Dialects Of California
The archive provides:
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, Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage), and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings), may be accessed from the menu bar to your right.
To access IDEA's sound files and documents, you will need an mp3 player, and Acrobat Reader, available free from Acrobat Reader.
If you are interested in specific information about the State of California,
please go to its official website
at www.state.ca.us
For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here
please go to
Other Dialect Services
Dialect Samples
To properly play a sound sample, you may first need to save it to your own computer. To do so, right-click on the desired sample and save it. A high-speed connection to the internet may allow you to play the file simply by clicking it.| Sound Sample | Basic Information | Text Files |
|---|---|---|
| California One | White female, twenties, theatre student, Panorama City, CA, a self-confessed "valley girl" dialect | California One |
| California Two | White female, twenties, born 1981, student, Orange County. Dialect typical of age group | California Two |
| California Three | INFORMATION PENDING | California Three |
| California Four | 24 year-old caucasian female, raised principally in Southern California (Thousand Oaks) | California Four |
| California Five | 37 year-old male, native Los Angelino, "half white and half American Indian". Surfer. | California Five |