Canadian vowels

Guest   Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:37 am GMT
Why does description of Canadian vowels differ so drastically?
Linguists usually use /æ/ for TRAP-BATH and /ɑ/ for PALM-LOT-THOUGHT, while the Canadian Oxford Dictionary uses /a/ and /ɒ/, respectively.
Which one is correct and why?

Thanks
Estel   Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:11 am GMT
I would not say that they differ so drastically since linguistically the transcriptions you provided are related.

Interacting with canadians myself, the transcription of Canadian Oxford Dictionary seems correct to me. However, the previous one you provide seems to demonstrate generalized pronunciations of north American English, which of course, includes Canada.

I personally would say that both transcriptions are correct depending on where one is from in Canada.
Guest   Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:27 am GMT
Newfoundland: /æ/ for TRAP-BATH and /a/ for PALM-LOT-THOUGHT
Nova Scotia: /æ/ for TRAP-BATH and /ɑ/ for PALM-LOT-THOUGHT

so [map] is 1. ''map'' in Canadian-vowel-shifted accents; 2. ''mop'' in traditional Newfoundland (St. John's) accent
Trawicks   Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:19 pm GMT
In most dialects of Canadian English /{/ is rendered [a] and the PALM-LOT-THOUGHT phoneme is realized as either [A] or [Q]--I'd guess there's relatively free variation in a lot of dialects between the two.
Guest   Thu Aug 28, 2008 3:49 am GMT
I think unrounded vowel realization is the original Canadian version, for example Newfoundland central unrounded realizations of ''all, song, long, call, Dawn/Don'' are close to the traditional Southwestern US accent (as described by Daniel Jones and used by many dictionaries, like Cambridge Pronunciation dictionary and Cambridge Advanced Learner's dictionary [available online])
It seems that Atlantic Canada is more resistant to the Canadian vowel shift.
I've been listening to a St. John's radio station and the newscasters sound less Canadian and more SouthwesternUS/Central Ohian. Rounding of [A] is extremely rare, even before L's, so Grand Falls is pronounced like [grEnd fAlz]
Listen for yourself:
http://www.991hitsfm.com/mediaplayer/player.asp

I guess Canadian English is split between the Atlantic Canada (Newfoundland being the most different) and the rest of Canada. The reason of separation is Quebec.
Trawicks   Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:32 pm GMT
<<It seems that Atlantic Canada is more resistant to the Canadian vowel shift.>>

Kinda. It's that the shift isn't as advanced as it is elsewhere in Canada.
Guest   Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:31 pm GMT
Atlantic Canadian shift is as advanced as Californian vowel shift, that's is, apart from /{/-->[a], and *El-->[{l], there's no shift. Linguist say this is because of the merged vowel [A], which is low and unrounded.

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*El-->[{l] is common across US, even in Chicago, dark L is changing the vowel, so yellow is frequenly: yallow