Germany Ten - Text
The subject is a white male, born 1940 in Neumünster, Schleswif-Holstein. He is a professor of literature at the University of Kiel.
He reported living nowhere further than 50 miles from his birthplace.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
I was born in nineteen hundred and forty in the northern part of Germany and I grew up there and, uh, uh, uh, came to Kiel at the beginning of my, uh, studies in German and French literature. I've been in France but I've never been to the United States before.
NOTES
This subject also speaks the German and French names and terms for the musical, Cabaret, to be found in IDEA's Special Collections. His speech appears more influenced by British than American English in its lack of rhoticity, his treatment of medial /t/, his LOT, BATH, THOUGHT lexical sets, etc. Notice that while clearly German in his accent, he does not exhibit the stereotypical features of stage German accents: he has no difficulty with /th/, /w/, or /r/sounds for example. Note, however, his devoicing of final voiced consonants. His NURSE, and GOAT words are distinctively German too, as is his use of the light /l/ in all positions.
SAMPLE RECORDED, SPEECH TRANSCRIBED, AND NOTES WRITTEN BY PAUL MEIER ON JANUARY 30, 2009
Running time: 00:02:58