Dialects Of Tennessee
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 Tennessee,
please go to its official website
at www.state.tn.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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tennessee One | Caucasian female, born 1934, Nashville, Tennessee | Tennessee One | Tennessee Two | Caucasian male, born 1951, Madison, Tennessee | Tennessee Two | Tennessee Three | Caucasian male, born 1947, Madison, Tennessee | Tennessee Three | Tennessee Four | Caucasian female, born 1967, Madison, Tennessee | Tennessee Four | Tennessee Five | Caucasian male, born 1990, raised in Nashville, Tennessee | Tennessee Five | Tennessee Six | Caucasian male, born 1943, Madison, Tennessee | Tennessee Six | Tennessee Seven | Caucasian female, born 1944, Nashville, Tennessee | Tennessee Seven | Tennessee Eight | Caucasian female, born 1979, Memphis, Tennessee; university student | Tennessee Eight | Tennessee Nine | Caucasian male, born 1948, Memphis, Tennessee; professor | Tennessee Nine |