Welcome to the
alt.usage.english Audio Archive

• England
  [MPEG] [WAV] RP speaker

• USA
   [MPEG] [WAV] General mid-western speaker [Michigan)

   [MPEG] [WAV] Southwestern speaker with mid-western influences

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The North Wind and The Sun      [Menu]

• England
   [MPEG] [WAV] RP speaker

• USA
   [MPEG] [WAV] General mid-western speaker [Michigan)

   [MPEG] [WAV] Southwestern speaker with mid-western influences

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Accent determination by one sentence:      [Menu]

• Australia
   [MPEG] [WAV] General Australian speaker

• Canada
   [MPEG] [WAV] Canadian speaker with assorted influences

   [MPEG] [WAV] Canadian speaker

• England
   [MPEG] [WAV] RP speaker

   [MPEG] [WAV] Cornish speaker

   [MPEG] [WAV] RP speaker [2)

   [MPEG] [WAV] RP speaker (3)

• Ireland
   [MPEG] [WAV] Southern Irish speaker

• New Zealand
   [MPEG] [WAV] New Zealand speaker   
   (due to a transmission error "bother" was confused with "brother")

• USA
   [MPEG] [WAV] General mid-western speaker

   [MPEG] [WAV] Mid-western speaker (South-East Oklahoma)

   [MPEG] [WAV] General mid-western speaker (Michigan)

   [MPEG] [WAV] Mid-western speaker (Dallas)

   [MPEG] [WAV] Southwestern speaker with mid-western influences

   [MPEG] [WAV] American speaker with various influences

   [MPEG] [WAV] American speaker from Southern California

   [MPEG] [WAV] Western speaker with influences from all over America

   [MPEG] [WAV] Standard American speaker
   (file compiled from the dictionary Random House Second Unabridged)

   [MPEG] [WAV] Chicago speaker with influences from Iowa and Southern California

Comma Gets a Cure      [Menu]

[Text]

• USA
   [MPEG] [WAV] Western speaker with influences from all over America

Ferdinand the Calm Cat      [Menu]

• England
   [MPEG] [WAV] RP speaker

   [MPEG] [WAV] Cornish speaker

• USA
   [MPEG] [WAV] Southwestern speaker with mid-western influences

   [MPEG] [WAV] Mid-western speaker (North-East Kansas)

Other Sound Files      [Menu]

In addition to the sound files in this archive, there are others at this Web site in the following places:

• In the AUE FAQ Supplement there is a heading "Speech Examples", under which there are miscellaneous sound files that have been generated in connection with topics that have arisen in newsgroup discussions.
• There's a similar set of speech examples at this Web site at <../speech_examples/index.html>.
• There are sound files accompanying formant-analysis plots in the AUE FAQ Supplement under the heading "Formant analysis plots", which is in turn under the heading "Pronunciation".
• The ASCII IPA guide has numerous sound files illustrating the pronunciations of the symbols of ASCII IPA.

In particular, there's a large collection of English dialect examples from many different parts of the world at <http://www.ku.edu/~idea/>.

Comments about the Audio Archive     [Top]

All of the sound samples are provided in both WAV and MPEG formats.  WAV files were earlier converted to sampling frequency 11,025 Hz, 4-bit quantization.  Some people have said they're unable to play the WAV files, and in one case that problem was remedied by converting some files to 8 bit.  For that reason, all of the WAV files at this site have been converted to 8-bit quantization.  They are sampled at 11,025 Hz.

If you don't have software to play MPEG files, You can get it at <http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/MPEG-audio-player.html>.   The site offers players for a wide variety of platforms.  Some of them are freeware.

I've found that when I listen to a WAV file it tries to deliver the audio while it's downloading.  The downloading doesn't keep up with the audio, so there are interruptions.  However, once the downloading is complete, the file can be replayed without interruption.  Your system may act differently. =================================
 

* RP = Received Pronunciation. Actually, there is a difference between Markus Laker's pronunciation and RP. If you would like to know what it is and if you would like to learn much more about pronunciation and its description, visit Markus Laker's ASCII IPA tutorial at <http://go.to/aue>. (Select 'ASCII IPA, Pronunciation Guide with Audio Examples'.)

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Igor Merfert's list of credits      [Top]
I, (the originator of this page, Igor Merfert) would like to express my gratitude to every contributor.
Many thanks to the Southern Irish speaker Brian J. Goggin, Ireland,
the General mid-western speaker, US (Michigan) Dr. Thomas M. Schenk, CA, USA,
the Canadian speaker with assorted influences Mark Israel, CA, USA,
the General Australian speaker Mark Barton, USA,
the Indian speaker Sridhar Prasad, USA,
the Southwestern speaker with mid-western influences Michael Tseng, CA, USA,
the Midwestern speaker (Dallas) Bill. T., TX, USA,
the British speaker with international influences Jitze Couperus, USA,
the RP speaker (3) John Underwood, Conductor of the Prommers' Orchestra & Chorus, England,
the New York City born Northeastern speaker Larry Krakauer, USA,
and the Western speaker with influences from all over America Bob Cunningham, USA.
Special thanks to the audio archive consultant and RP speaker Markus Laker, England.
Furthermore, I would like to thank the Universitδtsrechenzentrum der Otto-von-Guericke-Universitδt Magdeburg for kindly providing additional web space, and Felix Boenchendorf for converting the sound files to MP3-format.

All of the MPEG files that are now at this site were converted to MPEG from WAV using Goldwave, which now both creates and allows manipulation of MP3 files.  You can learn more about Goldwave at <http://www.goldwave.com/>.

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Please submit your speech recording      [Top]

If you would like to submit a sound sample to be added to this Audio Archive, you are welcome to do so. If you are interested, please contact me (exw6xq@earthlink.net). Before you make a sound file, though, you are strongly recommended to read the comments on sound recording.

The alt.usage.english Audio Archive was first opened by Igor Merfert on 10 October 1997.  Igor announced in AUE on 16 June 1999 that the archive had been closed at his site and would not reappear there.