all about greta
Greta Thunberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 2003. When she was 8 years old, she started learning about climate change. This inspired her to change her own habits, such as turning to veganism, and refusing to travel by airplane. She became depressed by climate change and stopped speaking and eating. In 2014, she was diagnosed with several conditions, including Asperger syndrome, OCD, and selective mutism. Greta considers these to be her superpowers as a climate change activist:
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"It helps me see things in a way others might not see. It helps me be different, which I think is a super power in a society where everyone is the same, everyone thinks the same, everyone looks the same, everyone does the same things. That is something to be proud of, that you are different.”
In 2018, she sat outside of the Swedish Parliament with a sign that said In August 2018, 15-year-old Greta sat outside the Swedish Parliament with a sign that said "Skolstrejk för klimatet" (School Strike for Climate). By sitting there daily during school hours, she demanded stronger climate action ahead of the Swedish general election, sparking the global Fridays for Future movement. In March 2019, climate campaigners across the world, and inspired by Greta, came together to co-ordinate the first Global Strike for Climate. Over 1.6 million people from 125 countries took part. In September 2019 she delivered a pointed speech to world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City. Thunberg traveled to the UN on an emissions-free boat.
listening samples
oral posture
Oral posture refers to a dialect or accent's "home base" in terms of articulatory settings - specifically the jaw, the lips, the tongue, the cheeks, and the velum (soft palate).
lips
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The homebase for the lips is a spread, horizontal position. You might feel the lip corners slightly retract to achieve this.
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Lip corner retraction is especially prevalent in PRICE, FACE, FLEECE, KIT, DRESS, AND STRUT VOWELS.
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Very slight lip rounding on vowels in the GOOSE, GOAT, NORTH/FORCE lexical sets.
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Greta sometimes smiles with one lip corner retracted (a one-sided smile), and this makes its way into her speech as well.
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Greta will also sometimes smile with her top lip curled in towards her teeth.
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She also demonstrates lip pursing/pressing (bringing the body of the lips together) between thoughts.
jaw
jaw
glottal setting
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High but mobile jaw
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Greta utilizes quite a bit of breathy voice.
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Tendency for glottal stops in front of vowels
the hesitation sound
A great way to find the posture of the lips is Greta’s hesitation sound [ ɛ̈m ] or [ əm ]. Keep the lips horizontal, and place the vowel in the center of the vocal. Lips will purse on the [m].
pronunciation
WORDS LIKE FOOT → [ ʊ ] or [ ʊ̠ ]
This pronunciation is close to the English FOOT vowel, but often times, with a more retracted tongue, so you’ll get the sense this vowel is produced further back in the vocal tract.
Because if you really understood
You have stolen my dreams, and my childhood
WORDS LIKE FLEECE → [ i͍ː ]
This pronunciation is similar to the FLEECE vowel in American English. It should be performed with some degree of retracted lip corners, and with the blade of the tongue underneath the alveolar ridge. The vowel can also be performed with some length.
I think that was one of the reasons why
Because it helps me see things in a way that others might not see
WORDS LIKE PRICE → [ ä͍ɪ̆ ]
The onset of the PRICE vowel is produced more centrally in the vocal tract. Again, some lip corner retraction is going to be your friend here. You can hear the British influence in her articulation of this diphthong.
and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight
The eyes of all future generations are upon you
KIT → [ i͍̞ ] or [ ɪ͍ ]
Greta uses two variations for the KIT vowel. In both variations, you will use some degree of lip corner retraction.
The first is close to a General American or Standard British English variation:
But those numbers, do not include tipping points
The second variation is closer to the FLEECE vowel, except the tongue will be slightly more relaxed.
We who have to live with the consequences
WORDS LIKE STRUT → [ ɐ ]
The realization of Greta’s STRUT vowel is an unrounded, fairly open central vowel. This means you will perform this vowel without lip corner retraction, and you will feel the center of the tongue slightly cup.
I’m one of the lucky ones
You are failing us, but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.
WORDS LIKE BATH → [ ä ]
This pronunciation is similar to the vowel in Standard British English. You’ll feel the front to middle body of the tongue cup to produce this sound.
It can definitely be an advantage
The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees
WORDS LIKE LOT/CLOTH → [ ɔ̜ ]
These sets are merged. The realization is a very back, fairly open vowel, meaning you should feel the back of the tongue slightly cup to produce this sound. Produced with less lip rounding - think about the tongue doing the work.
CLOTH: that remaining CO two budget will be entirely gone within less than eight and a half years.
LOT: And for me, that's, it's called cognitive dissonance.
WORDS LIKE THOUGHT → [ ɔ̜ː ]
Similar to the pronunciation of this vowel in Standard British English, but with less lip rounding. The realization is a very back, fairly open vowel, meaning you should feel the back of the tongue slightly cup to produce this sound.
We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth.
I walk the walk
GOAT → [ ə͍ʊ̜̯ ]
Similar to the pronunciation of this diphthong in Standard British English, but less pronounced. There will also be a slight degree of lip spreading in the articulation of this sound.
I'm on the autism spectrum, so I don't really care about social codes.
but those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops…
POST-VOCALIC /R/
For the most part, Greta’s pronunciation of these lexical sets is in line with Standard British English - eliminating the /r/ sound, except in cases of a linking /r/, when /r/ is pronounced when followed by a vowel.
NORTH/FORCE: For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear.
lettER: but those numbers do not include tipping points
SQUARE: with technologies that barely exist
START: but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.
NURSE: to prevent the worst consequences from happening
NEAR: We must speak clearly about what is happening.
/L/ → [ l̪ ]
Initial, medial, and final L’s are produced very light, meaning, the back of the tongue is unbunched, while the tip/blade of the tongue makes contact with the back of the top teeth. The body of the tongue is spread, and raises up towards the hard palate (but doesn’t make contact).
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet I'm one of the lucky ones.
/z/ → [ s̪ ]
Words with the /z/ sound will be replaced by a dentalized /s/, as there is no /z/ phoneme in Swedish.
that is very common for people on the autism spectrum
they step out of their comfort zone, because the planet is outside its comfort zone, and we also need to be outside our comfort zone
[ ʒ ] → [ ɕ ]
Words that contain [ ʒ ], such as USUAL, or ZSA ZSA, will shift to a sound similar to the SH in SHAMROCK. The articulation will be made with the front body of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tongue tip pointed down.
How dare you pretend that this can be sold with just business as usual
Words that end in /p/ /t/ /k/ → [ pʰ ] [ kʰ ] [ tʰ ]
Words that end in /p/, /t/, or /k/ will be aspirated, but with a more fricative quality. For example, in the word RISK: After your tongue releases from the /k/ position at the velum, don't just stop — let the air escape with a little whisper of friction. The breath keeps moving for just a moment after the consonant.
Yet you all come to us young people for hope
so a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us.
that remaining CO two budget will be entirely gone within less than eight and a half years.
when you speak like truth to power, when you don't bother to be polite,
vowels
consonants
prosody
PITCH
Greta’s pitch is relatively flat, or rather, contained. When there is a pitch shift, it may be connected to the fact that Swedish is a pitch accented language, meaning tone is phonemic, capable of distinguishing words that are otherwise identical. There are two accent patterns, conventionally called Accent 1 and Accent 2. You can really hear Accent 1 reflected in Greta’s operative words. Accent 1 is basically HIGH to LOW over two syllables.
People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing.
