Guatemala 4

Listen to Guatemala 4, a 28-year-old woman from Guatemala City, Guatemala, and California, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 28

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 07/08/1986

PLACE OF BIRTH: Orange, California, United States

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Guatemalan/Hispanic

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree

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

The speaker was born in Orange, California, in the United States, and lived in Southern California until age 6. From ages 6 to 11, she lived in Guatemala City, Guatemala. When she was 11, she returned to Orange, California, and was still living there at the time of this interview.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: David Nevell

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 18/03/2015

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

OK, so, um, I grew up in Guatemala at the age, uh, from 6 to 11. Uh, primarily, uh, Spanish is my first language. Um, my family: It’s a small family. Uh, all my family is in Guatemala. Um, I go back a couple of times. I’m hoping to go back this year. Um, I do miss seeing my family. Me and my cousins — I’m the oldest from all the, uh, my cousins, and what I like the most is the, the beautiful place of the city, the — also, the, the nature that is surrounded the whole country, and if I could have opportunity to go back and live in Guatemala I will, but the situation — it’s really kinda like not as good as is here, so that’s why the reason my parents migrated here. And they gave us opportunity to have the education that we have now. I currently have a bachelor’s degree, working on my master’s right now. Hopefully I graduate soon; um, get a job in maybe — I’m thinking about it moving back over there, but it all depends on the jobs, um, what I can find. Or maybe I can apply for a Ph.D.; look forward to it. And just going back on what the situation over there in Guatemala — it’s really difficult; there’s not a lot of jobs; educational system is horrible. Um, but I guess if the government, if there would be change of the government, I think it would be different. The current government: It’s not stable as it is. Uh, we went through a different war thirty years ago where a lot of damages happen. Uh, a lot of people got killed. Um, my great-grandfather was part of the war, like the Dirty War in Central America; he almost got killed, uh, so I guess that’s what the reason why my parents decided to move over here. They didn’t want us to have the experience that my family been going through. Um, but the same time it’s a place like we grew up, and I feel more attached to it, than, than here, even though I was born here, but I feel like every time they ask me where I’m from, I literally said I’m from Guatemala. So they think I was born there, but then I have to clarify: No, actually was born in, in California, but then it’s sometime, that you don’t know where to define yourself. But it’s something that I’m kinda like trying to figure out, like who I really I am.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Wyn Moreno (under supervision of David Nevell)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 29/12/2015

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: 

Though the subject has spent the majority of her life in the United States (California), her roots are in Guatemala, her accent is typical of that sound, she spent much of her childhood in that country, and she self-identifies as Guatemalan. We have chosen to categorize the sample as Guatemalan instead of American for those reasons.

COMMENTARY BY: Cameron Meier

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 01/01/2016

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.