLACE OF BIRTH: Athens, Greece

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Greek

OCCUPATION: professor and choreologist

EDUCATION: Ph.D.

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

The speaker lived in London from 1987 to 2001.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The speaker said she would be easily recognized as from Athens, partially because of the duration of her vowels. The speaker also adamantly states that she has never been interested in sounding English or American, and that she prefers her Athens accent.

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

RECORDED BY: Kristy Allen (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/03/2017

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Em, I, I think that, um, uh, because here, uh, people that they are coming are much more — in the school — are much more clear, um, and, uh, in their intention. Why do they want to do the study? And they choose it, so they are much more focused and concentrated in the class compared — and mu-much more skilled, I should say, because they are everyday here; they are doing practical stuff; they are participating; they develop. Compared to my students, em, that some of them happen to end up in this school because of the marks they got in the entering examinations. So they are — they are not sure that they want to follow really that particular school. And then — because I think I was telling you — that in the class, because it’s a public education, eh, eh, it’s a bit of lack of respect of the whole setting, I mean, which are the conditions.

[Subject speaks in Greek]: Ωραία! Ξεκίνησα να οδηγώ όταν ήμουν 20 χρονών. Ποτέ δεν φοβόμουν. Πάντοτε ήθελα να οδηγώ ήρεμα και συγκρατημένα αλλά ποτέ δεν ήθελα να τρέχω. Αυτό είναι το κύριο. Δεν είχα ούτε ένα ατύχημα, ούτε μία φορά. Και πάντοτε ήμουν πολύ προσεκτική οδηγός γιατί το αυτοκίνητο είναι ένα μέσο που με κάνει να εξυπηρετούμε και όχι να δείχνω κάτι άλλο για τον εαυτό μου.

[Translation provided by speaker: Nice! I started to drive when I was 20 years old. I was never afraid. I was a careful driver, not a risky one. I never caused or had an accident because I always wanted to drive with calmness and with carefulness. I never wanted to run at high speed. This is the main quality of my driving. I never caused/had any accident, not once. And I have always been a very cautious driver because the car is a means to serve me and not to show anything else about myself.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Kristy Allen (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 29/03/2017

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject speaks English as a second language, so word mispronunciations may be a result of English-language skills, rather than dialect. Certain vowels become rounded, so “cup” sounds like “cope,” “odd” becomes “ode,” and “thought” becomes “thote.” “Her” is slightly elongated and becomes “hair.” The tongue is slightly raised, making words like “kit” and “itchy” sound like “keet” and “eetchy.” Voiced “th” words like “this” and “that” sound like “zis” and “zat.” Occasionally, unvoiced “s” sounds become voiced, so “goose” sounds like “gooz.” Also note the “liquid u” in “duke,” which makes it sound like “dyuke.”

COMMENTARY BY: Deric McNish

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 30/04/2017

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.