Missouri 24

Listen to Missouri 24, a 53-year-old woman from St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 53

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/10/60

PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: African-American

OCCUPATION: nurse

EDUCATION: high school plus trade school

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

The subject has never lived outside the St. Louis area.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY:  Paula Cavanaugh Carter

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY):  09/09/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: 

wɛɹ hiɹz ə stoɹi fɝ ju, seɹə pɛɹi wʌz ɛn vɛtɛneɹi nɝs hu hæd bɪn wɝkɪn dejli æt ɪn old zu ɪn e dizɝdɪd dɛstɪni ʌv teɹɪtoɹi, so ʃi wʌz veɹi hæpi tu stoɹt hɝ nu d͡ʒab æʔt e sʌpɝb pɹaivɪt pɹæktɪs ɪn noɹθ skweɹ niɹ ðə dʌk ʃtɹit tawʊɹz. ðæt eɹi’ wʌz so mʌt͡ʃ niɹː foɹ hɝ æn moɹ tu hɝ laikiŋz. ivɪn so ʌpoʌn hɝ fɝs moɹnɪn ʃi fɛlt stɹɛs. ʃi eʔt e bol ʌv poɹɪt͡ʃ, t͡ʃɛkt hɝsɛlf ɪn nə miɹʌ æn waʃt hɝ fes ɪn ə hʌɹi. ðɪn ʃi pʊt e pleiɲ jɛlo ʒɹɛs æn e fliːtɪd ʒækɪt, pɪkt ʌp hɝɹ kɪt æn hɛdɪʔ foɹ wɝk. wɪɲ ʃi gat ðʌɹ, ðeɹ wəz e wʊmɪɲ wɪt͡ʃ e guːs weitɪŋ foɹ hɝɹ. guːs weitɪŋ foɹ hɝɹ! ðə wʊmɪn sev seɹə æn ɔfɝ ledɝ fɹʌm ðə vɛt. ðə lɛdɝ ɪmplaid ðɛt ðə ænɪmʌlz kud bi sʌfɹɪn fɹʌm e ɹeɹ foɹm ʌv fit æn mauθ dɪziːz, wɪt͡ʃ wʌz e sɛpɹaiz bikʌz nomli ju wʊd onli ɪkspɛk tu si ɪt ɪn e dɔg oɹ e got. seɹə wʌz sɛnəmɛnəl, so ʃi meid hɝ fil soɹi foɹ biudɪfʊl bɝz. bɪfoɹ lɔoŋ, ðæt ɪt͡ʃ gʊs bɪgæn tu skɹæt͡ʃ eɹaund ðə ɔfɪs laik e lunətɪk, wɪt͡ʃ med æn ʌnsæniteɹi mɛs. ðə gusɝ ownz meɹi heɹɪsɪn, kɛp kɔlɪn, “kʌmæɲ, kʌmæɲ,” wɪt͡ʃ seɹə ðuʔ wʌz ðə old t͡ʃois fɝɹ e neim. kʌmæɲ wʌz e ʃtɹaoŋ æn hʌg, so ɪt wʊd tek sʌm tam tu fes ðə t͡ʃɹæk hɝ. bʌʔ seɹə hæd e dɪfɹɪnt aidiə. fɝs ʃi t͡ʃɹaid ʒɪntɪli stɔkiŋ nə guːs lowɝ bæk wɪt͡ʃ hɝ pam, ðɪn siŋ æn tɝn tu hɝ. fainli ʃi ʌmɪtɪd iθɝ. ɪn no taim də guːs bɪgæn tu taiɹ so seɹə wʌz eibul tu hoːd intu kʌmæn. ʃi gev hɝ ə ɹilæks bæθ. wʌɲs seɹə hæd mænɪʒ ðə boθ ðə guːs, ʃi waipt hɝ ɔf… wɪθ e klɔθ æn laid hɝ ɔun hɝ ɹait said. ðɪn seɹə kʌnfɛɝmd ðæt də vɛt daɪgnosɪs, aɔlso imidili ʃi ɹimeind æn ifɛktɪt tɪmpɝɹmɪnt ðæt ɹikwaiɝd hɝ tu mɛʒʊɹ aut e lat ʌv mɛdɪsɪn. seɹə woɹnd ðæt ðɪs koɹs t͡ʃɹiʔtmɪnts mait bi ɪspɪnsɪv, iðɝ faiv oɹ sɪks taimz ðə kaɔst ʌv pɪnɪsɪlɪn. ai kein nat ɪmæʒɪn pejɪn so mʌt͡ʃ , bʌt mɪsɪs hʌ’sɪn, e mijʌneɹ loijəz, loijɝ θɹu ɪt wʌz tu bi feɹ pɹais ʌv koɹs.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paula Cavanaugh Carter

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 09/09/2014

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born at, uh, City Number 1, St. Louis, Missouri … uh, downtown. In the projects. Born and raised there.

[Subject gives her take on the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri]: We made the news. Uh, a young man got shot. To me, I really couldn’t discuss it with nobody because I felt the young man was in the wrong. The cop wasn’t doin’ nothin’ but doin’ his job. If he wouldn’t a’ been where he was at at the time, this would never happen. So I came to my pastor, an’ I just told the pastor, “This is MY take of it: The young man would not be dead if he wasn’t doin’ what he was doin’.” OK, you could say your child is this and your child is that, but once they outta your face, you don’t know what your child is doin’. You can’t SAY what that man was doin’ when he wasn’t in front o’ you, Mama; you cannot say that.

I mean, come on, he might not need to be shot in the head two or three times, BUT – he brought that on his self; he made his bed, he got to lie in it. YOU put that officer in that predictament [sic]. Why would you go to his car? If you in the middle o’ the street, why did you go to the car? You got what you deser – I mean come on, you aks’d for it. You get killed for $43. Two boxes o’ cigarillos. OK, they bof’ was wrong. But the man was doin’ his job. And I, I’m … I cannot take nothin’ back what I’m sayin’. And that’s just how I – just how I am, I don’t discriminate; if you wrong, you wrong! You didn’t have to bring all o’ that, them, uh, guards, and all o’ that, that didn’t – you only made the pot worser. You only – you only put more fire – logs in the fire. You didn’t hep the situation — you made it worse.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paula Cavanaugh Carter 

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 09/09/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Subject’s mispronunciation of several words in the scripted speech is likely due to her reading comprehension rather than her dialect. She would likely pronounce some of these words differently in casual, unwritten speech.

COMMENTARY BY: Cameron Meier

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/09/2014

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