Transcription
Hello, noble ones, and welcome to Metatron Academy. So today, we are continuing our series where we investigate and analyze all sorts of old recordings from people from the 1800s to evaluate the way they speak. See if we can find some characteristics in their accent. But the video that we are checking out today is the following. It comes from the channel Life in the 1800s. And of course, you'll find a link in the description and in a pinned comment to go and check them out, provide support, and give engagement and comments. But also, here is the title: Two former slaves born in 1842 and 1852. Talk about the 1850s. Enhanced video and audio 60fps.
Okay, that is incredible to think that these people were born in the 1840s and 1850s. So, of course, early memories of childhood, I suppose. And the other thing that is interesting here from a linguistic perspective is the fact that it's historical. So, these are people that were actually slaves. I am looking forward to see what sort of experiences they're going to share with us so we can learn from their—exper—terrible, of course, experience. Without further ado, I'm just going to let them speak first. We'll listen to the lady first, and then we'll listen to the man, and then I'll provide commentary. Let's go. [Music]
Good. At the ripe age of 102, you must have had some interesting spirits. Tell us one of them when you were a little girl. Yes. Well, when I was a little girl in in slave day, I always had something to do every day. Every day. I didn't have time to play very much at all. But I myself was in the house for most of the time. In days like this, while we were outdoors pulling up weeds or picking up feathers where the chickens would all make—make them through the yard—or every day. And in cloudy days while we were in the house, they had a big pan of sand, silver fan, and an old slipper scrubbing up the floor in the big dining room where they ate the meal. Mr. Hy, where did you live?
Okay, so that was the lady already. It's—it's remarkable. I mean, for what they tell us, the information here is that she's 102 years old. So, she seems very sharp, to be honest, for that age. There is an inincible section here. Let's see if we can figure it out. Let's listen to it again. Hawk at the ripe age of 102. He must have had some interesting experience at the ripe age of 102. Yeah, the name I couldn't—I couldn't get the name. There was another one. If you can understand the name, let me know in the comments. There is another in this animal. I think I understood something. Silver pans. Let's see if we can figure it out. It has become a little bit of an investigation now. How the days while we were in the house, they had a big pan of sand, silver pan, and they had—I think she said we had a big pan of sand and silver pan. An old slipper scrubbing up the floor. And an old slipper scrubbing up the floor. In this case, the subtitles, I think, are providing that. It must be like a reference to some kind of cleaning method that they were using in the 1800s that we might misunderstand now, but I—I guess that's what—what it is. In the big dining room where they ate the meals, where they ate the meals.
Of course, there is the—you know, here's the thing. Uh, there is a lot that can be said from a historical perspective. We are here mostly to analyze the linguistics of it. And in fact, one thing that I'm interested is to see if—because up to this point, every person from the 1800s that we have analyzed the recording of has been either a white American or a white English person. And of course, we found quite a lot of differences with the way white Americans speak today. But in this case, we have a—a window into seeing how black people in America in the 18—who were born in the 1850s. This of course was recorded in the—I suppose early—what it must be 1940s now since she's 100 years old. Yeah, maybe 1950s. If there is a major difference, now I'm not an expert. I don't really know if there is a big difference. I can tell some things. But if you notice some differences, if you are an African-American and you're watching this and you notice, oh, look, they say this because my grandma said it that way. Please share it in the comments. I would be very interested. From a historical standpoint, there are a few things I might want to say, but for now, let's listen to the—to the man and then we continue the floor in the big dining room where they ate the meal. Mr. Haney, where did you live as a slave? I will save my life. Where did you live? I told you I live but in Washington. Where did you live before Washington? I told you. I told you. It's like, hey, I told you. Why do you want me to repeat it?
All right. So, they said that there was an—once again an inincible section. Let's see if we can figure it out. I will save my life. I think he said, "I was a slave all my life." Let me hear it again. The big D. Where did you live as a slave? I was a slave all my life. Yeah, that is what it—what—Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's—I was a slave all my life. And then he looks at him. Look at that. That's what he said. It's not indecisible. It's actually very easy to understand. I was a slave on a poor—poor thing. Where did you live? I told you why I live but in Washington. Where did you live before Washington? I told you. I told you. I told you. That's how he says it. All right, let's see if we can see—identify some accent characteristics of—cuz he doesn't speak much. I was hoping he would speak a little longer, but she seems to be of a sharper mind. Analyze a little bit of the accent. At the ripe age of 102, he must have had some interesting experiences. Even his accent is at the—at the ripe age of 102. You must have had some interesting experiences. He already has that little bit of a mid—at mid-Atlantic accent. When you were a little girl. Yes. Well, when I was a little girl in—in slave days. It's crazy that she calls it slave days. Uh, okay. So, already we have flapping here. Little—little rather than little. Uh, so this must have been a thing in America very earlier on. In fact, I always had something to do every day. I always had something to do every day. Every day. Uh-huh. You didn't have time to play very much at all. The way she said at all was interesting. The vowel is a little closed, more closed than usual. I myself was in the house for most of the time. Note how she reinforces it. I myself was in the house most of the time, which implies that other people weren't—possibly older members of a family—where I would imagine in the plantation. I think that's the way—because I'm not an expert at all when it comes to American cattle slavery. Uh, usually due to the main channel that I have which is focused on ancient history, I'm a lot more equipped to speak about ancient slavery. And of course, they function in very different ways. They are both types of slavery, and in fact, there are some similarities between the way cattle slavery—slavery functioned and the way, for instance, slavery worked in the ancient Roman Republic and empire in the sense their economy was strongly based on slavery—different would be in that case the way slaves were acquired—a lot of the times—not all the times—but a lot of the times in ancient Rome slaves were acquired through military force—kind of different because of, you know, conquering of areas and whatnot—but that's just one example. A big difference, of course, would be the fact that while chat slavery was mostly racially focused, ancient Roman slavery and in fact slavery in the ancient period, whether it be in Greece, whether it be in Egypt, or whether it be in Rome or even with the north was not tied to ethnicities uh in any way, shape, or form. In fact, all sorts of people became slaves. And there's one thing that I like to say just to kind of lighten up a topic that is rather heavy, and it's to say that the ancient Romans weren't racist. They hated everyone equally, which is true. In days like this, while we were outdoors, pulling up weeds. She did say outdoors. Did she drop the R? In days like this while we were outdoors. Yeah, pulling up weeds or picking up feathers where all feathers. So, she does have a non-rotic accent, which I imagine. How common is that with African-American these days? I think it depends on where you're from. I imagine it's re—region based. Do you—would you imagine he mentioned Washington? I—I assume he meant he meant the city, but I wonder where they spent a lot. I wish—I wish we had more information. Let me see if they do give us information in the—maybe they were in the east coast somewhere. Let me see. Two former slaves talk about life during the times of slavery in America, referring to the 1840s and 1850s. Yeah. Oh, she was born in 1842. Yeah, she's the older of the two. So, yeah. So this was recorded like in basically 1944, and then the man was born in 1952. Yeah, there we go. 1944. The filming took place in 1944. Unfortunately, no information when it comes to that. That's okay. Make them through the yard or every day and in cloudy days while we were in the house. I'm interested to notice that she does pronounce the dip thongs fully. Days. She doesn't have that like 1800s elongation of the vowel that sometimes we noticed on—um—1800s in Victorian recordings like when they say dares instead of every day instead of every day—she already has the full dip thong inunciated. They had a big pan of sand silver fan and an old slipper scrubbing up the floor—floor in the big dining room where they ate the meal. Mr. Haney, where did you live as a slave? I will save my all my life. Where did you live? I told you where I live, but in Washington. Where did you live before Washington? I told you. I told you. I love the I told you. That one is nice. Okay.
Yeah. So, this was a little bit of a shorter video today. I'm working—in the meantime, I'm working on a big video on the Macedonians. This will—will be published, of course, on my m—main channel, the one about history. But regardless, this was fascinating. I'll see if I can find more, but I think—differently from the others. I might need your help a little more. So, do let me know what you think if I—if you think I got the inincible parts right. And if you can help us understand the sections that I couldn't figure out, like, for instance, this lady's name at the very beginning of the clip. And also if you have experience with this kind of vernacular, do let me know if there is anything else that I missed when it comes to their accent. There could be linguistic characteristics when it comes to the time period in which they were born and lived, but also if there are major differences to the way that people speak today who are in this case African-American. Well, let me know if you liked this video and if you are interested in other videos similar to this one. Of course, I'll be looking forward to your comments. Thank you very much for watching and joining Metatron Academy. Bye.