Kenya 4

Listen to Kenya 4, a 37-year-old woman from Nairobi, Kenya. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 37

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 10/09/1979

PLACE OF BIRTH: Nairobi

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Luo/Kenyan

OCCUPATION: professional musician

EDUCATION: form 4

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

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

She speaks Swahili and English.

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

RECORDED BY: Betty Moulton

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/06/2017

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

OK, I was born in Nairobi, and, uh, I was born in a family of 15. And most of us grew around music. And therefore we used to meet in the evenings where we used to sing together. And, uh, we used to have tape recorders; my dad would bring some tapes, and, uh, we would sing along with the children music and songs. And we would also perform in church, uh, a lot, a special number, and that is how I started developing my interest in music. And then, uh, by the time I was in form 2, high school, I was already teaching my teachers and some students how to play guitar. So I never lacked money for break. …  So it was all to make money really from music. And that’s what I still do now. I’m a mother; I’m a solo artist, recording artist, and I sing professionally. …

Like I said, we were 15; this is a large family, not obviously from one mother. I, uh, had two mothers, but from my mother, so that made three women, so I come from a polygamous family. And so, coming from a polygamous family, sometimes you feel love is not equal. So I, I grew up with a difficult childhood because, uh, my father’s love was very much divided. But I loved my father very much. I liked to talk a lot. I was, I would act along with him in charge. And, uh, he used to give us some quiz from the Bible; I used to answer the questions very well. And I used to like walking around the home very much. I was somebody who would not rest until something is done. So, that is me: Before something is done, I would not go to sleep. So after it’s done, then I’d go and sleep.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Betty Moulton

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/09/2021

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.