Sri Lanka 2

Listen to Sri Lanka 2, a 58-year-old man from Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 58

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 29/01/1956

PLACE OF BIRTH: Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

GENDER:  male

ETHNICITY:  Tamil-Canadian

OCCUPATION: director of public relations

EDUCATION: college

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

The subject has lived in Canada for 24 years.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: none

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

RECORDED BY: Joel Edmiston (under supervision of Eric Armstrong)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 16/06/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Recently, uh, we went to India, actually, mm, myself and my wife and my mother-in-law. Over there. And later we were joined by a couple of our friends. Uh, we toured around Kerala and Tamil Nadu, two southern states, uh, two beautiful southern states. Actually, Kerala was small, uh, beautiful when it comes to the greenery and — and the waterways and other things. Tamil Nadu also has lots to offer. Uh, the food was really great. And we started from Kerala, and we moved towards Tamil Nadu and on our way, we saw many temples — temples — uh, which were built in, uh, tenth century, sixteenth century, seventeenth century. Some were before that. Some — we were told that it was built, uh, three, four-thousand years back. But when you look at those structures, it’s marvelous beyond belief, because — how these people were able to build those — beautiful structures — ten, fifteen, twenty centuries before. Th — the engineering knowledge they had actually marveled us. Um, we really enjoyed those structure. And, also, the food was excellent. And we also did, uh, wonderful, uh, shopping I would call it — great shopping, I would call it in Chennai. That’s the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southern state, or one of the populous and one of the most industrious states in India.  Uh, variety of things, especially when it comes to south Indian clothes — Indian clothes, uh, generally. Things like sari and others were, um; we had variety of choices. And also the price was, uh, hard to beat. I mean, uh, very inexpensive prices. And the same sari might cost maybe four to five times in Canada if you want to buy that in Canada. So it was a great bargain for us. Uh, so we enjoyed that shopping as well. From there, we flew to Delhi and, uh, we were in Delhi for three days. We toured around Delhi and we also went to see the — the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders. Uh, all-in-all, it was a very memorable — memorable vacation for us.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Joel Edmiston (under supervision of Eric Armstrong)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/06/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

ˈɹisɪnlɨ ɜ wi ˈwɛntu ˈɪ̝ndiʌ ˈæktʃuli ‖ ʌm əm ˈmɑɪ̯səɫf ən mɑɪ̯ w̞ɑɪ̯f ɛm | maɪ̯ ˈmʌðɚr ɪn lɒ | ˈɒvɘ deə̯ ənd ˈleːtɘ ʋi ʋɚ dʒɒɪ̯ːnd bɑɪ̯ ə ˈkɒpləv̥ɑː fɹɛnd̥s ‖ ɜ wi tuə̯d əˈɹɑʊ̯nd̚ ˈkʰeə̯ɹəlʌ ən ˈt˭amɪl ˈnaɾə t˭u ˈsʌdən steɪ̯ts | ɜˑ tu ˈbjuˑdɪfʊl ˈsʌðən stet̚ | ˈæktʃʊlɨ ˈkʰeə̯ɹəlʌ wɒs smɔˑɫ ‖ ɜː ˈbjudɪfʊl wɛn ɪt kʌmz̥ tuː də ˈgɹinəˌɹi æn æːn di ˈwɒtə wiːz ɛnː ˈʌðə tɪŋz̥ ‖ ɘˑ ˈt˭amɪl ˈnaɾu ˈɒlsoʊ̯hɛz lɒts tu ˈɒfɘ ‖ əˑ də fud ʋʌz ɹiˑlɨ ɡɹeˑt ‖ ɛˑn wi ˈstɑːɾəd fɹɒm ˈkʰeə̯ɹəlʌ an vi mud twʊə̯˞ds ˈtaml̩ ˈnaɾu ‖ ɛn ɒn ɑː w̞ɛɪ vi sɑ ˈmenɨ ˈtæmpɫ | ˈtɛˑmpl̩s | ʌˑ wɪtʃ wə bɪɫt ɪn ə tɛnt̚ ˈsɛntʃʊə̯ɹi | sɪksˈtin ˈsɛntʃʊə̯ɹɨ | ˈsɛvəntin ˈsɛntʃʊə̯rɨ ‖ sʌm ʋɜ biˈfɔə̯ ðæt ‖ sʌmf mː wi wɜ tɔʊ̯ɫd ðæt ɪt̚ vɒz̥ bɪɫt ə tɹ̥i fɔˑ ˈθaʊ̯zənd jɪəz̥ bæk ‖ bʌt vən ju lʊk ɛt ðɔs ˈstɹʌktʃəs ɪts ˈmɑ̙ːvələs̬ biˈjɒ̙nd bə̙ˈɫif bəˈkɒs | hɑʊ̯ ðiz ˈp˭ipɫ̩ və ˈʔebɫ̩ tu bɪɫ dɔʊ̯sː s ˈbjuˑt˭ɪ̝fʊl ˈstɹɒktʃəs | tɛn ˈfɪftin ˈtwɛntɨ ˈsɛntʃʊɹiz biˈfɔː ‖ ʌː də də di ənˈdʒɪ̝niə̯ɹɪŋˑ ʌ ˈnɑlɪdʒ̊ ðeɪ hɛˑd ə ˈaˑktʃəlɨ ˈmɑ̙ʋɫ̩d ʌs ‖ əm ʋə ˈɹɪ̝ɫɨ ənˈdʒɒɪ̯d dɔʊ̯z̥ ˈstɹɒktʃəz̥ ən ˈaˑɫsɔʊ̯ ðʌ fud vʌz ˈɛˑk̚sələnt ‖ æ̞ːnd wi ˈaˑsɔʊ̯ dɪd ə ˈwɒndəfʊl m ˈʃɑpɪ̝ŋ aɪ wʊ ˈkɑl ɪɾ | ə ɡɹet ˈʃɑpɪŋ aɪ̯ wʊd ˈkɑl ɪt ɪn ˈtʃenaɪ̯ | dæts də ˈk˭æpɪtɫ̩ ˈsɪɾɨ ʌf ˈt˭amɪl ˈnɑdu ɜ də ˈsʌðən stet ‖ ɔ wʌn ə ðə ˈpɒpjuləz ən wʌn ə ðʌ mɔʊ̯st ɪnˈdʌstriˌəs steˑts ɪn ˌɪnˈdi.ɘ ‖ ʌːʊˑ ˌvaˈɹa.ət˭ɨ əf t˭ɪŋz | ˈspeʃəlɨ ʋɛn ɪt kʌms tu sɑʊ̯θ ˈɪndiɪnˑ klɔʊ̯z | ˈɪndiɪn klɔʊ̯z ʌ ˈdʒn̩ɹɪlɨ ‖ ʌ t˭ɪŋz lɑɪ̯k ˈsɑɹɨ ɛn ˈʌdəz wɜ əmː ‖ wi hɛd ˌvɛɚˈɛɪ̯əɾɨ əv ˈtʃɒɪ̯səz̥ ən ˈɒɫsɔ ðə pɹɑɪ̯s wʌs ɜː ˈhɑˑ ɾu biˑt ‖ ɑɪ̯ ˈmin ə ˈvɛˌɹ̝i ɪ̝nˌɛksˈpənsɪv ˈpɹɑɪ̯zəz ‖ ɛn ðə seˑɪ̝m ˈsɑˑɾɨ mɑɪ̯t kɒst ˈmeˑbɨ f fɔ tu fɑɪ̯ʔ tɑɪ̯mz ɪn ˈkænəɾə ɪf ju ˈʋɒn t˭u bɑɪ̯ ðɛtʼ ɪ̝n ˈkænədə ‖ sɔ ɪt wɒs ə gɹet ˈbɑɡɪn fɒɹ ˌʌs ‖ ɜː sɔʊ̯ wi ɛnˈdʒɔɪ̯d ðət ˈʃɒpɪŋ as wʌɫ ‖ fɹʌm deə̯ viˑ flu tu ˈdɛlhi ‖ ˈæ̞ːn ʌ vi ven ˈdɛlhi fə θɹi deɪ̯z ‖ vi tʊəd əˈɹɑʊ̯n dɛlhi ən vi ɑɫsɔʊ̯ wɛn tu ði ðɜː ˈtɒdʒ̊ məˈhɑɫ wʌnə də sɛvɪn vɒndz̥ ‖ ɜː ɑlɪn ɑlə ɪt wʌz ˈvɜɹɨ ˈme̞mbəˌɹəbl̩ | ˈme̞məˌɹəbl̩ væ̆ˈkeʃɪn fɒɹ as ‖

TRANSCRIBED BY: Joel Edmiston (under supervision of Eric Armstrong)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/06/2014

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

This Tamil speaker demonstrates in his story of his family trip to Tamil Nadu many interesting features of Tamil influenced English. Non-rhotic most notably, generally R’s, when they appear, are alveolar approximants, except when they very rarely might be trilled very briefly, or tapped. Final L is often velarized [ɫ], though sometime not! It is possible that the speaker is substituting a retroflected L (i.e. the tongue bends back slightly), the IPA symbol for which is [ɭ] in these instances. Initial voiceless plosives are generally unaspirated (e.g. [t˭] in Tamil ), though there are occasions when they are aspirated too, as in Kerala, which has an aspirated initial [kʰ].) /w/ shifts between a weakly articulated [w̞], a labiodental approximant [ʋ], and a labiodental fricative [v], depending on the speed at which the speaker speaks. /ð, θ/ are frequently [d] or [t]; again this is more likely at speed.

Lexical sets of note:

• kit: [ ɪ̝ ]
• price: [ɑɪ̯]
• strut: often rounded and backed, especially when spelling includes an “o” [ɒ, ʌ]
• dress: [e̞]
• thought: [ɒ]
• force: [ɒ, ɔə̯]
• face: [e, eɪ̯]
• goat: [ɔʊ̯]
• trap: [a, æ]
• lot: [ɑ]
• start: [ɑ]

COMMENTARY BY: Eric Armstrong

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 24/06/2014

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