Virginia 5

Listen to Virginia 5, a 26-year-old man from Leesburg and Richmond, Virginia, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 26

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1979

PLACE OF BIRTH: Leesburg, Virginia

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: musician

EDUCATION: high school

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

The subject does not mention living anywhere but his birthplace of Leesburg, Virginia, and Richmond, Virginia, where he moved at age 19.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: Subject

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/06/2005

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in (um) Leesburg, Virginia, which is kind of in the northern Virginia region, (um) not too far from Washington, D.C. And (um) I — my — I had a pretty nice childhood, I would say. (Um) My mother passed away though, when I was 11, so it was kind of tumultuous an’ (um) I guess I was picked on pretty badly in school, but (um) other than that, it was pretty sheltered. I mean, I enjoyed (um) life, y’ know, (um) just exploring, an-and I was always getting into things. An’ my biggest passion, of course, was, was music, an’ performing. An’ I started that very early. So my parents encouraged me to, to do that. But (um) I remember some things like, y’ know, we used to walk down the Potomac River, with our dog Ollie, an’ we’d dig for softshell crabs, with our bare feet. And (uh) we’d take the crabs that we wanted an’ we’d cook it, and (um) oh, goodness, it was such a nice way to spend a summer day. (Um) Also in, in Loudoun, there’s lots of horses, an’, yeah, I, I started riding pretty early. (Um) I’d say about 11 or 12, an’ I got my first horse, Virginia, when I was 13. An’ she was a beautiful (uh) black mare with a white star on her forehead. She was a thoroughbred, an’ (um) — an’ so I, I enjoyed that pretty much. (Um) Ev’ryone kept me goin’, ’cause (um) I didn’ have m-much in the way of friends. And (uh) it was neat to be out in the country. We moved out to the country when I was 15. (Um) In the western part of the county in Philomont. We rented (uh) an old farmhouse on the — on the top of a large hill. An’ you had to be in good shape, because walking an’ climbing up that hill was — was quite a task. (Um) We had to ’liver — (Um) We didn’ have any running water down at the barns, so we had to — the — carry the water ourselves. An’ eventually we had to get another horse, ’cause you can’t keep a horse alone, ’cause, y’ know, they go crazy if you keep ’em alone, so… But that was fun, and then finally, when I was 18, after high school, we just moved to Richmond, my mother’s hometown, my late mother’s hometown. An’ Richmond was quite an experience. It’s a lot differen’, y’ know, then– then the country. It, it’s urban environment, and (um) I had never lived in the big city before, but it really helped me get that, y’ know, make a nice start, y’ know. ’Cause with the music ’n’– I’ll — An’ so I, I’ve been in Richmond for the last seven years, jus’ playing music an’ writing like I was before, and (uh) hopefully I’ll get that hit record that I need. (Uh) I don’ know if that’ll ever happen but …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jacqueline Baker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 24/07/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

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

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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