New York 1

Listen to New York 1, a 39-year-old woman from Mt. Vernon, New York, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

Both as a courtesy and to comply with copyright law, please remember to credit IDEA for direct or indirect use of samples.  IDEA is a free resource; please consider supporting us.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 39

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1960

PLACE OF BIRTH: Mt. Vernon, New York

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: administrative assistant

EDUCATION: N/A

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

The subject grew up in Mt. Vernon, New York, lived briefly in New York City, and was living in Mamaroneck at the time of the recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject learned Dutch to speak to relatives, who are from the Netherlands. (While the audio quality of this recording is poor, it is a good example of many key New York sounds.)

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

RECORDED BY: Katherine Burke

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 10/1999

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Um, I take Dutch lessons because my father was born in Holland, and he, uh … When he met my mother, uh, in America, he came and lived here.  And so I still have, uh, quite a number of cousins and aunts and uncles in Holland.  And it’s very difficult when I go to visit them, because I can’t speak their language.  So, eh, in wanting to communicate with them, I decided to take Dutch lessons, and fortunately I was able to find someone in this area, who was, um … offered them.  And, um, I started about a year ago.  I take private lessons, uh, once a week.  Just about, you know, on and off.  In the summer I usually take vacation time.  And, uh, I really have, uh, come quite a long way.  [Laughs]  I still don’t speak anywhere near fluent, but it’s really fun because, um, I’m reading much better, I’m understanding much better, and I can call, on the telephone, and talk to my aunt in Dutch, and it’s really, uh, great fun.  And I think, especially because my dad died when I was 22, that, uh, this is a way for me to stay in connection with him.  And so it’s really nice for me to be able to do.  And, uh, I have a lot of fun doing it. …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jacqueline Baker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 02/10/2007

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.