Greece 6

Listen to Greece 6, a 23-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: 23

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 28/07/1997

PLACE OF BIRTH: Athens, Greece

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Greek

OCCUPATION: actor/student

EDUCATION: some college (current student, studying theatre)

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

At the time of this recording, the subject had been living in Los Angeles, California, United States, for two years while attending drama school.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

She has received dialect and accent training from her instructors, with little effect, she says. She says she has some awareness of the sound differences between her natural dialect and a General American dialect.

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

RECORDED BY: Scott Alan Moffitt

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 03/02/2021

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

It is really difficult to find work in the U.S. as an actress when you have a Greek accent because there are not many roles for a Greek accent, whereas with a Spanish accent there are many. But that accent is close, but not that close, with, eh, Spanish accent. We talk really, really, really, really quickly, and then people do not understand us, and then we have this “r,” as you can hear, and then we don’t do the [ʃ] and the [t͡ʃ] sound, as you can hear that I’m not doing. So it’s really difficult to find to work in any other project than The Fat Greek Wedding [sic] number thirty-five, which would be really nice to have. I have many ideas for this project that I would like to put out there, but I don’t know if I have enough time.

[Subject speaks Greek. English translation: Greece is a really beautiful country, though I think everyone says that for their country. The sun is really warm — a really beautiful sea — and it has that feeling that the people are there for one another, especially in the villages. We have our gossiping, of course, as everyone, but it is a really nice feeling when the restaurant is closed that they will open it up for you again to eat because you are hungry!]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Scott Alan Moffitt

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 26/03/2021

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject presents the following features:
– KIT/FLEECE merger: [ɪ] moves to [i].
– FOOT/GOOSE merger: [ʊ] moves to [u].
– Rhotic sounds are typically alveolar trills [r].
– /th/ dentalization: [ð] moves to [d̪].
– LOT/CLOTH/PALM words present as [ɒ].
– STRUT words present as [a].
– GOAT words present as [oː].
– Affricate consonants are slightly forward in the mouth: [d͡ʒ] moves to [d͡z] and [t͡ʃ] moves to [t͡s].
– Frequent [s] [z] confusion, especially at the end of words.

COMMENTARY BY: Scott Alan Moffitt

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 26/03/2021

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.