Minnesota Two - Text
This professional woman was born in St. Cloud, and raised in Annandale. She works as both an account executive and actor. She was recorded by phone, and processed for noise reduction, in October, 2005. Notice the vowels in the NURSE, PRICE START, MOUTH, GOAT, GOOSE, lexical sets as significant to the local dialect. She demonstrates her impression of some with a "stronger Minnesota" accent, and immediately became louder and used more range of pitch. She was raised one hour west of Minneapolis in the southern part of the state.
Contributed by Paul Meier, IDEA Founder and Director. Running time 00:05:12
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
I was born in Minnesota, and have lived here pretty much my whole life. I was raised in a small town (ah) west of Minneapolis, one hour west of Minneapolis, and… Childhood memories have been great. (Um) Very-- I come from a warm, loving family with (ah) two older sisters, no brothers. And (ah) was raised by both my parents, which are still living today. Well, what’s neat about this state is we are (uh) a very caring and giving and warm and loving state, which is a great thing, and we’re also driven for success. (Uh) Minnesota is one of the top leaders for hard-working states, out of all of the states in the United States. (Um) We have great work-- work ethics. We’re very driven people, and (um) we’d love to be successful. Minnesota alone has (um) rated number-- I believe it’s number five per cent through the United States for Fortune 500 companies, which should give you a lot about our state itself. (Um) We have wonderful companies here that continue to grow. And it’s really a great thing to live here, because the people are very helpful, very eager to help, and when someone really needs a-- a lending hand, they do come out and will help when needed. My accent is a little bit different, (um) and the reason why is I have a soft voice, and people like that, and I like it. It represents to (um) the male and female, non-threatening (uh) voice, very soothe, southering [?], and (uh) I have noticed myself, or people have told me it’s very nice to talk with me because it’s so-- it’s smooth, it’s soft, it’s very natural. And how it really compares is-- expecially [sic]-- Well, it compares for a lot of reasons. One is because I’m from a small country town, and that makes a difference compared to the cosmopolitan, compared to downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota-- which are two different suburbs (um) compared to where I live. And (uh) why it is so different is because (um) in the Minneapolis area (uh) it’s very fast-paced, and they talk more of a cosmopolitan, although I can talk cosmoto-- politan when I want to. Just for the fact that, in my work force, where I’m at right now, I can switch my voice and my tone at any point in time, depending who I talk with. Because I-- I speak with many people from Minnesota, and on the east coast, and on the west coast. They might just go [re-reads Comma in loud voice, local dialect, through ‘stressed.’]
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY JACQUELINE BAKER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR FOR TRANSCRIPTIONS, June 28, 2008