Texas 24

Listen to Texas 24, a 52-year-old woman from Beaumont, Texas, and central Arkansas, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 52

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/12/1968

PLACE OF BIRTH: Beaumont, Texas

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Black American

OCCUPATION: college professor

EDUCATION: master’s degree in social services; currently pursuing a Ph.D

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

The subject lived in Texas until the end of high school. She moved to central Arkansas in 1991 and has been there since.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject manages a stutter.

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

RECORDED BY: Ben Corbett

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/02/2021

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

One day I was riding my bike for exercises I’ve done on many occasions down the rural highway that I live on. And I was riding along, and every once in a while I’ve a seen an animal, maybe a, um, a possum or a, a deer, or something like that. Well, this particular day I’m riding along and I’m singing and I’m meditating, and I hear noises. And then I think that it may be something dangerous, but I’m not sure. So I start riding faster and faster, and the faster I ride, I’m thinking that whatever it is, the animal is following me. And I was getting pretty close to home. So I started thinking, “If I could just get home, then I know I’ll be safe.” So I kept riding at top speed, and I kept hearing the noises in the rustling in the trees and, and in the grass. And as I got closer and closer to home, I realized that I was afraid of leaves that had caught onto my tire and they were rustling in the spokes. And I had made myself so deathly afraid, and it was just so hilarious, and I just laughed and laughed and laughed. The end!

[Note: The subject chose to tell a fictional story.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Ben Corbett

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 12/02/2021

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The consonant cluster [st] occasionally uses consonant [ʃ] (street).

The consonant [r] is not formed at the end or near the end of many words (mirror, closer, letter, tire, start).

Ending plosive consonants are often unformed (work, strut, and, first, old). The ending plosive [t] is sometimes replaced with a short glottal stop [ʔ] (that, jacket).

Ending -ing [ŋ] (TALKING) is sometimes formed as [n] (suffering, paying).

FACE [eɪ] words sometimes have a slightly low back tongue position, approaching [aɪ] PRICE diphthong (plain, dangerous).

PRICE [aɪ] words often form with [a] vowel (diagnosed, private, implied, idea, finally, time, required, realized, while, fine, time).

GOOSE [u] words are formed with a low tongue position and with extra emphasis (duke, goose, huge, who).

GOAT [oʊ] words are sometimes formed with a raised back tongue, suggesting MOUTH [aʊ] diphthong (home, only).

SOFT [ɒ] words are sometimes formed with a lengthened vowel. The lips may slightly round during the lengthening, adding a FOOT [ʊ] vowel (long, on).

DRESS [ɛ] vowel becomes KIT [ɪ in the word “then.”

KIT [ɪ] vowel becomes DRESS [ɛ] in the word “singing.”

The STRUT [ʌ] vowel is used as the first vowel in the word “woman.”

COMMENTARY BY: Ben Corbett

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 15/02/2021

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.