Dialects Of North Carolina
The archive provides:
In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).
The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages, Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage), and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings), may be accessed from the menu bar to your right.
To access IDEA's sound files and documents, you will need an mp3 player, and Acrobat Reader, available free from Acrobat Reader.
If you are interested in specific information about the State of North Carolina,
please go to its official website
at www.state.nc.us
For additional excellent North Carolina dialect samples visit the North Carolina Language and Life website at North Carolina Language and Life Project
For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here
please go to
Other Dialect Services
Dialect Samples
To properly play a sound sample, you may first need to save it to your own computer. To display the various 'save' options, PC users should right-click on the desired sample below; Mac users should press the Control key while clicking. A high-speed connection to the Internet may allow you to play the file simply by clicking it once or twice.| Sound Sample | Basic Information | Text Files |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina One | White male, 30's, Outer Banks | North Carolina One |
| North Carolina Two | Female, 50's, Outer Banks | North Carolina Two |
| North Carolina Three | Male, 40's, Winston-Salem, African-American | North Carolina Three |
| North Carolina Four | Male, 50's, Winston-Salem, African-American | North Carolina Four |
| North Carolina Five | Male, 30's, Winston-Salem, African-American | North Carolina Five |
| North Carolina Six | Male, 40's, Winston-Salem, African-American | North Carolina Six Transcription |
| North Carolina Seven | Male, 40's, Winston-Salem, African-American | North Carolina Seven Transcription |
| North Carolina Eight | White male, 19, Winston-Salem | North Carolina Eight Transcription |
| North Carolina Nine | White male, born 1926, Oak City, Eastern North Carolina, retired journalist | North Carolina Nine |
| North Carolina Ten | White male, born 1958, Burnsville, North Carolina, attorney | North Carolina Ten |
| North Carolina Eleven | White female, born 1917, Burnsville, North Carolina, housewife | North Carolina Eleven |
| North Carolina Twelve | White female, born 1958, Burnsville, North Carolina, teacher's assistant | North Carolina Twelve |
| North Carolina Thirteen | White female, born 1943, Burnsville, North Carolina, teacher's assistant | North Carolina Thirteen |
| North Carolina Fourteen | White male, born 1959, Yancey County, North Carolina, surveyor | North Carolina Fourteen |
| North Carolina Fifteen | White female, born 1963, Mitchell County, North Carolina, school registrar | North Carolina Fifteen |
| North Carolina Sixteen | White male, born 1919, Rocky Mt., North Carolina, retired symphony musician | North Carolina Sixteen |
| North Carolina Seventeen | White female, born 1930, Shelby, North Carolina, housewife | North Carolina Seventeen |
| North Carolina Eighteen | White female, born 1935, Macon, Georgia, lived Winston-Salem, North Carolina for 41 years, housewife and tax preparer | North Carolina Eighteen |
| North Carolina Nineteen | African-American female, 20s, Greensboro, North Carolina, university student and actress | North Carolina Nineteen |