Informant Script

This worksheet is part of a class project on dialects. We appreciate your cooperation in supplying answers to the following questions.

Personal Data

Where are you from?

Would you classify that as: __rural __ small town __ mid-sized town __ suburb __ city

How long have you lived there?

Where were you born?

Other than the place where you were born and the place where you now live, where else have you lived (and for how long)?

Where are your parents from ? Father? Mother?

Is English you first language? (If not, what is?)

What is your ethnic heritage?

In the first part of this questionnaire, you will be asked to answer 29 questions concerning the names of common items. Please give the answer you would use in ordinary conversation with your friends. If you know of additional names for the item, you might volunteer them. In part two of the questionnaire (below), you should supply the word that you would most commonly use to fill in the blank (or two words if there are two blanks). Please do not "overthink" this process. You are not being "tested" for "correct" responses; the interviewer is trying to elicit information about the way speakers of English actually use the language in everyday speech. Following this section, you will be asked to read 16 items for the purposes of ascertaining your pronunciation of several highly variable sounds.

Please read the following sentences out loud, supplying the missing word in each:

1. Eating too much food made me feel sick ________ my stomach.
   
   
2. I don't care and he _________ either.
   
   
3. Another way of saying "I shouldn't go" is "I ________ _______ to go." (two words)
   
   
4. He likes diving so much that yesterday he _____________ off the high board fifty times!
   
   
5. She was supposed to drink a full glass of water every four hours, but by 4:00 p.m. she hadn't __________ any.
   
   
6. He's sick, so he's lying down. Yesterday, he also __________ in bed all day.
   
   
7. My shirt must have been 100% cotton. It _______________ at the laundry when they washed it; now it doesn't fit me.
   
   
8. He normally wakes up at 6:00 each morning, but he ___________ up early this morning when the fire alarm went off.
   
   
9. She lives ________ Pecan Street.
   
   
10. 1Who just __________ this bell?
    
    
11. Another way of saying 4:45 is quarter _________ five.
    
    
12. I wouldn't do that if I __________ you.
    
    

Please read the following sentences out loud.

1. In the dark I could not see the barn, as it was far, far away.
   
   
2. The first baby bird curled up in the nest.
   
   
3. a) I enjoy orange juice.
   b) Sales of foreign imports are way up.
   
   
4. a) Mr. and Mrs. Warner will soon move to the house on the hill.
   b) I like greasy food.
   
   
5. a) The dog is barking at the frog.
   b) In the vacant lot behind the house, I found an old pot.
   
   
6. The little girl ran to ask her aunt if it was all right for the calf to walk down the path.
   
   
7. a) I need to add ice to the pitcher of lemonade.
   b) The miner rambled on and on about his younger years.
   c) Do you have the time?
   
   
8. Every Tuesday, it was the music instructor's duty to compose a new tune on the piano.
   
   
9. a) My sister's name is Mary Louise.
   b) She hopes to marry "Mr. Right" someday.
   c) Did you have a Merry Christmas?
   
   
10. a) Because of the funeral this morning, we are all wearing mourning clothes.
    b) You sound a little hoarse.
    c) They arrived on horseback.
    
    
11. We used warm water to wash the dishes.
    
    
12. You ought to straighten your collar.
    
    
13. On our way out of town, the car broke down.
    
    
14. The poor little dog sure was sick.
    
    
15. a) Is the light on?
    b) Where are you from?
    
    
16. a) Put it in a can, won't you?
    b) Yes, if I can.

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