Italy 24

Listen to Italy 24, a 33-year-old woman from Vibo Valentia, Calabria, Italy. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 33

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/08/1984

PLACE OF BIRTH: Vibo Valentia, Calabria, Italy

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Italian/white

OCCUPATION: composer pianist

EDUCATION: B.M. (bachelor of music)

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

The speaker has also lived in New York City (four years), Boston (three years), and Rome (one year).

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The speaker does not believe she has any other factors that have significantly affected her speech or accent.

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

RECORDED BY: Bryn Austin

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 03/04/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Hi, so I was born in the southern, uh, Italy. The region is called Calabria, and it’s a very beautiful place. There is a lot of nature, and, eh, a mountain, uh, lies close to the sea; it is like they are having a conversation. It’s a unique, uh, scenario, especially because it’s, uh, very wild, in the sense that, um, the streets are built around the mountain, and um, I find it very evocative of a specific scent and, uh, light, and every time, um, I close my eyes I can really see it, um, in my mind. The food is great; um, there is a lot of fresh fish, as you can imagine. We are, um, a little bit, um, closer to Sicily than the rest of Italy, [laughs] and this, uh, shall make you understand how south we are. Um, we were considered the Magna Graecia in the past; in fact we had Greek colonization, uh, for a long time, but we also had Arab and Spanish influences. There is also a phenomenon called brigantaggio, uh, which was, um, talking about the presence of some Turkish pirates. So, Calabria was basically a place where culture will meet, and that’s why you can find people that are more clear, in terms of skin, and white, and others that are a little bit darker, and, uh, with curly hair and maybe brown eyes.

[The subject recites a poem by Eugenio Montale, in Italian:]

Ho sceso, dandoti il braccio, almeno un milione di scale
e ora che non ci sei è il vuoto ad ogni gradino.
Anche così è stato breve il nostro lungo viaggio.
Il mio dura tuttora, né più mi occorrono
le coincidenze, le prenotazioni,
le trappole, gli scorni di chi crede
che la realtà sia quella che si vede.

Ho sceso milioni di scale dandoti il braccio
non già perché con quattr’occhi forse si vede di più.
Con te le ho scese perché sapevo che di noi due
le sole vere pupille, sebbene tanto offuscate,
erano le tue.

[English translation:

Your arm in mine, I’ve descended a million stairs at least.
And now that you’re not here, a void yawns at every step.
Even so our long journey was brief.
I’m still en route, with no further need
of reservations, connections, ruses,
the constant contempt of those who think reality
is what one sees.

I’ve descended millions of stairs giving you my arm,
not of course because four eyes see better.
I went downstairs with you because I knew
the only real eyes, however darkened,
belonged to you.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Bryn Austin

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 12/04/2018

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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