Canadian Accent Studies

David Rogers   Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:01 pm GMT
Hi all,

I was reading the "Is there a difference between American and Canadian Accents" thread from 2002, very interesting stuff!

I think the thread is also evidence of the link between accent and culture and thus all of the strong feeling that surfaced in theat thread.

By day I am a project manager for an Insurance Company (boring) but in my spare time, I am a part time linguist, I love learning about language, accent and all things related. As well as English, I am partially fluent in Spanish.

At present, I am studying Canadian accent form and placement. Canadian has to be one of the most aesthetic and historically laced English speaking nations in the world in terms of accent.

Before I go on, I just want to say one thing. One can try to apply science to accent and intonation and one CAN get so far. However, in the main, the study of accent is subjective.

I say this because think about the following statement from an Ontarian Canadian "I have never heard the 'aboot' pronounciation in my life. They must just say it in Eastern Canada".

I don't mean to provoke but a person from a certain area is not necessarily the best placed to comment on a particular phenomenon of accent that is observed in that area.

We all intrinsically think that our accent is comprehensible and our way of talking "normal".

I am from the North East of England - an area where pretty much all in the UK agree a STRONG regional accent is present. People from this area (cities including Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesborough) talk with an accent that is thought to be heavily influenced by Scottish (the England/Scotland border is only 70 miles from my home), and Norwegian (Strong maritime ties between South West Norway and North East England exist and Norway is closer to Newcastle than France is).

This makes for a guttral and sometimes harsh accent, that can be hard to understand for people from Southern England and Wales (seems to be somewhat easirt to understand to the Scottish and Irish).

However, people frommy area would never agree that we "talk funny" or pronounce things strangely!

The way that some Canadian people pronounce words with [ou] such as "about" has a technical name which is "Canadian Raising". I have found strong evidence of it in Eastern Canada but have also found it as far west as Saskatchewan. My studies have unfortunatel only reached that far west at present so I am not discluding West Coast Pacific Canada for any reason other than I haven't got that far yet!

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to share the findings of my studies in Canadian accent.

Please try to take the following statements as objectively as you can but of course, feel free to challenge!

- The Canadian accent is characterized by strong colouration or the letter "R" that is evident in all primary English speakers throughout the continent of North America. (Thus to those further in Geography from North America, such as Europeans, this is the essence why they are likely to find that "American and Canadians sound similar".

- However the Canadian accent "generally" contains artifacts and intonations more closely related to regional accents within the British Isles and Ireland. This is a generalism but is more closely noted in the Eastern half of Canada (excluding primary French speakers), as compared to the Western half of Canada.

- In Eastern Canada (defined in tihs study as as Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) there is a high degree of evidence of regional British accents. In the main I found more evidence of similarities to Irish regional accents than to Scottish accents but this differs locally.

- Specifically, I noticed a stunning level of Irish accented English within the overal compound accent in Nova Scotia. The existance of coloquialisms such as adding "bye" (boy) to the end of sentances is 'very irish' in it's form and intonation.

- The above was also noted in Prince Edward Island area.

- In the area South West of Halifax, Nova Scotia, I noticed what I would again describe as a stunning placement of the South West English accent. In this regard, it is interesting to note the amount of place names in Nova Scotia that are shared with place names in South West England (Truro being a good example).

- The above accents were blended with a more general "North American" intonation, specifically colouration of the letter "R".

- The use of the coloquial term "Eh" in Canadian language is also very common in many parts of the British Isles and Ireland, including Northern England, Scotland and some parts of southern England.

- I think a lot of people in the 2002 thread on this subject misunderstood the Canadian "ou" pronounciation as in "about". This was typically described as "aboot", but phonetically, Canadian people do not pronounce the word as "aboot". In fact, it is more accurate to write the description as "abuwt". There is a strong sense of the letter 'w' in the Canadian Raising artifact.

- Describing it as 'aboot' alludes to the sound in the nonsense 'ooooh!' and this is not the described sound. 'oo' lacks in the prevelence of the 'w' sound. 'ou' is also lacking in the definate 'w' that comes before the subsequent consonent in words like "about" and "out".

- 'Canadian Raising' is more prevelent in Eastern Canada and less as one travels west. however it was observed in the Regina area of Saskatchewan.
David Rogers   Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:38 pm GMT
Just want to follow up to apologise for the embarrasing amount of spelling mistakes and typos!

I was typing very fast and did not spell check or proof read - lesson learned!

Also want to apologise for any references to "Accents of the British Isles", where I have included 'Irish' accents. This was an error and not intended to cause offence. As we all know, only part of Ireland, (The Northern province of Ulster) is part of the British Isles.

Interestingly, the 'Irish' accent heard within the Eastern Canada region is more like the Irish accent of Southern and Western Ireland (ie...Dublin and Cork), so I shouldn't have included that in the umbrella term "British accents".

D.
Candy   Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:22 pm GMT
That's a really bad 'Stan' impersonation. Whoever you are, if you have an opinion, post it under your own name.

And SAOIRSE, please keep on posting! Your posts are so hilarious!! Everything you write makes me fall off my chair laughing.
Guest   Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:04 pm GMT
<Just how many people do you think are concerned or give a damn about the Canadian accent, and where on the map of the world is Canada anyway? who cares about their accent?. The mere mention of the country's name reminds me of sleep! - I must go to bed now, bye. >

Typical Americans - something we Canadians got use to living next to 'idiots'.
Guest   Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:45 pm GMT
>>Typical Americans - something we Canadians got use to living next to 'idiots'. <<

And yeah living to the nation of Canuck beavers is something we 'typical Americans' got used too.
Newfie   Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:58 pm GMT
Canada has culture, intelligence, the ability to get on with other nations, heritage and the finest standard of living in the world.

USA is just a great big BURGER..... fatty, ugly, gives you a bad aftertaste, and would pretty much like to kill you.

;-)

Canada and the Commonwealth for ever (Yip, I'm afraid I'm one of those Canadians).
Tiffany   Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:21 am GMT
This thread needs to be deleted. Hopefully we can start over and discuss the true topic, the accents of Canada, not a juvenile attempt to see who can insult the other the most.

I fully agree that we need a registration system now. Too many good threads die like this. In my opinion, sooner or later, all people that want to have a real conversation will look elsewhere because it is next to impossible here.

I've heard the various reasons against registration, but they all pale in comparison to this. If the intention was to let this board die, then good job. It's working.
SAOIRSE   Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:16 am GMT
"you called him "boy" within 20 words of your post"
If you bothered to read his post then you would realise why I called him Boy and put in quotation marks. I also chose to ignore the topic so shame on me. I was also setting him clear on his Geography but you yanks wouldn't know anything about that or maybe you’re a Brit. Ones as bad as the other.
Saoirse isn't actually my name. Do you know what it means? No insults, please. That’s all you seem to be able to do. You seem fixated on manhood. Are you a homosexual?
"we'll all take you in again and come to the rescue."
Can we choose where to go? I was thinking about some of the new land the USA has acquired as of late. Baghdad maybe. Personally I'd rather see you go there.
This thread is getting boring. I think I'll go wreak another one, just for you.
Also Yoda, you could have waited a few minutes between posts. It is clear you are Chewbacca.
Slan go foill.
SAOIRSE   Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:21 am GMT
"I fully agree that we need a registration system now. Too many good threads die like this. In my opinion, sooner or later, all people that want to have a real conversation will look elsewhere because it is next to impossible here.

I've heard the various reasons against registration, but they all pale in comparison to this. If the intention was to let this board die, then good job. It's working."
I am seriously sorry Tiffany and to others for my part in destroying this thread and promise not to post on this or any more under any other name or my existing one. Farewell. One troll less. Good riddance to bad rubbish etc,etc.
Slan go foill.
Candy   Sat Feb 11, 2006 9:32 am GMT
<<"And SAOIRSE, please keep on posting! Your posts are so hilarious!! Everything you write makes me fall off my chair laughing. I'm soory."
I'll gladly oblige. Got a few hilarious things to say soon enough.>>

Wonderful! Your posts are such brilliant, clever parodies, although I have to say that you do overdo it sometimes. Nobody could possibly have as many chips on their shoulders as this 'Saoirse' you're pretending to be. Still, keep up the good work! The best comedy is based on exaggeration. You keep this British person wildly entertained.
Guest   Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:59 am GMT
He might be pretending to be Saorse but is your name really candy. God help you if it is. Why does this thread still exist?
Candy   Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:09 am GMT
No, my real name is Myrtle.
Damian in Edinburgh   Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:56 pm GMT
Canada sounds like it's a wonderful country ever since I read a book called Red Fang when I was a wee lad. It was about the life of a Mountie (RCMP - Royal Canadian Mounted Police) all resplendent in his red tunic and distinctive hat. Red Fang was the name of his dog and the story was an adventure one in a remote part of Canada, all lakes and forests and all the ice and snow of Canadian winters. One thing i noticed in the book were references to the links with Britain which most parts of Canada still like to maintain (except of course for Quebec).

On Sky TV there is a series called Due South...about a Mountie who wanders south of the border and gets involved in chasing criminals in the USA. I don't know if the actor playing the Mountie is Canadian himself but I cannae tell the difference between his accent and those of all the Americans he is amongst...even when he says the usual giveaway words like "out" etc.

As I've said before in here, most Canadians here in the UK (whether tourists or living and/or working here on visas) make a point of identifying their nationality by displaying the red maple leaf either on their person or on their rucksacks or whatever. Like the barman down at the pub I go to on Broughton Street here in Edinburgh....whatever he wears, usually a scanty top, it has the red maple leaf badge attached to it. Call him an American and he is not best pleased.......almost as bad as Americans assuming that Scotland is part of England! Apparently quite a few do! Grrrrrrrrr! :-)


I'd like to kow how an American would react if s/he was mistaken for a Canadian? I reckon not many are...even thouse who live close to the Canadian border. Sometimes it's strange how a border is not only a geographical line of division but an accentual one as well, as with the Anglo/Scottish border. Carlisle is a good example...a city just 8 miles from the Scottish border where the accent is distinctly Cumbrian (English). And two nearby towns just about ten miles from each other: Longtown in Cumbria, England and Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. Longtown has the same Cumbrian accent as does Carlisle among it's inhabitants whereas Langholm is thoroughly Scottish.
Stan   Sat Feb 11, 2006 7:22 pm GMT
David Rogers,

The study of the Canadian accent (or accents) involves the study of that popular concept of "Canadian raising" - raising of the diphthongs before voiceless consonants. I think they call it a phonetic phenomenon because, no matter how hard you try to look at it, its never conclusive. Indeed, Canadians do raise the diphthongs before voiceless consonants, but they do it mostly in the pronunciation of the non-final syllable of a morpheme.

The "raising" phenomenon is too popular in that common and false example of the pronunciation of "about" as "aboot" (that has become very boring), it is a criminal exaggeration. Their pronunciation of about sounds a lot like as "a-boat" - which makes it even funnier (to some).

The bone of contention is the fact that this phenomenon (an escapist's term) is spread across midwestern states of the U.S.A, especially Minnesota - even in New England - but no one seems to be concerned about that. Historians are suspicious that this has its roots in parts of Great Britain but the current geographic spread of the speakers of this "raising" concept (couldn't find a more appropriate word) just do not support that line of intuition.

I think there has been too much arrogance on this issue, it gets very complicated if you choose to go into details.
JJM   Sat Feb 11, 2006 7:46 pm GMT
Damian:

The lead actor in Due South - Paul Gross - is very much a Canadian. By the way, The red Mountie uniform is strictly parade and ceremonial dress these days; the working uniform is brownish with a peak cap. But my, properly worn, that red uniform looks so good. You might wish to take a look here if you're so inclined:

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/index_e.htm

In one of the seasons, actor Leslie Nielsen (yet another Canadian who headed due south in search of fame*) shows up as a long-in-tooth Mountie. This was interesting because Leslie grew up in the Yukon where his Dad was - yep, a Mountie. Apparently Paul was not wearing his uniform properly and Leslie sorted him out on the finer details. Incidently, Leslie had a brother, Erik who went on to become an MP in the Canadian Parliament.

I'm a Canadian living in London. I have to tell you, I'm never annoyed at being mistaken for an American (I like Americans, and I like the US) but I'm always pleased as punch when a Brit correctly identifies my accent as Canadian!

* The dastardly Canadian conspiracy to take over the American entertainment industry has been running along nicely for some time: Christopher Plummer, Donald and Kiefer Sutherland, Jim Carrey, John Candy, Keanu Reeves and - gasp! - even Pamela Anderson...