Annotations for Speaker: Interviewer

This is [Interviewer]. Today is June 21 2024. And I am here in [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to get verbal consent for the form that we went over. Could you please say I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study?

To get started, can you tell me about how you came to live in this community?

Could you tell me a bit more about this community? How would you describe it to someone who doesn't live here?

How do you think this community has changed throughout your time living here?

What would you say are the strengths of this community?

What would you say are some of the weaknesses of this community?

Could you tell me about the roles and relationships you have in this community?

What do you do for work?

How do you think your connections in this community influence your work as a attorney?

How do you think your connections in this community influence your work?

Now, I'd like to talk more about your work as an attorney. Could you tell me about how you got into this role?

How long have you been working?

What is it typical workday look like for you?

What does it mean to be an attorney in this community?

What aspects of your job bring you the most joy or satisfaction?

What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

Now let's talk about your experiences as a resident in this community. For this first set of questions, I read your statement to you. And I'd like you to indicate the extent or of your agreement, which with each one, I'll have you give your answer on a scale of one to four where one is is completely disagree. Two is somewhat disagree. Three is somewhat agree and four is completely agree. If you'd like to comment on any of the statements, please feel free to. The first phrase is I consider myself to be an American. What would you say to that for?

Using the same scale? How would you rate the following statement? I consider myself to be a Texan.

Which of the following three statements do you agree the most strongly? One, I am an I am an American, first and a Texan. Second. Two, I am Texan first and an American second, or being Texan and American art equally important to me.

The next phrase is to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak English. What would you rate this one? Using the same scale? We started with?

How about to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak Spanish.

The next phrase is in my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English.

Finally, in my community, life has been pretty stable over the last 40 years, things haven't changed much.

Now, I'd like to hear from you about the community itself. What are some things some of the things that have changed in this community during the last few decades?

Overall, is this a good community to live in?

What was or is the best part about being a kid or a young person in this community?

Do you feel that the traditional way of life in this community is going away?

What is your favorite sports team?

How have they been doing lately?

[LAUGHING]

Did you have to do chores when you were younger?

What was the worst one?

What was the chore you didn't mind so much?

Did you ever get caught pretending to do a chore but not really?

[LAUGHTER] Some people think that it's hard for some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think?

Did you ever tell a story about another person thinking the other person was not near you? But then turned around and saw the person was standing right next to you?

Could you tell me about that? What happened?

A lot of people think of the 1990s as a golden decade of pop music. Do you agree?

What was the best decade and pop and use of music and why?

Thank you so much for your answers. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. If you have the time. I just have one last request for you. Before we conclude our interview. One of the over arching research questions through the home to Texas program is about linguistic changes in Texas. As part of this project, a linguistic researcher is asking that interview participants read a brief passage, which should only take about a couple of minutes. It is a short made up story about life in Texas that was created in the 1980s. And since then, linguistic researchers have recorded a few 100 Texans reading it. They use these recordings as samples of people standard way of speaking as they try to track how speech in Texas varies and changes over time. Would you be willing to read a brief passage out loud?

Great. Thank you so much. Thank you for contributing your voice. And thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences with me. I really appreciate your time and generosity. If you don't have any other questions or comments. I'll go ahead and stop the recording now

Hello, this is [Interviewer]. Today is July 24 2024, and I am here in [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to get verbal consent for the form that we went over. Could you please say I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study

Thank you. To get started. Can you tell me about how you came to live in this community?

Yes. Thank you. Can you tell me a bit more about this community? And how would you describe it to someone who does not live here?

Thank you for sharing. How do you think this community has changed throughout your time living here? I know you kind of already expand-

Thank you. What would you say are the strengths of this community?

Yeah, that's good. I agree. What would you say are some of the weaknesses of this community?

Thank you. Can you tell me about the roles and relationships you have in this community?

Amazing. Thank you for sharing. Now, I'd like to talk more about your work in the past. And today. Could you tell me about how you got into the role that you're in today? I know you mentioned you're in a couple of boards, and also do [LOCAL MAGAZINE]

Yes, of course.[PAUSES AUDIO] The next question is, what is the typical workday look like for you? Or what's it like?

That's amazing. We appreciate it. Yeah, [REDACTED PERSONAL CONVERSATION] The next question would be What aspects of your job bring you the most joy or satisfaction?

Thank you for sharing, kind of, on the other side of things, what are the kind of what are the biggest challenges you face doing this?

Yes. So, thank you for sharing that. I'd like to talk more about your experience as a resident of this community. Okay, for each for this first set of questions. I'm going to read a statement to you. And I'd like you to indicate the extent for your agreement on each one. Okay. I'll have you give your answer on a scale of one to four where one is completely disagree, two is somewhat disagree, three is somewhat agree, and four is completely agree. If you'd like to comment or elaborate on any of the statements, please feel free to. The first phrase is "I consider myself to be American." Would you say? How would you rate that on a scale of one through four?

Thank you. The next question is using the same scale, how would you rate the following statement? I consider myself to be a Texan.

Which one of the following three statements do you agree with most strongly one, I am American first and Texan. Second, two, I am Texan first and American second or three, being Texan and American are equally important to me.

Thank you. The next phrase is "To be a true Texan. You must know how to speak English." Well, will you rate this one using the same scale we started with?

Thank you. How about "To be a true Texan you must know how to speak Spanish"?

Next phrase is "In my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English."

Finally, "In my community, life has been pretty stable over the past 40 years, things haven't changed much."

Thank you. Now I'd like to hear more about you. From the community itself. What are the some of the things that have changed in this community during the last few decades?

Thank you. Overall, is this a good community to live in?

Yes. What was or is the best part about being a kid or a young person in this community?

Thank you. Do you feel that the traditional way of life in this community is going away?

Thank you. What is your favorite sports team?

And how have they been doing lately?

Will you be at the Games?

I'm excited. I'm excited for those games. The next question is, did you have chores to do when you were younger?

What was the worst chore?

And what was the chore? You didn't mind so much

And did you ever get caught pretending to do a chore but you weren't actually doing it?

Thank you for sharing that story. Some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think?

Thank you. Did you ever tell a story about another person thinking the other person was not near you, but then turned around and saw that that person was standing right next to you?

How everybody knows everybody? I learned that at [UNIVERSITY NAME]. Everybody just knows everybody's so you have to be careful.

The next question is a lot of people think of the 1990s as the golden decade of pop music. Do you agree? And if not, what was the best decade of pop music?

Do you have any any favorite artists?

Thank you for that input. I'll go home and listen to some . Yeah,

I haven't. Okay. Okay.

I will add that to the list. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for your answers. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. If you do have the time. I have one last request for you before we conclude our interview, and that would be reading that passage. Some backstory on that one of the overarching research questions about the home to Texas program is about linguistic changes in Texas. And as part of this project, a linguistic researcher is asking that interview participants read this brief passage, which only take a couple of minutes about one to two. I think it's a short made up story about life in Texas. That was created in the 1980s. And since then, linguistic researchers have recorded a few 100 texts insane it and they use these recordings as samples of people standard way of speaking, as they try to track speech changes throughout. Okay,

Absolutely, yes. So if you would be reading- willing to read it. Sure. You want me to read it now? Yeah. Out Loud and however you would like. Okay...

Well, thank you for adding your voice to the collection though. We appreciate that kind of research.

And what is it typical workday look like for you?

Hi, this is Nathalia Chavarria. Today is June 5 2024. And I'm here in [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to get a verbal consent for the form that we went over. Could you please say I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study

Okay, to get started, can you tell me about how you came to live in this community?

To get started? Can you tell me about how you came to live in this community?

You're born here, like, 

Okay. Can you tell you a bit more about this community? How will you describe it to someone who doesn't live here?

Okay, what do you think about the border? 

All right, in your time living here how has the community changed?  

Oh.

Interesting, okay, where are the strengths of this community? 

The strengths of this community? 

Interesting, okay, and as we have strengths we have weaknesses, where are the weaknesses in this community? 

Okay. Can you elaborate more why was that an issue?

Why was that like a big thing and on [COMMUNITY TOWN NAME]? 

What was it a big thing in [COMMUNITY TOWN NAME] like the SAC?

Alright, so…

Okay I see, yeah, I've been there a couple of times, it's pretty big. Um can you tell about the roles and relationships you have in this community?

 The roles and relationships you have in this community?

The roles? And the relationships?

Yeah, like your roles and relationships in this community. The role?

Over here, about the roles and relationships you have in this community. [LONG PAUSE, Participant READS THE PAPER]

[SMALL LAUGH]

That's great.

That's great. I'm happy to hear that. What do you do for work?

Did you study anything? Did you went to school?

Interesting.How do you think your connections in this community influence your work?

Si.

How do you think your connections and this community influenced your work?

Yes. [LONG PAUSE]

Like back then when you were like in,

Es esta [POINTS AT PAPER, LONG PAUSE]

Okay, now that we've talked more about your work, can you tell me about how you got into this role? You already mentioned how you're  into the work?

Okay. All right. How long have you been working there?  

Oh Wow. Okay. And you were teaching how to play instruments?

Okay.

Okay, how was like a normal workday for you? How did it look like?

Okay.

Oh wow, okay. What does it mean to be um in your job in the community?

[LONG PAUSE POINTING AT THE QUESTION IN THEIR PAPER] Like a music teacher in your community, how was that?

Okay, all right. What aspects of your job bring you the most joy or satisfaction? What aspects of your job brought you the most joy or satisfaction?

Oh wow, it's very interesting. Okay, we're gonna move forward with the research questions from PI. And we're going to talk about the resident or your experience as a resident in this community.

The first set of questions, I'll read a statment to you, and when I'd like you to indicate the extent of your agreement with each one. I'll have you give [PAUSE] I'll have you give your answer on a scale of one to four? Okay, I'm gonna ask you several questions.

And one being you completely disagree, two you somewhat disagree, three is somewhat agree, and four is to completely agree, okay.

Okay I'll let you to comment on any of the statement please feel free to okay, if you want me to stop at any point, let me know too. 

Alright, so the first the phrase is I consider myself to be an American. Will you say that you [PAGE TURNING] completely agree, somwhat disagree?

You completely agree? [Participant NODS IN RESPONSE] Okay, using the same scale, how will you rate the following statement? I consider myself to be a Texan. 

Four, okie dokie. Which of the following three statements do you agree with the most strongly? I'm American first and Texan. Second, I'm a Texan first and American second, or being Texan American are equally important to me. 

Texan. Okay. The next phase is to be true Texan you must know how to speak English. What will you write this one using the same scale we started with?

One? Okay, how about to be true Texan you must know how to speak Spanish?

Okay. The next phrase is in my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English.

Okay. Finally, in my community, life has been pretty stable over the last 40 years, things haven't changed much. 

Three, okay. Now, I'd like to hear from you about the community itself. What are some of the things that have changed in this community during the last few decades?

Okay, overall, is this a good community to live in? 

Yeah? Why would that be?

Okay. What was or is the best part about being a kid or a young person in this community? 

[GIGGLES] Yes. Um, do you feel traditional way of life in this community is going away? The traditional way of life? 

Interesting. Okay? What's your favorite sports team?

What's your favorite sport team? 

Oh.

Okay.

[LAUGHS] Yeah.

It, has it been like that all your life?

Has it been like that all your life?

[LAUGHS] yeah I see.

Yeah, of course, talking about that. Do you have any shores when you grew up? As you were young?  

any chores?

Yes.

Oh wow.

Yeah [LAUGHS] 

Yeah,this is weather horrible. What was the worst chore? 

Yeah, the only thing like "I can't like I'm tired of this." Like, when you were growing up.

I see. So you really enjoy doing the chores.

Taking care of the animals.  

 All right. Some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think?  

Some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends? What do you think of that? 

Oh.

Alright, Okay. Can you ever tell a story about another person thinking the other person was not near you, but then turned around and saw the person was standing right next to you? 

[LAUGH] That's very, is it very common? 

Okay, had ever happened to you that you were talking about someone and that person was right next to you, or

behind you. 

Yeah okay. All right. But think of the 1990s as the golden decade of pop music. Do you agree? 

[Points at the question on the paper] This one.

Okay.

All right. Well, if that's the case, then what's like your favorite like decade of music. 

Okay, okay.

Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Well, thank you so much for the answers. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. If you have the time, I just have one last request for you before we conclude our interview. One of the overreaching research questions through the home to Texas program is about linguistic changes in Texas. As part of this project, and linguistic researchers asking the interview participants read a brief passage, which should only take a couple of minutes. It's a short made up story about a life in Texas that was created in the 1980s. And since then, linguistic samples of people's, no, excuse me, linguist researchers have recorded a few 100 Texans reading it. They only use this recordings as samples of people's standard way of speaking as they try to track how speech and text has varies and changes over time. Will you be willing to read a brief passage aloud?

Okay, yes.

Sounds great, here you go [SHOWS HIM THE PASSAGE IN HIS COPY OF ANSWERS]

Yeah aloud yeah, please. 

Thank you so much for the interview and for reading the passage.

This is Yanitza Reyna. Today is June 13, 2024, and I am here in [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to get verbal consent for the form that we went over. Could you please say I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study? 

To get started, can you tell me about how you came to live in this community?

And could you tell me a bit more about this community? How would you describe it to someone who doesn't live here? 

And how do you think this community has changed throughout your time living here? 

Would you say, um, there have been industrial projects that have grown and businesses?

And what would you say are the strengths of this community? 

And how would you say it affects uh, your job or the town as a whole, when the bridge closes down? 

And what would you say are some of the weaknesses of this community? 

And could you describe uh, the situation going on in [COMMUNITY NAME] currently? 

And could you tell me about the roles and relationships that you have in this community? 

And what about personal? Are you a father? 

And what do you do for work?  

And how do you think your connections in this community influence your work as a, uh general manager? 

And now I like to talk more about your work as a general manager. Could you tell me about how you got into this role? 

And how long have you been working here? 

And what does the typical workday look like for you? 

Yeah. And how does that compare to, have you worked night shift?

How would you compare those two?

And what does it mean to be a general manager in this community?

Um, do you cater to their needs, like being able to multitask and handle both school and work? 

Do you think, um, contribute to their development of the real life world?  

And what aspects of your job bring you the most joy or satisfaction? 

So you have relationships, work relationships, but also personal relationships.  

And what are the biggest challenges that you do face in your work? 

And how do you think um, you'll slowly find a solution to that? 

Okay, and now let's talk more about your experiences as a resident of this community. For this first set of questions. I'll read a statement to you. I'd like you to indicate the extent of your agreement with each one. I'll have you give your answer on a scale of one to four or one is completely disagree to a somewhat agree. Three is somewhat agree. I'm sorry, where one is completely disagree, two is somewhat disagree, three is somewhat agree and four is completely agree. If you'd like to comment on any of the statements, please feel free to. This phrase is, the first phrase is, I consider myself to be an American. Would you say that you somewhat agree, completely agree, somewhat disagree, or completely disagree? 

And would you care to explain why you feel that way? 

By using the same skill, How would you read the following statement? I consider myself to be a Texan. 

Do you do any like Texan festivities? Like, um, watch football games?

Oh that's true. Anything Texan that you might think of? 

Are you a big fan of the UT Longhorns?  

And which of the following three statements do you agree with the most strongly? I am American first, Texan, Texan second, I am Texan first and American second. Or being Texan and American are equally important to me. 

Okay. The next phrase is to be a true Texan. You must know how to speak English. What would you rate this one? Using the same scale we started with. 

Um, would you want to explain why you disagree?  

Has she been here like, half of her life or for a little bit?  

So it's been a while. Okay yeah, I also see you're point. Uh, the next, how about:  To be a true Texan, you must know how to speak Spanish. 

The next phrase is in my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English. 

Okay. In my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English. 

Um, I do see that the test for driving was only offered in, in English before and now they did.

Both. So I think that's a good opportunity. But I also do understand where you if you learn English, you have way more opportunities in life. Especially here in the United States.

Yeah. Now I like to hear from you about the community itself. What are some of the things that have changed in this community during the last few decades?

How would the, how would you say the traffic has changed um? Especially um, would you, how many years did you work the night shift? 

12 years. And was there like a difference in traffic?  like when you would come into work or at night? 

Overall, is this a good, good community to live in? 

What was or is the best part about being a king, a kid or a young person in this community?

What was or is the best part about being a kid or a young person in this community? 

So you would say uh, when there was no technology that it was better?

Yes.

Oh wow.

And do you feel? Do you feel that the traditional way of life in this community is going away? 

Yeah, you're, you're in the same room. 

Um, what is your favorite sports team? 

Uh, yeah. Your favorite sport. 

And how, how have they been doing lately? Do you know? 

And did you have- 

Okayyy.. [LAUGHS]. And did you have to do chores when you were younger? Or no? 

Mhm. And what was the worst chore that you had? What would you say?

And what was, what was a chore that you didn't mind doing so much? 

And did you ever get caught pretending to do a chore but not really doing it?

And some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think?

And did you ever tell a story about another person thinking that the other person was not near you, but then turned around and saw the person was standing right next to you? 

Yeah.  

No? Okay. And a lot of people think of the 1990s as a golden decade of pop music. Do you agree?  

Yeah.

And do you have a favorite song that you might um, think about when you think about the 80's? 

How would you spend your time listening to music? Back then?

Mhm, oh okay.

The record.

Oh, okay.

[LAUGH]

Yeah, so you would say technology is efficient sometimes but..

And would you like um, me to know anything more about your experience um in [COMMUNITY NAME]? Any last words? 

I understand. Okay, so thank you so much for your answers. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me if you have the time. I just have one last request for you before we conclude our interview. One of our overarching research questions throughout the Home to Texas program is about linguistic changes in Texas. As part of this project, a linguistics researcher is asking that interview participant read a brief passage, which should only take a couple of minutes. It's a short, made up story about life in Texas that was created in the 1980s, and since then, linguistic researchers have recorded a few hundred Texans reading it. They use these recordings as samples of people's standard way of speaking as they try to track how speech and Texas varies and changes over time. Would you be willing to read a brief passage out loud?

Great. Thank you so much. Whenever you're ready, could you read this page out loud? 

Thank you for contributing your voice to the collection. And thank you so much for taking your time to share your experiences with me. I really appreciate your time and generosity. If you don't have any other questions or comments, I'll go ahead and stop the recording.  

This is [INTERVIEWER]. Today's date is June 27 2024. I am here in [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our local residents. Before we begin, I'd like you to get a verbal consent from the form we went over. Could you please say, I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study?

Alright, then now, to get started, can you tell me how you came to live in this community? 

You were born here?  

And- and would you say your parents lived here all their life as well? 

Would you say your parents lived in [COMMUNITY NAME] all their lives as well?  

Can you tell me a bit about this community? How would you describe [COMMUNITY NAME] to someone who hasn't lived here? 

Um, how would you say the community has changed throughout your time living here? 

Alright, then. What would you say are the strengths of [COMMUNITY NAME]? 

Their strengths. So what would you say they're strong at? They're best at? 

What would you say are some of the weaknesses of [COMMUNITY NAME]  

Um, what would you say are some of the relationships you have with this community?  

Relationships, connections.  

Um, I know we went a little bit into this earlier, so um, what did you do for work? What was your job?  

Uh, how would you say your connections influenced your work as a housekeeper? 

So, uhm, now since you mentioned housekeeping, can you describe to me what a typical workday looked like for you? 

What- does- what did your work day look like- like what did you do for your work- like, what tasks did you do for your work? 

You mentioned day surgery. Would you work-  you worked in a hospital?  

So it was housekeeping for a hospital?  

What did you enjoy most with housekeeping? What brought you the most satisfaction? 

What would you say were your biggest challenges with housekeeping, like was there- like what issues did you not like with housekeeping? 

Now I'm going to, I want to talk a bit more about your experiences of a resident of this community. So for these set, next set of questions, I'm going to read a statement to you. I would like you to indicate to which extent of the statement you agree with- you agree. You can you're going to answer on a scale from 1 to 4, where one is completely disagree. Two is somewhat disagree. Three is somewhat agree, and four is completely agree. If you'd like to add any more other comments or statements or your personal touch to the, to your answer, feel free to do so. So let me read the first statement. I consider myself to be an American, would you say that you completely disagree? Somewhat disagree? somewhat agree or completely agree?  

Why would you say that? 

I'm gonna, okay, let's, we're going to continue to the next statement, and we're going to use the same set of scales, okay? I consider myself to be a Texan. Would you completely disagree? Somewhat disagree? Somewhat agree or completely agree? 

Yes.

So you would agree you consider yourself a Texan?  

Okay. Do you consider yourself- I'm going to read the next three statements but we'll go one by one though. And which one you agree the most strongly with, okay? I am an American first and Texan second. I am a Texan first and American second. Or being Texan and American are equally important to me.  

Alright. The next phrase is to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak English. To what extent do you agree with this or disagree? 

It doesn't matter you would say it doesn't matter whether to be- you can speak. You don't have to speak completely English to be a Texan. 

Okay, what about "To be a true Texan, you must know how to speak Spanish?" 

And the next phrase is "In my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English."  

Okay. And finally, "In my community, life has been pretty stable over the last 40 years. Things haven't changed much."  

Okay, now I'd like to hear from you about the community itself. What are some things that have changed in this community during the last few decades? 

Would you say anything has changed over the past few like during your lifetime? What would you say anything has changed? And if so, what?  

So you'd say it has the community has changed, but in terms of overly increasing price.  

Okay. Would you say this is a good community to live in?  

Yes? Okay. What was or is the best part about being a kid in [COMMUNITY NAME]? 

So you'd say there's a lot more activity for kids then there once was.  

Okay. Would you feel or do you feel that the traditional way of life of this community is going away?  

Like, would you say its culture or customs or its practices are going- are vanishing, going away as time moves on? 

That's alright. Um, would you say certain practices then have changed? Like, let's say, the common practice here of the panaderias? What do you say that tra- traditional way of life has changed that practice or no?  

A way of life- Basically, has things changed, moving away from from its culture? 

This one's gonna take a little bit of a turn. What is your favorite sports team? 

Softball. 

Would you say there's this particular team you look into now with softball, or do you not keep up with it as regularly? 

Alright. Did you have chores when you were younger?  

Like household chores? 

Yes.

What would you say was the worst chore? 

What would you say was your favorite chore? 

Just the cleaning? 

Like it didn't matter like whether it was sweeping with a broom or cleaning the toilet or something? 

So I know you mentioned your brother would wait till your dad was coming back to start doing his chores. 

So not once would you say you ever got caught not doing a chore?  

[SURPRISED] No? [LAUGHTER] 

Alright, now this question is going to take a different turn. Some people think it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think?  

Yes, for a boy and a girl to be friends? Do you think it's possible or no? 

Depends? Why is that?  

So I take that as a no. [LAUGHTER] 

Okay, um, this one's gonna be a little bit of a weird question. It might take some a couple of retries. Did you ever tell a story about another person thinking the other person was not near you. But then turned around and saw the other person standing right next to you? 

Did it ever happen to you? 

Oh.

Good. Can you tell me a bit more about it?  

You just wouldn't do it as often.  

Don't want anyone having you on your back or target on your back. Okay, now this one's a controversial question. I hope you're ready. A lot of people think that of the 1990s or the 90s as the golden decade of pop music. Do you agree? Would you say the 90s was the golden decade of pop music. 

Music so, would you- in the 90s, a lot of pop music was a lot of a big rave. In your personal opinion, would you say it was the best, that 90s? 

So you'd say the six, the 60s and 70s music that you listen to were way better than what came out then. 

You do listen to it for them. 

All right. Well, I want to thank you for your answers. Before we finish, It's- this part usually one of our other overarching research questions is to study linguistic changes in Texas. So we have a very short made up story about Texas and it's completely voluntary. Would you like to read it so we can study the linguistic changes for our research? 

I have a passage right here.  

To read it out loud. 

All right, well, thank you for your wonderful contribution to this interview and these questions. If you have- if you don't have anything else to say or do you have any other things to say. I will end the interview right now. 

This is Autri Ormond, today is July 12, 2024 and I am here in [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to give verbal consent for the form we went over. Could you please say I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for the study? 

Can you repeat that? [CUP NOISE]

I consent.  

To being interviewed. 

It's up here at the top. I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for the study. 

Uh I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study. 

Okay.  

Yeah, no, I wish it was highlighted. Okay. To get started, can you tell me how you came to live in this community? 

No, community as a whole.  

Okay. Could you tell me a bit more about this community? 

How would you describe it to someone who doesn't live here? 

Okay. How do you think this community has changed throughout your time living here?

So what would you say are the strengths of this community? 

So what would you say are some of the weaknesses of this community? 

So what do you do for work? 

So how do you think your connections in this community influenced your work as someone working at [WORKPLACE]? 

So how do you think your connections help with that? 

Now, I'd like to talk to you a little bit more about your work at [WORKPLACE]. Could you tell me about how you got into this role? 

So how long have you been working here? 

What is a typical workday look like? 

So what does it mean to work at [WORKPLACE] in this community? 

So what aspects of your job bring you the most joy or satisfaction? 

And what are the biggest challenges you face in your work? 

Now, let's talk a little bit more about your experiences as a resident of this community. So for the first set of questions, I'll read a statement to you and I'd like you to indicate the extent of your agreement with each one I'll have you give your answer on a scale of one to four, where one is completely disagree, two is somewhat disagree, three is somewhat agree, and four is completely agree. If you'd like to comment on any statements please feel free to do so. So the first phrase is "I consider myself to be an American." 

Alright, so you would say you four completely agree then? 

Using the same scale how would you rate the following statement? I consider myself to be a Texan, one completely disagree two somewhat disagree, three somewhat agree or four,

Completely agree.  Alright, so which of the three following statements you agree with the most strongly I am American first and Texan second, I am a Texan first and American second or being a Texan and American are equally important to me.  

The next phrase is to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak English. What would you rate this one using the same scale we started with 

Okay so four, completely agree?  

Ok. Uh, how about to be a true Texan you must know how to speak Spanish?

Four. The next phrase is in my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need. Even when you don't speak English. 

Three, somewhat agree  

Seven finally, in my community life has been pretty stable over the last 40 years things haven't changed much.  

Completely agree?  

Now I'd like to hear about you, from you about the community itself. What are some things that have changed in this community during the last few decades? 

Overall, is this a good community to live in. 

What was or is the best part about being a kid or a young person in this community?

Okay. Do you feel that the traditional way of life of this community is going away?  

What do you think keeps things the same? 

What is your favorite sports team? 

All right. How have they been doing lately? 

All right. Did you have to do chores when you were younger?  

What was the worst chore? 

What was the chore that you didn't mind so much?  

Did you ever get caught pretending to do a chore but not really do it?  

Some people think it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think? 

Did you ever tell a story about another person thinking that the other person was not near you? But then you turned around and saw that the person was standing right there next you? 

Uh can you tell me about that? What happened?  

Okay. A lot of people think of the 1990s as the golden decade of pop music. Do you agree? 

Okay, well, do you have a different decade in mind for pop music, then?  

No? 

Okay. All right. So thank you so much for your answers. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. If you have the time. I have one last request for you before we conclude our interview.  

All right. Great, thank you. So I'm going to show you the page and then you can read it out loud. All right, let me zoom this in a bit so that it's bigger. Okay, here we go. 

So one of the overarching research questions through the targeted Texas program is about linguistic changes in Texas. As part of this project on linguistic researchers asking the interview participants read a brief passage, which should only take about a couple minutes. It's short made up story about life in Texas that was created in the 1980s. And since then, linguistic researchers have recorded a few 100 Texans reading it. They use these recordings as samples of people standard way of speaking as they try and track how speech in Texas varies and changes over time. Would you be willing to read this brief passage aloud?  

Thank you. [Pause] Thank you for contributing your voice to the collection. And thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences with me. I really appreciate your time and generosity. If you don't have any other questions or comments, I can go ahead and stop the recording.  

Alright.

Okay, I just hit record. This is Kenya Rodriguez. Today is June 26. And I'm here in the [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to get verbal consent for the form that we went over. Could you please say "I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study?"

Okay, so, um, this is the first module, really, we're just gonna [SHORT PAUSE] kind of try to get to know you. And you're just gonna tell me about your experience living in this community. So can you tell me how you came to live in this community? 

And why did you? Uh, why did you move down here? 

Okay, so can you tell me a little bit about this community? If you were to describe it to somebody? What are the-the key characteristics or traits of this community that you would share with them? 

So if you could maybe give me like three words, I guess. Like what would they be?  

To describe this community [COMMUNITY NAME]?  

Awesome. So how do you think this community has changed throughout your time living here? You said, definitely the population right. But is there anything else that you could kind of share with me? I guess from a different perspective. 

Why would you say that [SHORT PAUSE] we're [SHORT PAUSE] kind of always on the rise or we've always-or we're continuing to grow?  

Let's hope so. At a time is it's coming. It's it should be here.  

Yeah. And let's hope our relationship stays good. So, kind of building on your answers to the last question I asked you or the question I just asked, What would you say are the strengths of this community? 

Awesome. And kind of contrasting your answer to the question I just asked, What would you say are some of the weaknesses of this community? 

So you would say crime as in corruption or crime as in the overall crime rate?  I think, uh, both it's corrupt in government. It's corrupt in [THINKING] business, but it's also 

So kind of moving away from questions about [SHORT PAUSE] the strengths and the weaknesses and the description of our community. We're going to move on to like your work. This is going to set up the rest of these questions.  So what do you-or what did you do for work? 

And [SHORT PAUSE] so I'm just for, [SHORT PAUSE] like, I guess writing purposes, I'm going to refer to your job as a job title. I'm going to do mail clerk, is that okay?  

Okay. So how do you think your connections in this community influenced your work as a mail clerk? 

Awesome. So [LONG PAUSE] I want to talk a little bit more about your work as a mail clerk, could you tell me [SHORT PAUSE] or kind of lay out to me how you got into this role starting as far back as you want? 

And you had mentioned earlier that you worked at the [NAME OF AGENCY] for about 34, 37 years,  

Okay. And that's one of the questions- it asks how long you had been working there. But since we already know that, could you just tell me about [SHORT PAUSE] in those 37 years, how a typical workday would look like for you. And if it changed?  

yeah. And, uh, well, I know that being a mail clerk, you interact with a lot of people both [SHORT PAUSE] at your job, like employee to employee and, um, [SHORT PAUSE] employee to customer, right. So obviously with that you've built a lot of connections in this community. How would you say then, kind of reflecting on all those relationships? Uh, small or big? How would you say that? This impacts the meaning of being a job, [LAUGHS, MISPEAKS] a job clerk, a mail clerk in this community?  

And, I mean, I feel like people think that mail is like this tiny thing, right? But what kind of aspects of being a mail clerk kind of brought you the most joy or like satisfaction? Or I guess, what is the relationship that you kind of have with being a postal, a postman? 

For sure. And contrasting that, what would you say were the biggest challenges that you faced in your work? 

All right. So kind of to sum up your challenges. It was more so just that, um, [SHORT PAUSE] kinda moving up at the [NAME OF AGENCY] became a [SHORT PAUSE] technological kind of knowledge game, not a- 

Yeah,  

All right. And I know that we're talking about m-m-mainly your time as a mail clerk, but I also kind of want to touch on the fact that as a retiree, um, you also do other work right? 

And just for the purposes of, you know, the study, what is it? If you could give it a job title? What is it that you're currently doing right now as a volunteer? 

And I'm going to ask you the same questions again, um. I personally know that you've been working there for a majority of the summer at the hospital.  It's been almost about a half a year at the hospital. But I'm in the [CHURCH SCHOOLING PROGRAM] and I'm going on my third year. [PAUSE RECORDING] Okay, I'm resuming the recording, I had to pause. So, I had mentioned earlier that I'm just going to go over these questions. Again, we had just talked about how long he had been working as a I'm just going to use the job title-

Chaplain, uh, for the hospital, the local hospital here. So, um [SHORT PAUSE] in this half year that you've been working there, what did it or what does a typical work day look like for you?  

And, sigh, [THINKING] I mean, it's very different from being a mail clerk, right?  

So what would you say then? And you can kind of create a relationship between the two job titles, but I understand if you can't, what does it mean for you to be a chaplain now in the community? 

Absolutely. So [SHORT PAUSE] I guess that's kind of [SHORT PAUSE] Would you try to say that, that kind of aspect of walking people through something so like, quite literally larger than life? Uh, Bring? I mean, it doesn't bring joy. It's like the scary thing, right, in a sense. But what would you say then, if you could summarize it, in a few words, brings you the most joy or satisfaction doing this job. 

And what would you say are the biggest challenges that you face in your work? 

Absolutely. It is it does. It isn't you being arrogant, it does take very strong person to be able to do that. So, uh, [SHORT PAUSE] we're done with kind of the introductory module of the interview right. Now we're gonna move on now to module two with the specific research questions for the language and history research. So for these first [SHORT PAUSE] I guess, seven, maybe questions. I'm going to read a statement to you. And I'd like you to indicate the extent of your agreement with each one, I'll have you give your answer on a scale of one to four where one is completely disagree. Two is somewhat disagree. Three is somewhat agree. And four is completely agree. And I'd like you to comment on any of the statements and feel free to do so you can answer this. I don't know if these kind of build on your previous questions in terms of like your job titles. But if you feel that you can answer these questions from any perspective, as your work as a mail clerk or your work now as a chaplain. If those kind of roles relate to these questions, answer in the way that you'd like to let me know. So or let the [CHUCKLES] recorder know. So we have context for the answer. So the first phrase is I consider myself to be an American, would you say that you-

Okay, and why is that?  

And using that same scale, how would you rate the following statement? I consider myself to be a Texan. 

And which of the following statements do you agree with most strongly I'm going to read three to you. I'm American first and Texan second, I am Texan first and American second, or being Texan and American are equally important to me. 

Why would you say that? 

Okay. And the next phrase is to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak English, what would you rate this one using the same skill we have been using? 

I agree. How about the next statement to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak Spanish. 

So, kind of to sum up what you said [SHORT PAUSE]: English you'd say is the primary language of this kind of nation, and learning other languages is beneficial to you. It's not necessarily like,uh, an identity kind of thing. It's just a skill kind of thing for you.  

So, the next phrase is in my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need even when you don't speak English. 

And finally, "in my community, life has been pretty stable over the last 40 years, things have not changed much." 

Now I'd like to hear more about the community itself. What are some of the things that have changed in this community during the last few decades?  

Oh, streaming,  

Would you say overall, uh, this is a give me a good community to live in?  

[INAUDIBLE] Okay. What is or is or- I mean? Sorry, what was or is the best part about being a kid or young person in this community? 

I know we kind of touched on it earlier. But do you feel that the traditional way of life in this community is going away? 

So kind of moving away from talking about the community and your identity. We're going to talk a little bit more about some subjects. I want you to be-random subjects-I want you to be as [SHORT PAUSE] natural as possible in your responses with-that means like your emotion, all of that. Okay? So what is your favorite sports team? 

How have they been doing lately? 

Well, I mean, they were they were on fire a few years ago. So kind of moving on from your favorite sports teams. What, or did you have to do chores when you were younger or now? 

And what was your worst chore? 

What specifically about cleaning the house did you not like? 

Okay, and what was the chore that you didn't mind doing so much? 

[SHORT PAUSE] And did you ever get caught pretending to do a chore but not really doing it?

What chore? 

What chore was it usually?

And when you got caught? What happened?  

Lord Almighty. Okay, so some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think?  

For sure, and did you ever tell a story about another person thinking the other person was not near you, but then turned around and saw that that person was standing right next to you? 

And what can you tell me about that? What happened? 

Oh, my gosh, and- oh, I know you're not gonna like this one. A lot of people think of the 1990s as the golden decade of pop music. Do you agree?  

[LAUGHS] 

Alright, so that was the last question. But there's a, um, final module. You don't have to. Um. This is voluntary. You don't have to do this. But I just want to thank you first, for your answers. I really appreciate that you, uh, took the time to talk with me. If you have time. This is my last request. One of the overarching research questions through the home in Texas program is about linguistic changes in Texas. As a part of this project, a linguistic researcher is asking that interview participants read a brief passage, we should only take a couple of minutes. It's a made up story about life in Texas that was created in the 80s and since then, linguistic researchers have recorded a few 100 Texans reading it. They use these recordings as samples of people standard way of speaking as they try to track our speech in Texas varies and changes over time. Are you willing to read a brief passage out loud?  

Okay, I'm just gonna ask that you read this as naturally as possible. [HANDS OVER INTERVIEW GUIDE] So here you go. [INTERVIEWEE FLIPS TO PAGE] 

All right. So thank you again for contributing your voice to the collection. And thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences with me. If you don't have any other questions or comments or concerns, I'll go ahead and stop the recording now. Do you have any questions? 

Okay. 

Hi, this is [INTERVIEWER NAME]. Today is June 14, and I'm here in [COMMUNITY NAME], Texas for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to give verbal consent for the form that we went over. Could you please say "I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for the study?" 

Thank you. So to get started, can you tell me how you came to live in this community? 

Okay. And can you tell me more about how you came to live in [COMMUNITY NAME]? And how would you describe it to someone who doesn't live here? 

That's good. Um, and how do you, how would you think that [COMMUNITY NAME] has changed over the time that you've been here? 

Okay, um, what are what would you say are the strengths of the community like of the [DIFFERENT SOUTH TEXAS REGION COMMUNITY NAME]  in general or [COMMUNITY NAME]? 

[CLEARS THROAT] That is nice. And then what would you say? Seeing that, would you say are the weaknesses of the community?  

Like any weaknesses that you see like any um I guess, for example, a weakness would be there's not enough infrastructure or the people are different.  

And what year was it like?  

Okay so like 40s and 50s. 

Okay, so now a little change we are going to talk about you in general. So what is the role, what are the roles or relationships that you have in this community? 

And what do you do for work? Or is that what you do for work?

Okay [CLEARS THROAT], and how do you think like the influence from like the [COMMUNITY NAME] has influenced your work as a registered nurse?

[CHUCKLES] And just the last question about your job like, what was your, what aspects of your job brought you the most joy or satisfaction? 

About when you worked as a registered nurse? What brought you like happiness? What did you like about the job? 

I see. Um, so that was like the last bit of those kinds of questions. Now, these are the more specific research questions. Um, so for this set of questions, I'm going to read a statement to you, and you're going to indicate to the extent that you agree from a scale of one to four. So one "I completely disagree". Two, "I somewhat disagree". Three is "somewhat agree", and four is "completely agree". Um, so I'm gonna read the statements and you just say like one, two three, or four. So the [CLEARS THROAT] the first phrase is, I consider myself to be an American. 

I consider myself to be a Texan. 

Um, which of these following three statements do you agree with most strongly? The first one is, I'm American first and Texan. Second. The second statement is, I am Texan first and American second. And the third one, being Texan and American are equally important to me. 

The, uh, the next one is, to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak English. What would you write this one using the same scale? 

But using one through four? 

And how about to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak Spanish? 

So one? 

The next phrase, in my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English. 

And then finally, in my community life, has been pretty stable over the last 40 years, things haven't changed much.  

Okay. [DOOR OPENS IN BACKGROUND] Now, these are going to be, I would like to hear from you about the community itself. So another open ended question. What are some of the things that have changed in this community during the last few decades? 

Nice. Um, and overall, is this a good community to live in? 

Uh, [INAUDIBLE] of your childhood what was or is the best part about being a kid or a young person in this community? 

Okay. And do you feel that the traditional way of life in this community is going away?  

What do you think keeps things the same? 

Um, so this one's kind of unrelated. But what is your favorite sports team? 

Do you know how they've been doing lately? 

Okay, and did you have to do chores when you're younger?  

Chores to do? 

And how about now? Do you have chores now? 

That's good. Um, So now um, did you ever tell a story about another person thinking the other person was not near you? But then turned around and saw that person was standing right next to you? 

No? That's okay. Some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think?  

And a lot, this is the last question. A lot of people think of the 1990s as the golden decade of pop music. Do you agree? 

Okay, so that is the last of the questions. Um, I really appreciate you talking to me. It was really fun. So now, um, my last request is the standardized reading passage module. So I'm just going to explain why we're doing this. So one of the overarching research questions through the Home to Texas program is about linguistic changes in Texas. As part of this project, a linguistic researchers asking the interview participants read a brief passage, which only take a couple of minutes. It is a short made up story about life in Texas that was created in the 1980s and since then, the linguistic researchers have recorded a few 100 Texans reading it. They use his recordings as samples of people's standard way of speaking as they try to track how speech in Texas varies and changes over time. 

Okay. [RESIDENT STANDS UP TO GET GLASSES] 

Okay, so whenever you're ready, you can just read it out loud. 

[CHUCKLES] Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing. Um, I really appreciate your time and generosity. So if you don't have any other questions, I'm gonna go ahead and stop the recording. 

Thank you. The audio transcribing is kind of weird, but it's okay if you don't I can, I can take it. Okay, so this is [Interviewer name] today is great question…

July the ninth [Chuckle] 2024. And I'm here in [City] for an interview with one of our community members, Miss [Interviewee]. So before we get I like to get a verbal consent. Um, could you please say I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for the study?

Thank you. Okay, so to get started, can you tell me about how you came to live in this community.

And could you tell me a little bit more about this community? How would you describe it to someone who doesn't live here?

Well, yeah, definitely. Heavy on the retail. There's like stores everywhere. [Chuckle]. Um, so how do you think this community has changed throughout your time living here?

So, going back on the quality of life, what do you do you think that's a strength of the community? Can you elaborate on that?

The [City Event]

Oh, yeah, definitely. Um, so going back to like, let's see, like losing your culture? How would you like what would you say? Are some of the weaknesses of our community

it's hard to..

[Chuckle] Sorry. Um, so could you tell me about the roles and relationships you have in this community?

[Chuckle]

[Cough]

I love that answer. It's more it's more extensive than the other interviews I've had. I actually really love that.

[Laugh]

Yeah

Oh yeah

Mhm

So you're telling me a lot about your background, but what do you do currently for work?

[Laugh] Yeah

Yeah

So you oversee everything like kinda in that area.

Oh wow

Expensive

Yeah

[Chuckle]

Yeah

Yeah

Mhm

Oh yeah

Yeah

[Chuckle]

Yeah

Mhm the city…

Yeah, I always wondered what they were for. Yeah. I mean, I've been there. I mean,

then I know when me my mom go um driving after a huge storm we see all the water.

And she's like, oh, yeah, that's for drainage. I'm like, Oh okay,

Ok okay.

Mhm

Oh okay.

Oh it's okay, you got an eyelash.

Yeah, it was there. But I don't know. Oh, its like-

No, don't worry, I want to get to get fake eyelashes too I havent told my mom [Laugh]

No, it's