Illinois 30

Listen to Illinois 30, a 26-year-old woman from Chicago, Illinois, United States, who has also lived in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and Bradenton, Florida. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject. 

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 26

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/03/1998

PLACE OF BIRTH: San Luis Potosi, Mexico

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Latina/Mexican

OCCUPATION: actor and manager

EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree

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

The subject lived in Mexico until the age of nine. She then moved to Bradenton, Florida, United States, where she lived for six years, before moving to Chicago at the age of 15. She had been living in Chicago for 11 years at the time of this recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: none

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): 28/10/2024

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 when I was a child, I lived in, in Mexico, um, San Luis Potosi. And so my family is huge. Back then, like, you know, there’s uncles, tias, tios, everything, you know, everyone would come to the table every morning. Yeah, so family is huge, you know, where I come from. We lived in the same neighborhood, like the same street, per se. Ah, my grandpa was a man who bought a bunch of houses, uh, at some point in his life, and then was like “Each house is for one of my sons and daughters.” So, everyone was around kind of thing.

Uh, so my mum has seven uncles, and my grandma was the only daughter, and then my grandma only had my mom. So my mum’s an only child. So I remember every morning my ma would be like, “All right, you know, let’s go to your auntie’s for breakfast.” Every — like, they would alternate whose house we would go, you know; in the morning, in the morning, we would get ready, you know, just walk a few houses. And just the smell. Entering — oh my god — my aunt’s house? The smell — aaaccch! Coffee, but it’s, like, kind of coffee with like cinnamon-ish? It’s so — oh my god. And then, it would be a simple breakfast, you know like eggs, tortillas, salsa, you know kinda thing — uh, beans. Uh, very simple, but so good, like, so many flavors, you know? And so everyone would sit, uh, and then we’d have to wait, obviously, for everyone to arrive. It was a big table. Uh, we had so many chairs. And sometimes we’d have to bring our own chair, ’cause, just, you know, just “Bring your chair” kind of thing. Pack your things!” Uh, beautiful thing.

So the thing is, my mom doesn’t like to cook. So she married my dad, and my dad’s a chef. So she actually never cooks. Um, it’s always my dad. But then we moved to the U.S., right? And obviously, we don’t have a ton of family up in here. But my dad would always wake up early in the morning. He would cook a feast, every morning — for no reason. I’m, like, it’s only four of us, you know, like why? Why do we need this much food, you know? It was like a buffet. Every morning. And then, for dinner, my dad — ‘cause he works, right? — but he would get out of work, cook dinner for us, and then go back to work.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Tanera Marshall

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 28/10/2024

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject’s accented English reflects her experience as a native speaker of Spanish, as well as her time living in the Midwest and her voice-and-speech classes taken in college.

COMMENTARY BY: Tanera Marshall

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/11/2024

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.