Canadian Accent Studies

No wonder Keanu Reeves is a Canadian. He spoke such nice and clear English in one of his movies where he had played a role of a fake husband for a pregnant girl(I guess walking in the clouds is the movie name). In my opinion, whatever I have heard of Canadian speakers in my real life, I must say they have such a clear accent. I never needed to pay extra attention to what they are saying. One thing I found is that they pronounce 't' in often. It came across as a surprize to me. I always learn something new about the language.

Anyway, Can anyone tell me which country Edward Norton is belonged originally who had played a role alongwith Brat Pitt in 'Fight Club.' Also, what accent did he have in the movie?

Edward Norton is American. He's from Boston.

JJM -- the Canadians USED to be an insidious dark presence in the US film industry*, but they're being rapidly supplanted by your Commonwealth cousins from down under! Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pierce, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Sam Neill, Marton Csokas -- why, I just saw Simon Baker in a preview for an upcoming movie....

*(just kidding; Keanu may not have a thespian bone in his body, but he is welcome to come mow my lawn shirtless any day. You may have Pamela Anderson back, though...)

Boy: The movie is A Walk in the Clouds and it looked interesting, although I never made it farther than halfway. I agree with you that Canadians often enunciate their T's more than we do. As far as I could tell, Edward Norton had no real regional accent in "Fight Club". Helena Bonham-Carter did a pretty good job with her American accent, though.

<<One thing I found is that they pronounce 't' in often. >>

That may be heard all over the English-speaking world. Even tho it traditionally is without /t/ (except for several hundred years ago when there was in fact a /t/), the /t/-ful pronunciation has arisen as a spelling pronunciation in many parts of the English-speaking world. I hear it fairly often (pun kind of intended) here in the US.

Sad as it may be for Canadians, the fact is, with few exceptions, that the only native speakers of English who can distinguish their speech from that of USAns are other Canadians and USAns.

This is hardly surprising, given that both are usually extremely rhotic and produce similar short A sounds, sounds which are not used by native English speakers from any other continent. The devil may be in the detail, but when those Rs and As have belted you around the ears, the minor differences are insufficient for most of us.

It's probably too late to develop a distinctive accent, given the problem of propinquity.

Often always has a "T" for me too. I'm also a citizen of both Canada and America, with an American mother and a Canadian father. I've often been told I "mix" spellings, ex travelling and traveling.

I definitely think Toronto has an accent though, in certain parts. It's difficult to pinpoint where, but two of my Canadian cousins (one from Markham, the other near Mississauga) both have what I'd call a Canadian accent. The rest of my Canadian cousins speak with no discernable accent* to me, but they all live within the same general vicinity. Strange...

*This obviously means my accent (GAE I guess)

This may not apply to NAs, but elsewhere, it seems to be that people who pronounce the silent T in "often" also pronounce "again" to rhyme with "rain".

Hmm, I don't think this applies to me, but maybe you pronounce rain differently than I do.

I've never pronounced the T in "often" myself.

And just so you all know, "HMS Pinafore" just does not work in an American accent, because "orphan" and "often" even without the T, sound nothing alike to us, and listening to US actors try valiantly to merge the two words is nothing short of painful...

>>The devil may be in the detail, but when those Rs and As have belted you around the ears, the minor differences are insufficient for most of us.<<

Is that you Adam? Kindly translate "devil" without getting too biblical. Is it the one characteristic of 16th century English of pre-nonrhotic England?

Often? Hereabouts the "T" is of'n missing completely...much more of'n than not. I for one hardly ever pronounce the T and neither do any of my mates as far as I recall right now.

As my heading shows, the T is of'n missing in Scotland as well - most people do say Sco'land, here as well as down in England. I reckon I would put it in in some circumstances...like an interview or whatever.

JJM: Many thanks for the Paul Gross info and of course, the link. Cheers.

I take it you don't make a point of displaying the red maple leaf then?
:-)

Here in North East England, people definately pronounce the T in often. (The only difference being that we convert many 'e' sounds to 'i' sounds so up here, it becomes "Oftin".

I agree with Damian about pronounciation of the word "Scotland" but to be clear, around here, the 'T 'is dropped and substituted for a silent consonent. What I mean is that there is a 'pause' between 'Sco' and 'land'.... not a breathe based pause but almost as though the T has been surgically removed .... Sco[]land.

This is as opposed to anyone that thought that we conjoin it all together "scoland", which is not how it is ;-)

It's interesting about the word "again" and whether it's pronounced as rhyming with 'rain' or 'hen'.

I think that in England, this is something that can be pronounced differently by the user, each time they say it ! In other words I sometimes say 'again' (rhyming with 'rain') and other times I say 'agen'.

This is a common thing - if you take a look (and listen) at this fascinating web site that has recordings of many English speaking accents, you'll find a Canadian lady who pronounces the work 'project' completely differently within the space of 2 minutes!

http://www.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/canada/novascotia/novascotia.htm

David.

"not a breathe based pause but almost as though the T has been surgically removed .... Sco[]land."

A glottal stop.

"A glottal stop. "

Aye - that'll be it !