Texas 1

Listen to Texas 1, a 76-year-old woman from San Marcos, Texas, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 76

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1924

PLACE OF BIRTH: San Marcos, Texas

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: retired university employee

EDUCATION: high school diploma and some college

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: Micha Espinosa

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/11/2000

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

(Uh) This is (oh) — it’s just a jail delivery that we (uh) — when we went through the (uh), the Heritage Association’s tour, this last year, (uh) we obtained copy of this. And (uh) this — I remember when my grandparents (uh), who had a farm of about a hundred and fifty acres down at Staples, and my grandfather built a home there, and they lived there for over 80 years. And (uh), anyway, I recall them talking about (uh) this incident, because (oh, oh) after their crops were in each year an’ everything, they deposited their money in the bank here. And (oh) this happened on a — I think on a — well, it says here a Thursday evening. (Uh) We were under the impression for the longest time that it was (um) — maybe (um, oh) Sunday, when they were all in church. But anyway, somebody broke into the jail an’ took all the money. They got in there an’ they robbed the bank, literally robbed it, and (um)… [Interviewer: What year was this?] (Uh) Well, this, this is dated (uh) Saturday, June 13th, 1874. And (oh) I don’t know what, what year this was, but I was about gro– I was born in 1924, and (oh) I recall my grandparents talkin’ about this, an’ they never trusted a bank after that. They hid their money on their farm down there in, in special places [laughs] and (um) — But anyway (um) i–it just (um) — kind of (um) [pause] outline of something that happened at that jailbreak, an’ d’you wanna copy of that? [Interviewer: Sure.]  Now, now what do we need to do here? This is some more information on the Bass Drugstore. This picture is — it’s dated (uh) 1928, and (uh) Bass’s Drugstore was very, very (um) important, very active, an’ they were a big business, so… drugs. And (uh) they had, of course, other things in their drugstore, but (uh, oh) — I’m not sure they (oh) — did they list the names here? No, the names are not listed there, but this was C.T. Bass and Sons. (Uh) He had (um) — I think there were four sons who helped him run the drugstore all those years. And (uh), course through the years, as he aged, Mr. Bass passed away. He was very active here in town, in everything, an’ so were his sons. (Um) Well, Henry Howell! There’s a picture of Henry Howell. Henry Howell was a very well known broadcaster with WAIN, San Antonio for years an’ years. An’ his sister lived here on (um, uh) West Hopkins. Well, it was kinda East Hopkins, where you turn to go on West Hopkins, and (uh) her name was Ellie Pearl Howell. And (uh) she taught my mother, an’ she taught me, an’ she taught my daughter. …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jacqueline Baker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 07/07/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

There are major and minor elongations to the vowels and a “characteristic pitch lilt” on the vowels. Also note that the diphthongs of “boy” and “time” almost drop their second stages. The vowel of “pen” becomes the vowel of “pin” when followed by a nasal consonant. The “r” is quite hard. Medial “t” becomes “t.” Final -ing is reduced. Resonance is focused in the soft palate. Note local pronunciations of “Buda” and “Aquarena.”

COMMENTARY BY: Micha Espinosa

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/11/2000

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