Jamaica 14

Listen to Jamaica 14, a 35-year-old man from Kingston, Jamaica. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 35

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 18/06/1980

PLACE OF BIRTH: Kingston

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Jamaican/African

OCCUPATION: tech. multimedia services

EDUCATION: tertiary

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS: none

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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:

All right, so, ah, this is supposed to be one minute of, um, random speech or something like that — free speech, that’s one, right? So, I am Jamaican, um, speaking English, obviously, likkle [sic] bit of patwa. I am a Kingstonian but love the country, love sports, love music, love love, love life, ah, also love giving thanks every time — giving thanks to the Most High, giving thanks to the creator and giving thanks for life, health, and strength. Um, I am not sure if we are anywhere near one minute just yet, but hopefully you can get an idea of what a Jamaican male voice sounds like. Well, a Kingstonian one anyway; if you hear from other parts of the country, you’ll hear different accents: thicker, lighter, more nasal, more chesty, more throaty. Nuff different variations, but, anyway, that’s it for me. One minute of free speech.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Elizabeth Montoya-Stemann

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 10/03/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The speaker is using words such as likkle (little) and nuff (enough) that are peculiar Jamaican words frequently used by Jamaican speakers of Standard English.

COMMENTARY BY: Elizabeth Montoya-Stemann

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 10/03/2016

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.