さまざまな地域やさまざまな社会層の人たちの発音音源を記録する際に、音読用としてよく使用される passage がいくつかあります。その中の代表的なもののひとつに “Authur the Rat” があります。もともとは Gertrude Sellon が “I Don’t Know” というタイトルで書いたもののようですが(MacMahon, 1991)、音読者の発音の特徴を効果的に抽出できるように書き換えられてきており、複数のバージョンが存在します。
今回は Sharpe, E. & Rowles, J.H. 著 How to Do Accents で使用されているバージョンの “Authur the Rat” を音読してみたいと思います。
まずは本文に出てくるいくつかの単語の発音を確認していきます。(発音は General British です。)↓
trouble /ˈtrʌbl/, aunt /ɑːnt/, blade /bleɪd/,
grass /ɡrɑːs/, stupidly /ˈstjuːpɪdli/, loft /lɒft/, rafter /ˈrɑːftə/,
rotten /ˈrɒtn/, joist /dʒɔɪst/, scout /skaʊt/, kindly /ˈkaɪndli/,
sigh /saɪ/, roof /ruːf/, decision /dɪˈsɪʒn/, ruin /ˈruːɪn/
それでは音読してみます。発音は General British です。↓
There was once a young rat named Arthur who would never take the trouble to make up his mind. Whenever his friends asked him if he would like to go out with them, he would only answer, ‘I don’t know.’ He wouldn’t say ‘yes’ and he wouldn’t say ‘no’ either. He could never learn to make a choice.
His aunt Helen said to him, ‘No one will ever care for you if you carry on like this. You have no more mind than a blade of grass.’ Arthur looked wise but stupidly said nothing.
One rainy day the rats heard a great noise in the loft where they lived. The pine rafters were all rotten in the middle, and at last one of the joists had given way and fallen to the ground. The walls shook and all the rats’ hair stood on end with fear and horror. ‘This won’t do,’ said the old rat who was chief, ‘I’ll send out scouts to search for a new home.’
Three hours later the seven tired scouts came back and said, ‘We have found a stone house which is just what we wanted; there is room and good food for us all. There is a kindly horse named Nelly, a cow, a calf, and a garden with an elm tree.’ Just then the old rat caught sight of young Arthur. ‘Are you coming with us?’ he asked. ‘I don’t know,’ Arthur sighed. ‘The roof may not come down just yet.’ ‘Well,’ said the old rat angrily, ‘we can’t wait all day for you to make up your mind. Right about face! March!’ And they went straight off.
Arthur stood and watched the other rats hurry away. The idea of an immediate decision was too much for him. ‘I’m going back to my hole for a bit,’ he said to himself dreamily, ‘just to make up my mind.’ That Tuesday night there was a great crash that shook the earth and down came the whole roof. Next day some men rode up and looked at the ruins. One of them moved a board and hidden under it they saw a young rat lying on his side, quite dead, half in and half out of his hole.
<参考文献>
MacMahon, Michael K.C. (1991). The woman behind ‘Arthur’. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 21, pp 29-31.
SELLON, G. (1876). The Man’s Boot, and Other Tales: or, Fabulous Truths in Words of One Syllable. London: Griffith & Farran.
Sharpe, E. & Rowles, J.H. (2009) How to Do Accents. (2nd ed.) Oberon Books Ltd.
Today’s my singing
今回は “Anyway You Want Me” という古いバラード曲を歌ってみましたのでアップします。
I’ll be as strong as a mountain
Or weak as a willow tree
Anyway you want me
Well that’s how I will be
I’ll be as tame as a baby
Or wild as the raging sea
Anyway you want me
Well that’s how I will be
In your hands my heart is clay
To take and hold as you may
I’m what you make me, you’ve only to take me
And in your arms I will stay
I’ll be a fool or a wise man
My darling you hold the key
Yes, anyway you want me
Well that’s how I will be
I will be
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