How do Canadians pronounce the word "father"?

Justin   Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:15 pm GMT
Is it the same as "fother", like most Americans?
SpaceFlight   Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:54 pm GMT
Yes, Canadians have the father-bother merger.
Guest   Tue Dec 18, 2007 3:56 am GMT
we pronounce it as fahder.
Milton   Tue Dec 18, 2007 8:41 am GMT
According to Oxford Canadian Dictionary, the Canadian pronunciation of FATHER has the /Q/ vowel, back rounded vowel, similar to General American (unmerged) pronunciation of CAUGHT, COFFEE, ALL, CALL, WALL...

Some Canadians still use the unrounded vowel, like most Americans.
Milton   Tue Dec 18, 2007 8:48 am GMT
You might compare these two accents


Windsor accent (low back merged, but affected by the Canadian vowel shift, the merged vowel is /Q/ and /A/):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=euUyxaD5evc


New Brunswick accent (low back merged, but with much less CVS, so the merged vowel is /A/):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hYlltEFXRoY



In Manitoba, the /A/ is father is very rounded: /Q/
in Atlantic Canada, /Q/ in father is not that common
in Ontario, both /A/ and /Q/ are used
Marc   Tue Dec 18, 2007 3:30 pm GMT
Same vowel as in father, bother, cot, caught, don, dawn, etc. Same vowel as used in the far West of the US., but more people use the more rounded version.