Saskatchewan Five - Text
Subject is a white female, born in 1955. Born, raised and continues to live in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada . She has a high school education and is employed as an office manager. She is married and the mother of two grown children. She is the mother of Saskatchewan subject # 4 and the wife of subject # 3. Recordedand edited on May 7, 2000 by Susan Stackhouse.
This speaker is working with the narrow pitch range that is evident in the previous four Saskatchewan samples. There is an example of Canadian Raising (mid central starting point when the following consonant is voiceiess) with the words high, strikes, white light, lighten. Some medial [t]'s are turned into [d]'s as in beaudiful, and some are glottallized as in apparently, pot of gold. There is glottal stopping, in the initial position, on words beginning with a vowel sound. The [r] is strong and some [g]'s are dropped from ing endings as in 'gettin her to lighten up'. In this example it's jist instead of just and the pronunciation of the word got is more open than that of gut typically used in Canadian speech. Of interest is the use of the instead of thee when the word following begins with a vowel. Examples of this can be heard in 'the emotion . . .', 'the unique . . .', '. . . down the aisle'.
Further editing 9.23.00 by Paul Meier. Running time: 00:03:09.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
What just happened this weekend? Hmm. My first-born son got married and, um, we got to experience the joy and the—and the emotion of letting go and watching him embrace a new bride who we really love. Um, the unique thing about the wedding was that Cory took it upon himself to write the music and perform at his own wedding. Which we were wondering how that would all pan out for him emotionally, but he pulled it off and he got his groomsmen playing their instruments with him and serenaded his bride down the aisle. Cause he was given piano lessons. We—he begged to, uh, stop, so after his grade six, we said if you got your grade six, you can quit. He had taken, I don’t know, five years of—of guitar as well and put them both down. And then one day he picked them up and it really did pay off. And he plays drums really well. He—he pays—he plays—he can play anything. But, um, yeah, it was neat. It was really neat. And I don’t know whether you knew that the bride never heard those words before. Did I tell you that? So in rehearsal, he played the guitar, but, um, she never got to hear what he was going to be singing to her. I think she heard them in the moment. And she—I think she was. And as she—as she approached—as she approached, she was about to lose it. I was losing it. I, personally, was losing it. But he kept winking at her and smiling at her [Laughs] and getting her to lighten up. So, yeah, it was good. I knew he was a man the day that he came in and at the height of all stress levels when all her whole family was here and just so much to do and so many people and so much pressure. And he came in and he said, “All I want is to make her happy. And I don’t care what happens on her day. I don’t care if we’re late to do this or that or whatever. She is going to have the day of her life.” And I thought, “Yep, you’re going to make it.”
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY JOHN WRIGHT 12 AUGUST, 2008