Illinois 9

Listen to Illinois 9, a 52-year-old woman from Urbana, Illinois, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 52

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1952

PLACE OF BIRTH: Niles, Michigan

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: secretary

EDUCATION: two years of college

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

The subject was born in Niles, Michigan, moved to Indiana at age 12, and then moved to Urbana, Illinois, where she had been living for 38 years 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: Jill Walmsley Zager

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/04/2004

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 like living in Urbana-Champaign because here in east-central Illinois, we experience all four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Right now it’s April, so it’s spring. It’s still cold at night, in the 30s, but in the daytime it’s about 50 or 60 degrees and that seems warm when the sun is shining. [Speaker concludes with some off-the-cuff remarks about tornado sirens.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jill Walmsley Zager

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/04/2004

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

She displays the head resonance that is prevalent in many speakers from Illinois, but her careful speech is not typical and is personal to this speaker. In the first part of the audio sample, which she clearly rehearsed, the speaker describes the seasons in central Illinois.

COMMENTARY BY: Jill Walmsley Zager

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/04/2004

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.