Alabama Eight - Text
The subject is an African American female born and raised in Lee County, Alabama during the depression. Her family has lived in this community for at least five generations, which, except for the public schools, is still largely segregated. She was unable to finish highschool, but successfully raised four sons, supporting them by working in a laundry. She discusses the events of her life, and the value of discipline in the lives of children.
The subject's speech is characterized by light[r] coloration, both at the ends of words and in the medial position so you hear 'suppot' for support and 'nahmal' for normal. Consonant action is relaxed, particularly plosives in the terminal position. The rhythms of her speech are slow in general, but accelerate for emphasis, as in the phrase "I never had any problems in school." Neutral vowels tend to be elongated as in "good" and "fun", and diphthongs tend to broaden towards the parent vowel as in 'ah' for I.
Recorded and edited May 17, 2001, Daydrie Hague running time 00:05:19.
TRANSCRIPTION
I was born in Auburn, Alabama, and raised in Auburn, Alabama. There was a family of eleven. (Uh) Fun… (Uh) We didn’t go out very much. I had a strict family. And (uh) church, well, such as church socials and things like that. We-- that was what we really took for fun. School was good. And (uh) I didn’t have any problems in school. Okay… As I grew older-- Well I was raised by my grand-- grandmother and my aunt, and (uh)… As I grew older, I married, had four sons. And (um) I raised the-- them alone, and it was very hard. And for social life, it was bein’ around them, havin’ fun with them. And I worked. And we had fun just sittin’ around, laughin’ and talkin’ together. Didn’t go out v--
Raised my sons by my-- help of my aunt until-- until they was-- My-- my youngest was-- was seven years old, and I moved out on my own. And (uh) we lived in the projects, and I-- I worked at a-- a laundry to support them. They were very sweet boys. I didn’t have no problem about gettin’ in-- them gettin’ into trouble or anythin’. So, we lived a pretty normal life together. It was hard raisin’ four kids-- by -- alone, but I did the best I could. And everythin’ turned out fine.
Well, kids are very different now. Because they have this rule you can’t-- you can’t, you know, discipline them. That’s very hard for me ’cause I’m used to-- when a child disobeyed, not puttin’ ’im in the corner, (uh) time out. I (uh)-- I believe in-- in, you know, lightly spankin’, not to hurt, not to put marks or anythin’ on ’em. And I think that that was the best way, because now a kid think he can get-- they can get by with anything, because they know you can’t do about it, but p-- set ’em in the corner, and the corner only lasts a few minutes. So, that’s-- today, the kids of today are so different. When I was raisin’ my kids, because they don’t seem to have a-- to realize that this is their lives, and that-- they kinda have a-- They gotta be responsible….