Iraq 2

Listen to Iraq 2, a 45-year-old man from Diwaniyah, Iraq. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 45

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 07/01/1970

PLACE OF BIRTH: Diwaniyah, Iraq

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Middle Eastern

OCCUPATION: taxi driver

EDUCATION: high school graduate

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

The subject lived in Saudi Arabia for six years, but it had little effect on his accent. He has lived in the United States since 1996.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: Lynnae Lehfeldt

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/07/2015

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

OK, I grew up in in Iraq, OK, in small village. This, this, village, OK, near a river called Euphrates River. My father was a farmer and he owned big land, you know; he tried to make our living on hard times during the war. After 1991, my family has to move from from Iraq because there is, eh, hard time to live over there — the economy or politically. So my dad, he has to move, you know, to different country. We moved to Saudi Arabia. We tried to make a living over there, but it’s too hard. My dad, he decided to come to America. He don’t know how to speak English; my mom also she don’t know how to speak English, and we are two boys with them; we don’t speak English also. We come to this country in 1996. We try to follow up with people here, you know, eh. [Subject speaks Arabic.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Lynnae Lehfeldt

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 12/07/2015

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Subject noted that his accent is the “Southern” Iraq accent, the accent typically found in recorded poems and songs, and also the accent used by most professional actors. He referred to the Baghdad accent as the “modern accent.”

COMMENTARY BY: Lynnae Lehfeldt

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 12/07/2015

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.