Ontario 32

Listen to Ontario 32, a 43-year-old woman from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 43

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1965

PLACE OF BIRTH: Toronto, Ontario

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian of Greek ancestry

OCCUPATION: administrative assistant

EDUCATION: career college certification

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

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: John Fleming

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 27/01/2009

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Now, thinking, like, when I was a kid, and how I’m actually really looking forward to Superbowl weekend.  ’Cause when my brother and I; um, every Superbowl we get together, ’cause from when we were little kids, my brother always loved the Dallas Cowboys, and so just to upset him, I loved the Pittsburgh Steelers.  And, and, every Superbowl, I had no idea what was going on, but my father always got us a bucket of chicken, and a big bottle of Coke, and we used to watch.  So now every year since then, I see my brother every Superbowl, and then this year is especially fun for me – Go Steelers! – that, um, um, it’s just always a party, so … and it always seems to be, sort of, you know, somebody will come; they’ll bring their kids, and (th) before I know it, I’ve got forty people milling about, just watching football, and like, not leaving ’til, like, midnight.  And, um, I still have to work, [laughs] and they all have to work the next day.  Uh, no, it’s just a fun time, and, and, I’ve learned a lot about football, so I love football now.  But, um, no, it’s just especially fun, to, to sit with my brother, after all these years, and it’s like the one day where, where, we just, we, we, we get along beautifully, but this is the one day where we always fight, and scream, and yell at each other.  And then it’s fine.

TRANSCRIBED BY: John Fleming

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 27/01/2009

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The PRICE lexical set undergoes “Canadian raising” before a voiceless consonant but not before a voiced consonant (e.g., “price” but not “pride”).  The MOUTH lexical set also undergoes “Canadian raising” before a voiceless consonant but not before a voiced consonant (e.g., “mouth” but not “around”).   The DRESS lexical set is quite open (e.g., “dress, vet”).  Final /r/ is generally quite heavy, and back in the mouth, especially when compared to medial or initial /r/ (e.g., “superb” vs, “private” and “practice,” or “Steelers” vs, “Superbowl”).  This heavy /r/ is especially apparent in the r-colored diphthongs (e.g., “sorry, force”).  Medial /t/ is tapped intervocalically or replaced completely with a glottal (e.g., “football, beautifully”).  Notable pronunciations include “palm” [pɑ̠ːm], “cure” and “diagnosis.” (The features of the dialect of mainstream English speakers in Ontario can be heard at Professor Eric Armstrong’s Website. Ontario 32 is featured as sample number 32 on that page.)

COMMENTARY BY: John Fleming

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 27/01/2009

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