Arizona 4a

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 21

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 24/11/1991

PLACE OF BIRTH: Ogden , Utah

GENDER: Female

ETHNICITY: Navajo

OCCUPATION: Student

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Fine Arts

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

The speaker lived in Page, Arizona and Riverside, California for short periods of time.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Born in Ogden Utah but raised on the Navajo Nation’s Tonalea in Coconino, Arizona. Speaks English and Navajo.

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

RECORDED BY: Micha Espinosa

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/11/2012

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH:

TRANSCRIBED BY:

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY):

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:
I am from Black Mesa Arizona. It’s on the Navajo reservation. I grew up with my grandma. I was raised by her — I went to boarding school until eighth grade and then I actually went to boarding school for, uh, until my sophomore year of high school and then to public school. I have a little brother and older brother and an older sister who was also raised by my grandma. My mom had to work and so that’s why she raised us and on the reservation I learned to herd sheep, uh, grow plants, haul water, chop woods, and do like — well my chores were chopping woods, bringing in woods, getting coal, and building a fire and taking out the ash and it would be like that (recording unintelligible) it was totally hard … everyone helped out and, well, in the winter my brothers would do it. Since they’re here and I would be inside. My grandmother would teach me how to make bread but I never wanted to learn to make bread because I think it’s hard and I don’t want to. So, my brothers had to learn to make bread. My sister didn’t learn to make bread till she got a boyfriend. And I still don’t know how to make bread. I know how to butcher a sheep and sorry… um, my grandma is 86 years old now and still walks. She try’s to, I don’t know, she tries to walk like she’s not hurt cause she broke her arm and her – she has like screws here in her legs but she still tries to walk straight. But only when I’m around I know she like just like relaxes in her walks and…. my little brother goes to the school I go to now. He goes to Shonto. Oh, no he doesn’t now. He goes to Kayenta High School, Monument Valley High School. That’s the name of it. I never went to that school.
Espinosa: Do you speak another language?
I speak Najavo and that is all. I know a phrase in Lakota.
Espinosa: Could you speak a little of the language for us.
Transcription in Navajo not available.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Micha Espinosa

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/11/2012

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

TRANSCRIBED BY:

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY):

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:
A primary feature of this donor’s dialect includes a strong acoustic patterning or upward lilt at the ends of sentences and also within a vowel. A good example of this is on the “school”.  The donor takes a ride upward on this single monophong.  Another musical feature to listen for is the contrast in vowel length as Navajo is a tonal language. The coronal heavy articulation or posture of this dialect create a post – alveolar produced [s] and [t], a tight r-colouration (tongue has more tension than general American), and a dentalization of [θ] and [ð].  All substitutions come out of the strong position and therefore are not consistent.  Note, the pluralizing of the word “wood.”

COMMENTARY BY: Micha Espinosa

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/11/2012

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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