Illinois 26

Listen to Illinois 26, a 22-year-old woman from McHenry, Illinois, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 22

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 29/09/1996

PLACE OF BIRTH: McHenry, Illinois

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: actor/college student

EDUCATION:

At the time of this recording, the subject was completing her bachelor’s degree in theatre.

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

She grew up in McHenry and went to college in Chicago.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Both parents are from rural Kansas.

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

RECORDED BY: Tanera Marshall

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/03/2019

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 grew up in McHenry, Illinois —born and raised — which is about an hour and half northwest, outside of Chicago. Lived there my whole life. Lived in the same house my whole life. My, the hospital I was born in was like a five-minute drive. And I also went to a preschool that was, like, right near the hospital because my mom was a physical therapist. So, she was able — like, they had a relationship. So it was like a specific preschool for just, like, kids who were in, um — people in the medical profession.

I, when I was younger, I had this, like, really bad, um, biting problem. It was, like, there was a certain point in my life where that was my reaction to everything — even like happy or angry or anything. Well, not really happy but more angry. But, like, even, like, the smallest thing I’d be, like, “I have to bite this person.” But I had this really amazing preschool teacher who: She, she knew every time I was about to, like, start biting people ‘cause I would literally, like, make a face. And then I would, like, go and I’d, like, bite. But one day I had a sub preschool teacher, and so I did it one day. And I, like, bit, like, everybody in the class. I went on, like, a rampage. And they called my parents in, and they were, like, “Um, so …” They essentially suspended me for a week — from preschool. And my parents were, like, “We don’t know what to do with this child.” [Subject laughs.] But, thankfully, at a certain point, I grew out of it. Hopefully!

TRANSCRIBED BY: Tanera Marshall

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/06/2019

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The speaker was encouraged to speak in her “home accent” for this recording. It is possible that her study of the General American dialect while in college, in addition to her theatre studies, might have modified her dialect somewhat.

COMMENTARY BY: Tanera Marshall

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/06/2019

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.