Texas 8

Listen to Texas 8, a 60-year-old man from Amarillo and Austin, Texas, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 60

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1940

PLACE OF BIRTH: Amarillo, Texas

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: hair stylist

EDUCATION: college

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

In 1973, the subject moved from the Panhandle to Austin, Texas, where he has lived since.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: Pamela Christian

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/05/2001

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

So, like I say, it was very conservative, and (uh) well, I don- … Well, you’re just, just a conservative place to grow up. Y’know, it was (uh) … There wa’n’t a whole lot of (uh) weird stuff goin’ on then like there are now. And (uh) I can re-remember later on, when drugs started being rather more prevalent. Course only things we had there basically were (uh) — was (uh) marijuana. That was the new thing, when that first started becoming more popular an’ everything. [Interviewer: And you moved to Austin?] In 1973, yes. An’ was fort’nate enough to ge– to get in with this real good salon. People are very kind to me, and gracious. I love — I just got — I just got real good karma when I hit the city limits. Y’know, just somethin’ about this area that just– I just felt real comfortable. There’s only other one place I’ve ever felt this way, an’ that was in Santa Fe, which you jus- … There’s just somethin’ unique about this place. I don’t know what it is. Mostly the people, I guess perhaps. Yes. [Interviewer: What are some of the favorite shows you’ve worked on as a hair, as a hair specialist?] “Le Cage,” I adored. (Uh) [Interviewer: What’d you like about “La Cage”?] It was just so flamboyant, an’ it was so (uh) — it was ju– just su– such a real (uh) — it was just kind of exciting to do. It was just so — it was so beautiful, so upbeat. It’s just ev’rything. [Interviewer: And so now you’re not workin’ anymore, in theatre?] No, I’m working almost exclusively at my, at my place of employment, which I like. I really don’t have time to do much el– I would like to get inta some volunteer work an’ s– which I’ve done on occasion, but I stay pretty busy at my work, an’ then, y’know, maintaining a home an’ all this stuff an’ — it just takes your time. [Interviewer: So, with this home, what are your plans?] Well, number one, (uh) I/we plan on staying here, and that means that we will have to do some maintenance around here. Some (uh) — a lotta cosmetic things, along with the other things that really need to be done, y’know, we’ve had a new roof put on and ev’rything. A new metal roof; they’re quite expensive, y’know? And (uh) have to lay some tile and so forth. The yard needs to get a little landscaping done on that. Ev’ything. [Interviewer: Do you garden?] I do. I’m into container gardening. I wish I would ’a’ discovered that several years ago, ’cause it’s a quite simple matter, when you, y’know, container gardening. I’ takes kind of a little knack for that. ’t’s not as messy, and it’s much, much more. …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jacqueline Baker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 20/07/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

This subject has retained the dialect of the North Texas area, typified by sound placement and resonance in the nasal cavity. Voice placement of subject resonates in nasal cavity, a characteristic of the dialect from the Panhandle region of Texas, where he was raised. Words are alternately elongated and collapsed. There’s a melodic quality to this voice, punctuated by the regular, and sometimes percussive, collapsing of words. Long “i” sound opens strongly to the “ah,” as in l[ah]fe, pr[ah]mary. Short “u” is elongated in words like drugs, upbeat, and but. The “r” is quite hard as in fair, cure, adored, and here. The word tune is voiced with the liquid “u.” Certain monophthongs become glides. Note: on, adore, porridge, work. Special pronunciations: there, thing, choice. Word collapses and elisions: diagnosis, expensive, millionaire, very, conservative, sentimental, medicine, little, accessible, veterinary.

COMMENTARY BY: Pamela Christian

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/05/2001

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).

 

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