Tennessee 20

Listen to Tennessee 20, a 93-year-old man from Lenoir City, Tennessee, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 93

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 13/03/1931

PLACE OF BIRTH: Harriman, Tennessee, United States

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: White

OCCUPATION: retired machinist and member of the United States National Guard

EDUCATION: one year of college

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

The speaker has spent his entire life in Tennessee except for two years in Watertown, New York, and parts of New Jersey during his service with the United States National Guard in his early 20s (in the 1950s).

He was born in Harriman, Tennessee, where he lived until age 5, before moving to Lenoir City, 25 miles outside Harriman. (Both towns are near Knoxville in the eastern part of the state.) He lived in Lenoir City until his service in the National Guard. After his service, he spent a year in Cookville, Tennessee, before moving back to Lenoir City, where he has remained until the time of his recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: 

The subject had some difficulty reading Comma Gets a Cure, which accounts for his skipping certain passages and his mispronunciation of certain words, such as “come on” instead of “Comma.”

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

RECORDED BY: Stephanie Kroschel (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 03/01/2025

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

He said, “I, I want you to go to church with me.” I said, “Well, I don’t go to church.” He said, “Yeah, I want you to go to church with me.”

So, one Sunday morning he pulled up, come and sat in the house, said, “I’m not leaving ‘til you can get dressed and come to church with me.” I said, “Well, you’ll just have to sit there.” So finally I give in.

So, I went to church on — I been in church before, but those ‘er [were] country churches. Anyway, I got — I listened, and the holy spirit give me the knowledge I need to have. So they, they give an invitation. The devil says don’t get up ‘ere [there]. Country boy like you they’ll make, make fun of ya. So I got up and left.

Oh, I can’t explain it. I walked a mile out to the house, and I had joy the whole time. So the next service, I popped up and went up and joined that church.

And, so, I’ve led several people to the Lord, and I’ve helped people, help people. Still I’m helpin’ ‘em; 93 years old. I don’t know if I’ll get to a hundred. Lord’s got his hands on me.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Stephanie Kroschel (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 03/01/2025

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): N/A

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.