Italy 14

Listen to Italy 14, an 80-year-old woman from Naples, Italy, who has also lived in California, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 80

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 02/02/1932

PLACE OF BIRTH: Torre Annunziata, Naples, Italy

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Italian

OCCUPATION: homemaker

EDUCATION: high school graduate

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

She was born in Naples, in the city of Torre Annunziata. She left Italy in 1952 to come to America and moved to San Pedro, California, to become a U.S. citizen.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Her attempt to gain U.S. citizenship was prolonged because she did not know how to speak English yet. Her husband knew some English, and she learned from him very quickly. They listened to American radio, people, and television to help her learn. She took the California citizenship test one year later in the beginning of 1953, and passed the test the first time. In 1958, she relocated to Cathedral City, California, and was still there at the time of this recording.

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

RECORDED BY: Briana Gattuso (under supervision of David Nevell)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 30/03/2012

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Well, I was, uh, born in Naples: little town, uh, near, uh, near Pompeii. Eh, my mother had, uh, seven kids. So we were three, uh, four sister [and] three brother. So, and, um, some that came in 1966. I came in 1952. I got married at 53, and I was, uh, married 54 years. Well, then my marriage … I have, uh, two daughter: one Rita and one Josette…

TRANSCRIBED BY: Briana Gattuso (under supervision of David Nevell)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 30/03/2012

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:

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• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.
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• 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).

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