Scotland 22

Listen to Scotland 22, an 80-year-old woman from Tiree and Glasgow, Scotland. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 80

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/03/1934

PLACE OF BIRTH: Glasgow, Scotland

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Scottish/Caucasian

OCCUPATION: retired

EDUCATION: highers

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The speaker was born and raised in Glasgow but considers herself a “Tirisdeach” (native of Tiree). She spent every holiday, including long weekends, and two years during World War 2 with relatives on the Isle of Tiree. At the time of this recording, she had been living permanently on Tiree for 30 years.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject is bilingual in Gaelic and English. She married (her husband came from Mull), worked and raised her family in Glasgow, still spending regular holidays on Tiree. An active member of the (Glasgow-based) Tiree Association for all of her working life, and an award-winning Gaelic singer, she has also been instrumental in developing the Gaelic Drama section of the Royal National Mòd.

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

RECORDED BY: Flloyd Kennedy

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/08/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH:

[Partial transcription]: wɛl | hɪɚz̥ ə ˈstɵ̜˞i fɔ̟˞ jʊ ‖ ˈse̝ɾʌ ˈpɛ̝ɾɪ̞̟̟̞ wəs ɐ ˈvɛtɾn̩ɾi s nʌ˞s hu̜ hʌd̚ bɪn ˈwʌɾkiŋ de̝ˑɪʎi ɐt æ̞n old̚ z̥u ɪn ə dɪˈzɛɾtd̩ ˈdɪstɾɪkt ɑ̹v̥ ðə̞ ˈt^hɛɾɪ̠ˌtɾi ‖ so ʃi̽ wz ˈvɛ̝ɾɪ ˈhapeɪ t̚ staɾt^h ə nju̜ dʒɒb̥^h æ̞t ə sʊpɛɾb̚ ˈpɹaɪvət̚ pɾæk̚tɪ̽s ën nɒ̝ɾθ skwɛə˞ …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Flloyd Kennedy

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/08/2014

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was actually born in Glasgow, eh, in the house that I lived in until I got married at the age of twenty-four. However, during the war I spent couple of years up here with my grandmother and my grandfather because children were evacuated at that time because of the war, but rather than be evacuated in, uh, a crowd of children, my mother took me up to Tiree where we spent the two years with my grandparents. This was a fantastic experience and, eh, really formed the way I thought for the rest of my life. From then on, after I went back to Glasgow, I always considered myself to be an Tirisdeach. Now a Tirisdeach is the Gaelic word for a person from Tiree. I never, ever said I came from Glasgow. I always said I came from Tiree.

The first cruise I ever did was to the Caribbean, and we flew out to the Caribbean, had a week’s cruising in the Cunard Countess and then flew back. That really did give me a taste for it. But later on I decided it was better not to fly first of all, just to sail direct. My second cruise was on the famous QE II, and that was fantastic. She was a beautiful ship but a bit old-fashioned. My cabin wasn’t very satisfactory on her, and after that particular cruise she – the QE II – went in for a re-fit, and they converted my cabin into a cupboard, a storage cupboard. So, eh – [laughs] – and that is actual fact. After that I done very many different cruises, and I’d preferred – of all the cruise lines I’d been on, I preferred P&O; I really liked P&O. And my favorite ship of them all was the Oriana. I just, just loved the Oriana; she’s was just the right size and a really nice atmosphere, fantastic crew, fantastic entertainment …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Flloyd Kennedy

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/08/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Tiree has a distinctive dialect, as do all the islands of the inner and outer Hebrides. There are, however, similarities between all the Island and Highland accents. The subject’s accent is more Glasgow-inflected Tiree than the other way around.

Oral posture is high jaw, with very little obvious facial movement and minimal but extremely efficient lip-pursing movement. /s/ and /ʃ/ are very close; I believe the tongue tip for /s/ is curved down.

COMMENTARY BY: Flloyd Kennedy

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/08/2014

The archive provides:

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