American English Dialect Recordings: The Center for Applied Linguistics

The American English Dialect Recordings collection, available online through the Library of Congress, contains 118 hours of recordings documenting North American English dialects. These include a variety of speech styles, including linguistic interviews, oral histories, conversations, and excerpts from public speeches. They were originally collected as part of Donna Christian's "A Survey and Collection of American English Dialect Recordings" funded by the Center for Applied Linguistics and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The following table, prepared by Jaidan McLean and Charlie Farrington, includes all of the African American speech samples available in the American English Dialect Recordings collection. Because these recordings come from a variety of sources, genre indicates the type of recording that was made. A text file of this table is available [[{"fid":"87","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":""},"link_text":"here","type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"default","alignment":""}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"2"}}]].

Speaker ID	Contributor	State	city	sex	YOB	yoi	Length	Genre
afccal000030	Clements, William	Arkansas	Joiner	Female	1896	1981	29.51	Interview
afccal000032	Maynor, Natalie	Mississippi	Oktibbeha County	Female	1897	1983	29.3	Conversation
afccal000033	Maynor, Natalie	Mississippi	Oktibbeha County	Female	1895	1983	24.29	Conversation
afccal000034	Foley, Lawrence M	Alabama	Northport	Female	1903	1968/1969	12.26	Interview
afccal000035	Foley, Lawrence M	Alabama	Northport	Female	1903	1968/1969	12.35	Interview
afccal000056	Wolfram, Walt	New York	New York	Male	1952	1970/1971	17.14	Conversation
afccal000057	Wolfram, Walt	New York	New York	Male	1956	1970/1971	13.02	Conversation
afccal000068	Kyle, Evelyn	Colorado	Grand Junction	Female	1915 1923	1977	21.18	Interview
afccal000105	Key, Mary Ritchie	Maryland	Maryland	Female	1900	1967	30.55	Interview
afccal000112	Key, Mary Ritchie	Georgia	Valdosta	Female	1910	1967	18.36	Interview
afccal000113	Key, Mary Ritchie	Georgia	Valdosta	Male	1901	1967	18.45	Interview
afccal000120	Shuy, Roger	Michigan	Detroit	Female	1936	1967	26.18	Interview
afccal000121	Shuy, Roger	Michigan	Detroit	Female	1935	1967	23.58	Interview
afccal000122	Shuy, Roger	Michigan	Detroit	Male	1926	1967	23.35	Interview
afccal000123	Shuy, Roger	Michigan	Detroit	Male	1926	1967	27.51	Interview
afccal000124	Shuy, Roger	Michigan	Detroit	Female	1951	1967	28.22	Interview
afccal000154	Sommer, Bettie	Florida	Florida	Female	1969 1968	1977	19.4	Conversation
afccal000155	Sommer, Bettie	Florida	Florida	Male	1900	1977	18.59	Interview
afccal000156	Sommer, Bettie	Florida	Florida	Male	1863	1977	19.43	Interview
afccal000188	Scott, Jerrie Cobb	Michigan	Ann Arbor	Male	1932	1972	9.13	Interview
afccal000189	Scott, Jerrie Cobb	Michigan	Detroit	Male	1968	1975	5.56	Reading test
afccal000190	Scott, Jerrie Cobb	Michigan	Detroit	Male	1968	1975	15.22	Reading test
afccal000197	Meyers, Miriam	Connecticut	New Haven	Female	1953	1967/1968	10.17	Oral report
afccal000198	Meyers, Miriam	Connecticut	New Haven	Male	1952	1967/1968	9.07	Oral report
afccal000200	Meyers, Miriam	Connecticut	New Haven	Female	1953	1967/1968	13.13	Oral report
afccal000201	Meyers, Miriam	Connecticut	New Haven	Female	1952	1967/1968	20.17	Oral report
afccal000203	Meyers, Miriam	Connecticut	New Haven	Female	1953	1967/1968	15.28	Oral report
afccal000205	Meyers, Miriam	Connecticut	New Haven	Female	1952	1967/1968	8.45	Oral report
afccal000213	Wolfram, Walt	Mississippi	Meadville	Female	1961 1960	1972/1973	12.35	Conversation
afccal000214	Wolfram, Walt	Mississippi	Meadville	Female	1932	1972/1973	15.26	Conversation
afccal000215	Wolfram, Walt	Mississippi	Meadville	Male	1920	1972/1973	14.4	Conversation
afccal000216	Wolfram, Walt	Mississippi	Meadville	Female	1880	1972/1973	12.26	Conversation
afccal000240	Mele, Joseph	Alabama	Alabama	Female	1917	1975-1980	3.08	Monologue
afccal000259	Mele, Joseph	North Carolina	Walson	Female	1903	1975-1980	9.19	Monologue
afccal000260	Mele, Joseph	South Carolina	Columbia	Male	1932	1975-1980	4.49	Monologue
afccal000262	Mele, Joseph	South Carolina	South Carolina	Female	1892	1975-1980	7.18	Monologue
afccal000287	Bailey, Guy	Texas	Washington County	Male	1900	1982	30.24	Interview
afccal000288	Bailey, Guy	Texas	Washington County	Male	1970	1982-1985	22.35	Interview
afccal000289	Bailey, Guy	Texas	Washington County	Male	1970	1982-1985	30.31	Interview
afccal000312	Connell, Wessie	Georgia	Beachton	Male	1901	1967	12.23	Interview
afccal000313	Connell, Wessie	Georgia	Beachton	Female	1884	1967	17.17	Interview
afccal000314	Connell, Wessie	Georgia	Cairo	Female	1914	1967	14.16	Interview
afccal000315	Connell, Wessie	Georgia	Cairo	Female	1890	1967	14.45	Interview
afccal000342	Butters, Ronald R.	North Carolina	Wilmington	Male	1956	1973	4.56	Interview
afccal000343	Butters, Ronald R.	North Carolina	Wilmington	Male	1957	1973	6.33	Interview
afccal000344	Butters, Ronald R.	North Carolina	Wilmington	Female	1905	1974	10.18	Oral test
afccal000349	Butters, Ronald R.	North Carolina	Asheville	Female	1907	1974	4.05	Oral test
afccal000350	Butters, Ronald R.	North Carolina	Asheville	Male	1960	1974	23.28	Oral test
afccal000390	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Female	1957	1968	9.02	Interview
afccal000391	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Female	1958	1968	8.47	Interview
afccal000392	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Female	1956	1968	9.04	Interview
afccal000393	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1950	1968	11.17	Interview
afccal000395	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1949	1968	10.42	Interview
afccal000396	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1952	1968	11.59	Interview
afccal000397	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Female	1956	1968	11.42	Interview
afccal000398	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1946	1968	13.45	Interview
afccal000399	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Female	1944	1968	13.37	Interview
afccal000400	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Female	1938	1969	13.42	Interview
afccal000401	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1925	1968	13.49	Interview
afccal000402	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1944	1968	14.2	Interview
afccal000403	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1912	1968	14.19	Interview
afccal000404	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Female	1908	1968	13.46	Interview
afccal000405	Fasold, Ralph W.	Washington DC	Washington DC	Male	1907	1968	13.33	Interview

Rights & Access information are available on each page linked above. If you use any of these recordings, please cite the source material.

 

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