Iceland 2

Listen to Iceland 2, a 36-year-old woman from Akranes, Iceland. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 36

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 15/12/1975

PLACE OF BIRTH: Akranes, Iceland

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Icelandic (exact ethnicity unknown)

OCCUPATION: mother

EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree in business management

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

The subject was living in Michigan, in the United States, at the time of this interview.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject learned English at 8 years old in school.  She noted that most books at her university are in English.  She also noted that television shows imported from the United States are subtitled in Icelandic but spoken in English and this helped with the learning process.

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

RECORDED BY: Annette Masson

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/09/2012

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

The weather in Iceland is similar to the weather in Michigan.  We have gray winters.  It doesn’t get as cold as here, I feel.  But, we have the wind there so it feels colder, you know.  Icelandic summers are beautiful – it’s like nothing else.  So I try to take my kids there, ah, and we, we all want to be there in the summer.  That’s the highlight of the summers.  Icelandic tourism has been growing, very steadily over the last few years: the glaciers, the waterfalls, the pure water, and, ahm, the fish, the, the lamb, the, ah, grass-fed lamb.  That’s one of the most popular food there.  So the Icelandic lamb: I, I actually got imported a, a Icelandic frozen lamb, leg of lamb, that my family eats for, ah, at Christmas.  Ahm, so we, ah, love our lamb.  I can buy Icelandic butter in Whole Foods, water, chocolate, so, you know, I, I’m very fortunate to live in a town which, ah, which offers, ah, all these … all these Icelandic products. Soccer is, is big in Iceland, and golf.  They have a lot of good golf courses.  Ah, the Icelandic handball team, were in second place on the Olympics in Bejing, four years ago.  So, ahm, you know, we, we, we think we’re doing very well there.  And, you know, it … the population in Iceland is only 360,000.  And, you know, I feel … feel that we are spread … we’re spread all over the world.  And, ah, there’s a very popular Icelandic band now, ah, called “Of Monsters And Men,” so ah, they are, you know … I, I go to the mall and hear the music, I, I go to a restaurant and they’re playing the music, so it … it’s always fun to, you know, ah, recognize, ah, something from home.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Annette Masson

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/09/2012

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Notice the “lilt” in the delivery.  The “v – w” substitution is clearly heard.  The “r” consonant is hard.  “S” substitutes for “z” on plurals and at ends of words.  “Ch” at ends of words changes to “ts,” e.g., “which – whits.” Beginning “sh” sounds become “ts,” e.g., “she – tse.”  Subject puts a “p” plosive at the end of the word “lamb.”

COMMENTARY BY: Annette Masson

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/09/2012

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.