Texas 7

Listen to Texas 7, a 19-year-old woman from Dallas, Texas, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 19

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

PLACE OF BIRTH: Dallas, Texas

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

OCCUPATION: college student

EDUCATION: The subject was just starting her theatre education after being trained in singing.

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

The subject lived in Miami, Florida, for a year.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Her mother is from Athens, Georgia, and her father is from Clarksville, Texas.

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

RECORDED BY: N/A

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

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’ve been wanting to do theatre ever since I was about 3 years old. I’ve been interested in singing since I was about 4 or 5. I remember the very first song that I ever sang was with my dad in our living room, Tina Turner: “What’s Love Got to Do With it?” An’ he used to, like, flip me over on my — on my back, an’ I’d like walk on the ceiling on his shoulders. An’, I w– I’ve always wanted to be a performer, ever since I was — I guess like — I guess 5 to 8. My dad used to — he bought me a stage when I was really young, an’ I used to prete– practice, like, singing in a microphone. An’ I used to lip synch a lot, an’ jump on my bed an’ do shows, out of my bedroom an’ everything. Um, I got to be a star in a musical when I was in high school. My senior year, I played Hope Harcourt in the musical “Anything Goes,” an’ that was a really cool experience, because I’d never — I played a role that was nothing like how I really am. I’m not an inge– I’m not a debutante-y type, ingénue-role person. I don’t know how you would say that, but, um, yeah, music is my main passion. I love singing more than anything, an’ it brings out my personality an’ what I love, about life, the most.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jacqueline Baker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 20/07/2008

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Subject says she has not worked on changing her speaking voice or speech habits. Notice the very pronounced Texas R sound, the slight nasal quality to vowels (especially around nasal consonants), and the dropping of final voiced plosives. There is a definite pull of the tongue upward and back in the mouth, which effects all of the vowel sounds.

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.