West Virginia 2

Listen to West Virginia 2, a woman in her 70s from Glen White and Crab Orchard, West Virginia, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 70s

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1920s

PLACE OF BIRTH: Glen White, West Virginia

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: retired homemaker

EDUCATION: N/A

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

The subject spent some time overseas during her husband’s military assignments.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: Lynn Watson

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/10/2000

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

[No unscripted speech was recorded.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject is the wife of West Virginia 1 and the mother of West Virginia 3. She grew up in the “coal camp” (as the company mining towns were called) of Glen White, West Virginia, and now lives in Crab Orchard, West Virginia. (Symbols based on SAMPA. For the SAMPA Website, see http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/index.html). Note [I] for [E]. [aI] shifts back towards [A] but is more closed. There is a general diphthongization and elongation of vowel sounds. Lip rounding and oral space are diminished. There is also a general centralization of vowels. Strong nasal resonance and strong “r-coloring” are characteristic of the dialect. Finally, note the consistent pronunciation of “cure” [kCU@r] in the three related West Virginia samples.

COMMENTARY BY: Lynn Watson

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/10/2000

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.