Jamaica 13

Listen to Jamaica 13, an 18-year-old woman from Portland Parish, Jamaica. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 18

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 22/03/1997

PLACE OF BIRTH: Annotto Bay, Saint Mary, Jamaica (but raised in Portland Parish)

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: African-Jamaican

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: tertiary

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

The subject was born in Saint Mary but grew up in Windsor Castle in the parish of Portland.  She’s also lived in Kingston.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

She spoke Jamaican Creole from an early age with close family members.

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

RECORDED BY: Elizabeth Montoya-Stemann

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/02/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Most Jamaicans today are known for speaking Creole. I think, um, Creole is a language that, um, most of us grown up hearing. So, um, for us to be able to speak, um, English fluently, it would have to start from in the home, so you know the parents and other family members would, would have to ensure that they teach it to speak properly then, because that is the word that we Jamaicans use: “speak properly.” They will have to ensure that they don’t, um, speak much Creole around you and to ensure that, that, um, you get the basic background of speaking standard English and with also have to practice our words’ pronunciation and how to articulate the words that, that, that, um, that they sound better because when, when, the, the articulations that are placed on words determine the meaning of the words. So, some time we might articulate a word wrong and give it a wrong meaning. Um, back in Portland, where I live, I think our Creole sound different from a person that may comes…

TRANSCRIBED BY: Elizabeth Montoya-Stemann

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 15/02/2016

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:

• 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.