Jiangsu 23

Listen to Jiangsu 23, a 19-year-old man from Suyu, Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 19

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 16/01/1991

PLACE OF BIRTH: Suyu, Suqian, Jiangsu Province

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Han Chinese

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: At the time of the recording, the subject was in his first year at university.

AREA(S) OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

Subject came to live in Suzhou, Jiangsu, seven months before the date of the recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Other influences are very few. Subject began to learn English at the age of 13 but had no native English-speaking teachers at school and first left his hometown less than a year ago to come to university in Suzhou. Here he has had to learn Putonghua, which will have reshaped some of his pronunciation patterns. He has had a limited exposure to native speakers of English (American). He lists his teachers, movies and songs as the major influences on his speech. He is an English major.

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

RECORDED BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/05/2010

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

When I came to English, (ahm) that was in middle school, yeah, (ah) at the age of 13. At first, I think (ahm) English is very interesting, you just need to – recite some words and (ah) do some exercises. Then, I – yeah, because I think it’s very interesting, so I (ahm) maybe (ah) work harder. (mmm) And (ahm) at first I attained (a) high grades and then – I find it (ah) a little difficult maybe [laughs] yeah, you, you – you should know about maybe the foreign culture. And (ah) you have to learn something – learn some rules [laughing[ in – in English, so I work not as hard as the first so I – my marks became not [laughing] so high. (umm) When I came to (ahm) high school, then I met a very good English teacher. Yeah, she (ahm) taught us how to (ahm) learn English, how to treat it just as a (ahm) as a tool as you communicated with others, (umm) not (ah) treat it like the – the way of the lang- the subject you have to learn just for the examination [laughing].

TRANSCRIBED BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/05/2010

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Short readings from the analects of Confucius

The subject now goes on to read the following abstracts from the Analects of Confucius in her own Rugao dialect. She did not provide a pinyin transliteration. The Chinese dialects are spoken languages only; Putonghua is used for writing. A reading in Putonghua (Mandarin) can be heard on the Jiangsu 7 sample.

KEY: A = Mandarin (Simplified); B = Mandarin (Pingyin); C = Dialect (Pingyin); D = English.

孔子: 论语 – Kǒng zǐ : lún yǔ – Kon zi:leng yu – Confucius: Lun Yu

學而第一 – xué ér dì yī – Xué ér dì yī – Chapter One

A: 1-1:- 子曰: 學而時習之、不亦說乎。

B: yī-yī :- zǐ yuē: xué ér shí xí zhī, bù yì yuè hū.

C: yī-yī :-

D: 1-1:- The Master said: Is it not pleasure to learn, and practice what is learned time and again?

A: 1-2:- 有朋自遠方來、不亦樂乎。

B: yī-èr:- yǒu péng zì yuǎn fāng lái, bù yì lè hū.

C: yī-èr:-

D: 1-2:- Is it not happiness to have friends coming from distant places?

A: 1-3:- 人不知而不慍、不亦君子乎。

B: yī-sān: rén bù zhī ér bù yùn, bù yì jūn zi hū.

C: yī-sān:

D: 1-3:- Is it not virtue for a man to feel no discomposure when others take no note of him?

為政第二 – wéi zhèng dì èr – wéi zhèng dì ér – Chapter two

A: 2-2:- 子曰：「詩三百，一言以蔽之，曰：『思無邪』。

B: èr-èr:- zǐ yuē: shī sān bǎi, yī yán yǐ bì zhī , yuē: sī wú xié.

C: èr-èr:-

D: 2-2:- The Master said: In the Book of Odes there are three hundred poems, but they may be summarized in a single sentence: Think no evil.

A: 2-7:- 子游問孝。子曰：今之孝者，是謂能養。至於犬馬，皆能有養；不敬, 何 以別乎。

B: èr-qī:- zǐ yóu wèn xiào. zǐ yuē: jīn zhī xiào zhě, shì wèi néng yǎng. zhì wū quǎn mǎ, jiē néng yǒu yǎng; bù jìng, hé yǐ bié hū.

C: : èr-qī:-

D: 2-7:- Zi You asked what filial piety was. The Master said: Nowadays, providing support for one’s parents is considered filial piety. But dogs and horses can also do this. If there is no respect, what is the difference?

A: 2-10:- 子曰：「視其所以，觀其所由，察其所安。人焉叟哉？人焉叟哉？

B: èr-shí :- zǐ yuē: shì qí suǒ yǐ , guān qí suǒ yóu, chá qí suǒ ān. rén yān sǒu zāi? rén yān sǒu zāi?

C: èr-shí :-

D: 2-10:- The Master said: Watch what a man does. Find out his motives. See how he takes his ease. How then can the man hide his true self? How can the man hide his true self?

Commentary

The accent remains strong, and she clearly displays the common /w/ and /v/ minimal pair transposition. There are also slight traces of the /l/ and /r/ and possessive /s/ characteristics. Most noticeable here is the he/she problem. Chinese dialects are not gender specific, and this is a real problem for many students of English.

COMMENTARY BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/05/2010

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