Notes on Recording and Speakers San Duanmu June 1996 1. Data collection This set of data on Taiwanese accented Putonghua (PTH) was recorded in Taiwan from December 1994 to January 1995. Taiwanese accented PTH refers to PTH spoken by people who were born in Taiwan and whose first language is Taiwanese (Southern Min). 2. Recording tools The recording tools consisted of a portable DAT (Teac) which recorded at a 44.1 kHz sampling rate at 16 bits linear quantization. The microphones were AudioTechnica lapel microphones with a preamp and XLR connection to the DAT. The XLR helped low noise recordings, and the AudioTechnica provided widebandwidth, flat response over the speech range of interest, was unidirectional to minimize cross-talk, and very light in comparison with standard microphones. Both single-speaker monologues and two-speaker dialogues were recorded using this system on standard DAT tape. 3. Recording setting The recordings were done in ordinary, but quiet rooms. The speakers were asked in advance to speak in conversation style, without notes, on any topic they chose, or no topic at all. Most speakers spoke spontaneously and the topic drifted freely. Some speakers talked about their professional work in a rather formal way. One speaker (#20, a public health official) used notes. We consider this variation in speech style a merit of the data. 4. Size of the data A total of 40 speakers were recorded. There were 5 two-speaker dialogues and 30 single-speaker monologues. The dialogues were about 20 minutes each and the monologues were about 10 minutes each. Dialogues were recorded on two tracks, one for each speaker. Monologues were recorded on one track. 5. Informed consent form Before recording, all speakers read and signed the 'Informed Consent Form', which was written in Chinese and which largely followed the standard format approved by the Human Subject Committee of the University of Michigan. The form stated that the participation in the recording was entirely voluntary and that the speech may be used for linguistic teaching and research purposes. 6. Sociolinguistic variation The data reflect several sociolinguistic factors, including age, education, sex, birth place, and family dialect. The distributions are as follows: Age group 15-30: 21 31-45: 12 46-60: 7 Total: 40 Birth place Taiwan: 40 Education high school: 7 college: 20 grad school: 13 Total: 40 Family dialect Taiwanese: 35 Taiwanese & Hakka: 4 Taiwanese & Cantonese: 1 Total: 40 Gender male: 17 female: 23 7. Summary of speakers General Format: speaker number, gender, main topic DISC 1 A1-2, female/female, bringing up kids A3, female, beauty care--manners A4, male, work--life A5-6, female/male, life--generation gap A07, male, daily life A8, female, dishwasher business A09, male, small business A10, female, personal/family life A11, male, school administration A12, male, travel A13-14, male/male, student life A15, male, bowling--Karaoke A16-17, female/female, student life A18-19, female/female, tour--marriage--study A20, male, public health DISC 2 A21, female, daughter--personal education A22, male, personal life--hobby A23, female, personal career A24, female, mainland tour--city planning A25, male, personal career--quarantine inspector--Japan tour A26, male, personal life A27, female, daughter--kids education--movie A28, female, tour A29, female, friends A30, female, tour--company life A31, female, kids education A32, female, motor company A33, female, cooking A34, male, hometown--family--work A35, male, army life--factory life A36, female, kindergarten teaching A37, male, mainland business A38, female, colleagues--friends A39, female, school teaching life A40, male, motor company--energy saving