Guatemala 1

Listen to Guatemala 1, a woman in her 20s from Guatemala City, Guatemala. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 20s

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

PLACE OF BIRTH: Guatemala City, Guatemala

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Guatemalan (exact ethnicity unknown)

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree in French

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

The subject had lived in the United States for three years at the time of this recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject was tutored in English from age 6. At the time of this recording, she was attending college in the United States at the University of Kansas and was receiving a degree in French.

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

RECORDED BY: Jennifer Pinker (under the supervision of Paul Meier)

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

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 was born in Guatemala City and I lived in Guatemala City basically, um, until I was 16 when I took my first trip abroad, like to Europe. Before then we traveled with my family to the States a lot and, uh, I lived in France for two months when I was sixteen and then I came back. And then when I was 18 I went to visit one of my friends in Austria and I lived in Austria for two months so I learned some German too. And then I came back and then the next year I went to Israel and I lived in Israel for a month and then I started learning Hebrew. And then I came back. And then a year after that I decided to transfor-transfer to the States cause I lived, uh, I was a law student, and I decided just to transfer to the States and then become a French major. And that’s how I know Jennifer, and I’ve been here for three years, and, uh, that’s it-I’m going back after graduation for a couple of months then I’ll go to grad school in California and then I’ll go back and hopefully find a job that helps me make a lot of money [laughs]. I first learned English I think when I was 6 years old. My mom um, had a tutor for me and, you know, the tutor came to the house and started teaching me English and we also took it in school, you know, very basic English lessons. But um, I just, we had access to uh, cable TV from the States and books in English. The American culture is very much a part of Guatemalan culture. And so I, uh, I just read and watched TV, and I, you know, aside from uh, two or three lesson a week, I never really took any formal English instruction and I didn’t live in the States until about three years ago. My very earliest memory is Baptism um, because I was baptized when I was two years old, and it was traumatic because the priest like covered my face, you know, so that I wouldn’t get water in my nose or I don’t know what. I remember they just like flipped me over and uh, just covered my nose and it was horrible and uh, I don’t know-maybe that’s why I’m not religious [laughs]. We are very, um, warm people, I guess in Guatemala. Like we-we-we peck each other on the cheek you know as a form of greeting and we just, we’re very huggy and uh, you know here it’s uh, it’s, you know, more distance I guess. It’s uh, been kinda tough, you know, adjusting to that. Uh well um, The Lake Atitlan, which is the most beautiful lake in the world. Um, Aldous Huxley actually was there and said that it was the most beautiful lake in the world. Uh, there’s Quetzaltenango, which is the second largest city in Guatemala, Escuintla, which is the third largest city uh, which is where my mom and some of my ancestors were born. Uh, what else-Coban-very nice city. Uh, oh my goodness, Lake Atitilan also very nice. Rio Dulce, which means Sweet River, which, it actually ends up in the ocean-it’s very nice. Tikal, which is where the Mayan ruins are-very impressive. I memorized this poem when I was very small. Uh, okay, um. It’s called “Yo Pienso En Ti,” which means “I Think of You,” so it’s by Jose Batres Montufar-very, very nice guy:
Yo pienso en ti
tu vives en mi mente
sola, fija, sin tregua, aunque tal vez el rostro
no deje reflejar sobre mi mente
la llama que en siliencio me devora

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jennifer Pinker (under the supervision of Paul Meier)

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 or dialect, and which are subject to variation from individual to individual.

COMMENTARY BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 10/11/2016

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