Dominican Republic 1

Listen to Dominican Republic 1, a 23-year-old woman from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 23

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 26/03/1990

PLACE OF BIRTH: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: N/A

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: master’s degree

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject had lived nowhere other than the Dominican Republic until moving to Lawrence, Kansas, to attend the University of Kansas three months before she contributed her voice to IDEA.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject reports a very early start in acquiring English, under the tutelage of her father, who believed it an important skill.

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

RECORDED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/11/2013

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 Santo Domingo in the beautiful island, ah, that the Dominican Republic occupied the half of this island; ah, we are right … we share the island with Haiti, and it’s [unclear] is in between Cuba and the, er, and Puerto Rico. South of us is Jamaica. Ah, I was raised on a quiet neighborhood that was thirty minutes away from the nearest beach, so I get to go to the beach a lot growing up, and my p… my dad, er, is a minister from … he works with a local church, and my mom works for a non-profit organization. So, ah, since I remember, I was involved on community projects and help her, uh, with all the education part when I was a teenager, so that’s how I and enter to [unclear] education and decide to become a teacher.

[Subject then speaks the following in Spanish]:
Vengo de la Republica Dominicana. Mi isla esta hubicada en el caribe, entre Cuba y Puerto Rico. Nuestro clima es tropical y estamos rodeados de preciosas playas. Vine a Kansas University con la intencion de hacer mi maestria en educacion especial para contribuir con el desarrollo de la educacion de mi pais.

[English translation provided by and read by the subject]: I come from the Dominican Republic. My island in the Caribbean, between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Our climate is tropical, and we are surrounded by beautiful beaches. I came to KU with the intention of doing my master’s in special education to contribute to the development of the education in my country.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 18/11/2013

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

The following is a narrow transcription of the first two phrases of the subject’s unscripted speechː

aɪ wɒ̜z bɔ˞ i santʰŏ̜ domiŋgŏ | ɪn ðᵈə bʉɾɪfʊ ʔaislan ʔa dad də dəminikʰŋ̩ ɹĭpʰɒblikʰ akʰʉpʰaɪdɪ haf

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 18/11/2013

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Among the many interesting features to be heard in this subject’s speech, almost all conform to my analysis of Spanish-accented English as expressed in my Spanish accent booklet/CD or eBook.  See http://www.paulmeier.com/product/spanish/.

A few highlightsː

• • Languid terminal  consonants as in born in, Dominican, raised, neighborhood, local, part.

• • STRUT words employ [ɒ] as in Republic.

• • KIT words employ [i] as in born in, Republic.

• • /th/ realized as [dᶞ] or [tᶿ] as in that, these, south, thirty.

• • [t͡ʃ] sounds rendered as [ʃ] as in beach,  teacher.

• • GOAT words employ [o].

• • [d͡ʒ] sounds, as in teenager, sometimes rendered as [ɣ].

• • /v/ sometimes rendered as [b] as in involved.

At the same time, the subject demonstrates mastery, with lapses, of many features of English pronunciation.  For exampleː

• She uses aspiration on [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] for the most part.
• She rarely mispronounced [h].
• She never trills her /r/ sounds and has command over the approximant [ɹ].

COMMENTARY BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 18/11/2013

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.