Italy 6

Listen to Italy 6, a man in his 20s from Milan and Valsolda, Italy. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 20s

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1970s

PLACE OF BIRTH: Milan, Italy

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Italian

OCCUPATION: graduate student

EDUCATION: university degree

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

The subject was born in  Milan and grew up in Valsolda, close to the Swiss border. He then moved back to Milan before spending time in Pisa for military service. At the time of recording, he was at the University of Kansas, in the United States.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject began studying English in high school with a British professor. While in Valsolda, he was able to practice English with people from Germany, Britain, and The Netherlands.

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

RECORDED BY: Emily Beste (under the supervision of Paul Meier)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/03/2001

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 Milan, one of the biggest city in Italy. It’s situated, located in the very northern part of Italy, and it’s like mostly industrial city in the northern part. After a few years in Milan, I moved to Valsolda. It is a lovely place close to Lugana Lake, very close to the Swiss border. I grew up there for a long time and then I moved back to It-, to there … Milan to study as an engineer aerospace engineer. After I’ve been studying there for four years; there I moved to Pisa to do my, uh, one-year, uh, military service, and after that I worked for one year again in Milan in, in an aerospace company. While I was working, I decided to move to Kansas to keep studying and have my master’s degree in aerospace engineering here. And I’m here since August 2000. I think I will stay here until May 2002. Lawrence, it’s a quite a nice place, you know, I was used to Milan so Lawrence … I … doesn’t feel all that much to me. But it’s OK. I can, I can live here for two years. No more than two years. OK, uh, I wasn’t a typical student, uh, usually, uh not lots of people at my age know, knows English very well. Uh, I don’t know English very well too, but I studied for eleven years. I started studying at, uh … you call it secondary level. It, so yes … and for the first three years I haven’t learned all that much because, again, it was not in Italian mind to learn English all that well. I’ve been very lucky at the high school I met this professor. She was from England, so with her I learned a lot, real lot. After five years of, uh, learning English with her I was speaking a very British, English with a British accent. I don’t know it may sound funny right now listening me, but it’s true. And, uh, after that I well, I, well I used to live in Valsolda, as I said. We have a very nice lake, and I work in a camp in a as a lifeguard so for three summers. So I had the possibility to talk with German people, English people, people from Netherlands. So I could practice it a lot. And my, I love English and also have put lots of effort in it because aerospace that there official language all around the world. So, that’s a my experience with it. [Subject recites the Lord’s Prayer in Italian, with one sentence missing: PADRE NOSTRO CHE SEI NEI CIELI SIA SANTIFICATO IL TUO NONE VENGA IL TUO REGNO SIA FATTA LA TUA VOLONTA COSI IN CIELO COME IN TERRA DACCI OGGI IL NOSTRO PANE QUOTIDIANO E RIMETTI A NOI I NOSTRI DEBITI COME NOI LI RIMETTIAMO AI NOSTRI DEBITORI NON CI INDURRE IN TENTAZIONE E LIBERACI DALE MALE. AMEN.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Emily Beste (under the supervision of Paul Meier)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/03/2001

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

If you are a dialect researcher, or an actor using this sample to develop your skill in the accent, please see my instruction manual at www.paulmeier.com. As the speaker in this sample is a unique individual, it is highly unlikely that he will conform to my analysis in every detail. But you will find it interesting and instructive to notice which of my “signature sounds” and “additional features” (always suggested only as commonly heard features of the accent) are widely used by most speakers of the accent, and which are subject to variation from individual to individual.

COMMENTARY BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 22/10/2016

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