sum : english dialect sample sources these are the responses to my query about finding audio samples of dialects of english . thanks for the suggestions and comments below ; i take the liberty of quoting most of them in full . in addition to the items mentioned below , i managed to locate : ( 1 ) a 1971 bbc recording entitled " english with a dialect " which contains 24 short samples of british english dialects and 8 more of " irish , scottish and welsh accents . " the record jacket says that the record was produced " to provide a tool of the actor 's craft , " and for use in classrooms . i find it fascinating , and believe it will be extremely valuable to me . ( 2 ) a collection of cassettes with accompanying manual , entitled " acting with an accent , " by david a . stern . these are also aimed at actors who need to portray non-native english speakers . however , i found most of them not to be useful as classroom materials ; they stereotype the two or three most prominent pronunciation features of the various speakers when speaking english , rather than providing students with a real understanding of dialect , nor even of phonological interference mechanisms in second language learning . my other responses and comments are interpolated in the quotations , within [ ] . apologies for the length of this summary . louis b . hillman lbhndp @ rit . edu - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - i ' ve found quite a lot of tapes that are available commercially as supplements ( bought separately ) to the following books : j . c . wells , accents of english . cambridge up 1992 . ( whole world ) a . hughes and p . trudgill , english accents and dialects . 2nd edition . arnold 1979 / 1987 . ( uk only ) d . freeborn , varieties of english . macmillan . 1987 . ( uk and w . indies only ; some fascinating material for other aspects of socio as well as accents . ) i think they ' re all available just like books . they tend to cost about 7 pounds sterling . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - the following resources will guide you to free and commercially available recordings of north american english dialects : donna christian , 1986 , american english speech recordings : a guide to collections . washington , d . c . : center for applied linguistics . michael d . linn and marrit - hannele zuber , 1984 , the sound of english : a bibliography of language recordings . urbana il , ncte . michael d . linn , 1993 , appendix : resources for research . in dennis r . preston ( ed . ) , american dialect research , amsterdam : benjamins , pp . 433-50 . a few other specifics which may not be mentioned in the above ( and if they are i apologize ) : 1 ) longish recordings from inland northern , brooklyn ny , eastern new england , south midland , phildelphia , and alabama were available on a record from ncte entitled ' americans speaking . ' there is an an accompanying booklet ( by raven mcdavid and john muri ) with the same title ; it has the texts for a reading passage , transcriptions of free conversation , and lists of features . it is dated 1967 and may be out of print , but it is worth a try at ncte . [ alice horning ( horning @ jupiter . acs . oakland . edu ) also mentioned this recording . i found a copy and i must warn you that this copy , at least , is in _ 78 _ rpm _ format ! ! no publication date . i plan to copy it - - as soon as i find suitable equipment . lh ] 2 ) there is an old record called ' our changing language ' jointly published by ncte and mcgraw - hill . it contains fifteen or more reading passages from all over the us and canada . if it is still available , it is well worth digging out ; it is the best selection of short samples i have heard . it is also by raven mcdavid and has good commentary on the record jacket . it has , as well , a lot of stuff on the history of english in general , but the dialect samples really cover the territory . ( the drawback is that they are old recordings and do not illustrate some on-going sound changes very dramatically , particualrly the northern cities shift . ) [ i found this recording ; in addition to the american dialect passages , it contains several interesting passages comparing british and american speech . it also contains readings from old english ( " beowulf " ) ; middle english ( chaucer ) ; and early modern english ( shakespeare ) . the narrator 's dialect is itself interesting , by the way , as an example of the " radio announcer " dialect of the period . published in 1965 ; 33rpm format . lh ] 3 ) there are some recordings which accompany two books : timothy shopen and joseph williams , 1980 , standards and dialects in english , cambridge ma : winthrop ; and diane bryen , cheryl hartmen , and pearl tait , 1978 , variant english , columbus oh : charles merrill . both are rather more sociolinguistically than geographically oriented . the christian , linn and zuber , and linn bibliographies will give you the best coverage of what is available in american english dialect recordings ( and , nicely , how to get them ) . more better : most are free . [ oh , yes ; free _ is _ the best price , is n't it ? lh ] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - there is a cassette that goes with trudgill and hannah 's international english : a guide to varieties of standard english which contains a passage in thirteen different dialects , ten of which are non - north american . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - what i have been using lately , for reasons of my own , are tapes of poetry readings ; the trick is to find poets who are good exemplars of various dialects . audio - forum and caedmon are the two biggest suppliers , i think . a - f 's address is 96 broad street , guilford ct , 06437 ; i do n't know caedmon 's offhand . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - the ohio state language files publishers , advocate publishing group of reynoldsburg , oh , used to have a set of tapes illustrating a range of dialects . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - just an idea . . . . you may be able to get some more samples of international english dialects by recording from short-wave broadcasts .
