England Thirty-three - Text
White male, born 1932, recorded and edited summer 2001 by Paul Meier. Subject, a retired chief executive of a food processing company, has a very mild Devon dialect, as is often the case in subjects higher up the social and economic laddern. You will hear little of the rhoticity that marks the speech of England 31 and 32; the initial 'h' is never dropped; and the vowels are much closer to Received Pronunciation. The exception that marks this subject as a Devonian is the vowel in private, implied, tried etc., and his low back starting position for this diphthong is in common with England 31 and 32. He has lived in various parts of Devon, notably Plymouth, but was born and raised in Bideford, like them. Running time: 00:05:17
Transcription of Unscripted Speech
Uh I was born in uh Bideford, North Devon in 1932. Uh and uh I lived there with my parents uh, uhh, until I uh left school. Uh and when I went to Plymouth to work uhn, in South Devon. Uh from there I did national service in the Royal Airforce and returned to Plymouth. Uh then uh having met Mary uh on a visit home uh I decided that I would like to live and work back in North Devon, and so moved to North Devon. Uh in due course I uh was into the uh meat and animal byproducts uh business uh and stayed in that until uh I retired in 1997. (clears throat) Since that time I’ve uh done some consultancy work in the same industry uh, still doing some in fact but shall cease doing that at the end of this year and shall become entirely a man of leisure. Uhh, Mary and I were uh married uh over forty years ago and lived initially in Appledore in a in a small cottage. Uh then we moved to uh Barnstable about uh, ten miles away where we were both then working. Uh, we then moved back to Bideford for a uhhh for about ten years and then twenty-five years ago we bought this house in Northam uh, uhh Northam is a good compromise for us it’s a pleasant village of reason—reasonable size and is uh, is precisely midway between uh Northam and—uh between Bideford and, and Appledore. Uh, it’s a very old village with, with a lot of a, a lot of history. Uh, the church which is uh right near the house here uhh, was built uh ahh around I think uh eight-hundred or more years ago, uh perhaps longer because uh, there is a sign in the church which shows that a an annex to it, which effectively doubled its size, was built in eleven-hundred and n something. Uh, Northam has got a a good deal bigger uhh in recent years as with most places. Th the west country is attractive to uh people leaving the, uh the cities. Uh property is relatively uh inexpensive uh in the area. And there has therefore been a lot of building. But there are still many old buildings and and this—our house is is one uh it is over two-hundred years old.
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY ALEX HAYNES 12 FEBRUARY, 2008
Revised by Spencer Holdren 14 February, 2008