Illinois 21

Listen to Illinois 21, a 25-year-old woman from Elgin, Illinois, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 25

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/11/1993

PLACE OF BIRTH: Chicago, Illinois

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Latina

OCCUPATION: student and actress

EDUCATION: BFA

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

The subject lived in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, for nine months when she was 5 years old. Other than that, she has lived her entire life in the Chicago area — first in Elgin (west of Chicago), where she grew up, and then in Chicago, for university.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject learned how to speak Spanish first and started learning English in kindergarten at the age of 5. She was never put in any ESL classes during school. When at home, she was allowed to speak only Spanish so she wouldn’t forget how to speak, as she was speaking only English at school. At university, she began to take voice lessons for actors, during which she learned the General American dialect. Now that she’s an actor, she says she’s able to recognize the difference between her “home accent” and her General American dialect.

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

RECORDED BY: Subject

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 16/06/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

So a few years ago, I came across a big decision in my life: I had to decide if I wanted to remain in my hometown [Elgin]. And that meant staying in a community college — where everyone treated me great, where it was a big safety net for me, and where I had learned a lot about myself in the small amount of time that I had been there — or I could transfer out to a four-year university in the city [Chicago] not knowing anyone, having the knowledge of the program being competitive and not in my hometown. But, basically, I knew that if I transferred out, I would have to start over my college journey, and that meant investing more money, investing more time; and it was debate that I struggled for a few months to decide: um, which I should, which path to take. I ended up taking the path of a risk and transferring to a four-year university, which I can now say was the best decision that I could have taken. Um, this path had me basically restart my college experience. And it also showed me that life isn’t easy and if you want something you have to invest time, money, and a huge amount of dedication. During this experience in, um, this four-year university, I had to do a long commute on the Metra train and have a lot of really early mornings and a lot of late nights when it came to transportation; but, at the end of the day, I think that it was one of the best experiences I have done and it also really showed me how to value, um, everything that you do; and it wasn’t — nothing good is gonna ever come easy — basically is what I’m trying to say.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Subject

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION: 02/08/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

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

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.