South Africa Eight - Text
The speaker is a 17 year old Zulu-born drama student and reads the Comma text with a slightly heavier accent than the one in which she generally speaks. She speaks about her background in Soweto and her dreams for the future.
Some sound changes to look out for:
The 'oo' in book becomes 'oo' as in "pool"; the 'er' becomes a lengthened "e" as in "bed" (confirmed); the "ah" becomes a short "u" as in "run" (palm; father); the "e" is lengthened; all the syllables in words like "suffering", "normally" are articulated; the mispronunication of "unsanitary" is due to the fact that the word is not known by the speaker; the "a" as in "cat" becomes an "e" as in bed; the "ey" becomes a lengthened "e"; in words such as "Force" there is no r-colouring at all; the I is also typical. Recorded 2001 by Yvette Hardie, edited by Paul Meier 9.06.01. Running time 00:03:55.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
I am seventeen years old. I am currently doing my matric and I’m at the National School of the Arts. I stay in Meadowlands with my grandmother, my grandfather, two cousins and my mother. Um, I’ve been in Meadowlands ever since I was young; I was born there. Um, for my primary school I went to Tembaletu Primary School, which is a school in Soweto. Then I moved on to St. Joseph Limmer (spelling?). It’s in Diepkloof and it’s a convent. It was very hard for me there, then I had to adjust when I came to the National School of the Arts in standard six. And I started doing drama then. All my life I’ve been, um, dreaming of being a teacher or something like that, but now I’ve currently been changing my mind because I think there’s a lot of things to do apart from being a teacher or a nurse, as those with the most important careers long ago. However things have changed now and there are a lot of opportunities for black people. But I’m not saying that there has never been opportunities, or there hasn’t been. It’s just that, um, we were a bit oppressed, stuff like that. So now I just need to realize that, you know, I’m capable of doing whatever I want to do as a black person and as a female as well, and I’m actually looking forward to growing up and doing everything that I’ve been dreaming of ever since I was young.
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY LYNN BAKER, 25 FEBRUARY, 2008