England Fifteen - Text
Subject is a 34 year old Caucasian male from Wigan Lancashire. He is a civil servant (government employee). The only other place he has lived is Cardiff, South Wales. This is an excellent example of Wigan dialect. Although the tune can be similar to nearby Manchester, the quality of the sound is less nasal. Older residents speak in a Wigan dialect which uses elisions and contractions, truncating known words into new ones, and often eliminating articles in written and spoken English. Interviewed by Lise Olson. Edited by Paul Meier. Recorded 07/05/00. Running time 00:03:25. Text file written by Lise Olson and Heather Jewell.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
I was born in Wigan on 11th August 1966. I’m currently a civil servant and I work at a place called Hinley Prison, which is a youth remand centre for er, offenders between the age of 16 to 21. The prison’s got about 500, er, inmates in, in the er establishment at the moment, and we’re basically responsible for holding those, erm, who have not yet been convicted- of an offence who are awaiting trial.
It’s quite a large prison, erm, and in 1988, it took over, from… Manchester prison, which is a big local establishment, just to take over the young offenders. Erm…I work in what’s known as the Discipline Office, where…I…am responsible for collating all the records and making sure records have been made(s) are updated, and the information is ready for officers if they need it, and also all the holding warrants, which are basically the legal documents that we, that we keep hold of, which authorises us to keep somebody in custody. I’ve got to make sure they’re all up to date as well.
Ah, I’m also fo- responsible for calculating sentences, err, arranging transfers to different establishments, speaking with different police authorities, and talking with the courts. Erm, it’s very interesting job, uh, I’ve been there for a number of years now, and er, I’ve recently been pro-promoted to erm, Administrative Officer.
I’ve only actually been out of Wigan for a four-year period, erm, when I lived in Cardiff. Err I was a student at err, the university there, erm…and ever since leaving college, ah, I more or less returned, erm, and started working for the Home Office in Wigan then.
Wigan is ah, quite a sizeable town, it’s actually called a metropolitan borough…
Transcribed by Marina Tyndall 3rd January 2008