Michigan 12

Listen to Michigan 12, a 36-year-old man from L’Anse, Houghton, and Ishpeming, Michigan, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 36

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1972

PLACE OF BIRTH: L’Anse, Michigan

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: small-business owner and certified LPN, member of the U.S. Army

EDUCATION: N/A

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

The subject traveled to Korea as a member of the U.S. Army. He spent about three years each in Denver, Colorado, and Tacoma, Washington, as a young adult but then returned to Houghton, Michigan (about 30 miles away from his place of birth), where he was residing at the time of this interview. He also lived in Ishpeming, Michigan, for several years as a boy.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: Patricia Helsel

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 03/03/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in L’Anse, Michigan, in the upper peninsula of Michigan, um, about four-hundred, about two-hundred miles north of Green Bay, um, by Dr. Strobe, to my parents, on June second, nineteen seventy-two. Lived there until I was, uh, what, about 12 years old. Then I moved to Ishpeming, Michigan, where I lived there for the rest of the time until I graduated from high school. Shortly after that, uh, joined the army. Went in the basic training in Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Um, then, from there, went to A.I.T. in, uh, Fort Sam Houston, to be a ninety-one bravo. I was a ninety-one bravo. I was a medic. Uh, from there, went to Korea. Was in Korea for a year, and … good time there. Um, was just real glad to get back ‘cause I was just, like, culture shock, even just coming back here, then, uh, after that went to Denver. Stayed there for about, uh, three years. And, while I was there, I decided to advance my medical training, and went to LPN school. Uh, there I went back to Fort Sanford, for six weeks, for phase one, then phase two, and pretty soon I went back to Denver. It was, uh, Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center, at the time, but they closed that due to one of the RAC realignments about ten years ag., Um, then, did that, got my LPN license, moved to Tacoma, Washington, Fort Lewis. Um, was there for about another three years. Started off in just a general med-surg. ward, but I lucked out, and S.C.U. needed a, a LPN in that area, so, got the opportunity to go there, so, um, I went there. Happy as hell. Uh, got out [of] the army, came back here to Houghton, Michigan. I was goin’ to school; uh, met my wife online, opened up my wonderful coffee shop. Uh, and that’s it.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Patricia Helsel

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 03/03/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Many residents of the Keweenaw Peninsula are of Finnish heritage. Most notable in the dialect are pure vowel sounds /o/ and /e/. The /o/ is pure (non-diphthongal) and sustained (“owner”). Likewise, /e/ is pronounced not as a diphthong (eɪ) but simply /e/, much like the sound we associate with a Canadian dialect. /u/ (“goose”) has a more forward placement, with small lip aperture. /t/ and / θ/ are slightly voiced (“tower,” and “the”). /ɚ/ (“near,” and “Denver”) is sustained, particularly in the final position of words. /ɚ/ resonates, like back vowel sounds, more toward the throat, with a high position at the back of the tongue. Note. too, the “Canadian raising” on MOUTH and PRICE words.

COMMENTARY BY: Patricia Helsel

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 03/03/2008

The archive provides:

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• 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).

 

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