Florida 22

Listen to Florida 22, a 27-year-old man from Sarasota, Florida, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

Both as a courtesy and to comply with copyright law, please remember to credit IDEA for direct or indirect use of samples. IDEA is a free resource; please consider supporting us.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 27

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1997

PLACE OF BIRTH: Sarasota, Florida

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: White/Caucasian

OCCUPATION: IT engineer

EDUCATION: trade/vocational school

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

The subject was born and raised in Sarasota, which is in southwest Florida, south of Tampa. He speaks English and conversational Hebrew. He has also lived in Atlanta, Georgia, from 2016 to 2019, and Cherry Hill, New Jersey (part of the greater Philadelphia area), from May 2019 to December 2019. He briefly returned to Sarasota and lived there until January 2020, when he moved to Westford, Massachusetts (in the Greater Boston area), where he lived until April 2021, when he moved back to New Jersey, where he lived in the Town of Boonton (Morris County), West Orange (Essex County), and currently Bradley Beach (Monmouth County).

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject has mostly retained his native Florida dialect, with words such as “horrible,” “Orange,” and “Florida” being pronounced differently than the expected pronunciations in the region where the speaker currently resides. The speaker’s spouse, who is from Pennsylvania, is mentioned in the speaker’s personal story.

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

RECORDED BY: Benjamin Kleinberg (subject)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/08/2025

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 Sarasota, Florida, and I grew up there my whole life. And, um, it’s kind of interesting because, uh, for those who don’t know where Sarasota is, it’s on the west coast of Florida, about sixty miles south of Tampa. And pretty much anyone you meet there these days is from another state. There really aren’t (if, I’ve, I mean) I mean, I don’t live there anymore. I’ve lived in Jersey, New Jersey, for about six years now. And, um, but it was a very quaint, sleepy Gulf-side town when I was growing up there. Now, of course, it’s been built up and, sadly, sort of looks like [sighs] a little overdeveloped, uh, like parts of Miami do, unfortunately.

But, um, I always found, uh, two things interesting after I met my wife, who’s from Pennsylvania. And that’s how we pronounce the words, uh – for me, they’re pronounced “HOR-RER” and “OR-RANGE,” whereas my wife who’s – like I said – from Pennsylvania, she says, uh, “HOH-RER” and “AW-RANGE.” And, as someone who, um, can speak, can mimic multiple dialects, um, even though I’m in the IT industry, um, I’ve retained my Florida accent, and, uh, even though I’ve lived in multiple areas, including Boston and Atlanta, and, um, also a little bit around the New York City area, um, you know, I still retain the Florida dialect. And, um, you know, they, they find it a little interesting that I say “FLOOR-I-DA” instead of “FLAR-I-DA,” which is how they expect you to pronounce it up here. Most people around here, that is.

Um, but it’s, uh, yeah, but Sarasota was a nice place to grow up. Uh, people said – it definitely is still somewhat of a paradise to me, you know, when you go to Siesta Key, but, sadly, there’s quite a few losses, um, mainly with, um, the loss of its agricultural roots, and, um, and all, so, um. You know, it’s a city that, you know, holds a special place in my heart, but, um, you know, it’s, it’s changed, uh, quite a bit since I was born, I can tell you that much, so …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Benjamin Kleinberg (subject)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/08/2025

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):

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.