I've noticed that there's a huge difference between the English spoken in the Seattle, WA and in Vancouver, BC. I was wondering if the accent change occurs immediately at the border, or if there is a gradual transition. Do places like Blaine, WA sound more like Seattle, or do they sound more like Tsawwassen, BC? I know that there is some transition in accent if you go up the coast from San Diego up to Seattle, with Seattle having the most features in common with Canadian English, such as /æ/ tensing in words like "bag", some "bag-beg" merged people; some Canadian vowel shifted people, but no fronted /u/ and /o/ sounds like in Oregon and California; "tomorrow" with [Or] rather than Oregon/California/Southern Washington [A]. But there are some striking differences between Seattle and Vancouver English. It seems that in Seattle there's a tendency to pronounce -ing as [in], whereas in Vancouver, [In] is much more comming, along with [IN]. However, I've never noticed the [in] in places like Bellingham or Blaine. There's also the pronunciation of "sorry", which is almost universally [sAri] in Seattle, but [sOri] in Vancouver. There's also the Canadian raising in Vancouver, and various other pronunciations like "pasta" with /æ/. Some commonly used words like "been" is [bIn] in Seattle, but [bin] in Vancouver. "Again" is [@gIn] in Seattle, but [@gen] in Vancouver. Although Seattle has a fairly rounded /o/ sound, it sounds even rounded in Vancouver. Also the Canadian shift seems to be much more noticible in Vancouver.
So, does the accent immediately shift at the border between Washington and British Columbia, or is there a transitional accent? If so, how big is the transition? Is there any difference in accent between Blaine, WA and Tsawwassen, BC? And what about Point Roberts, which is part of Washington, but can only be reached by air or by driving through British Columbia, and whose residents do most of their shopping, etc. in Tsawwassen, BC. Does their English sound more like Seattle or Vancouver English?
So, does the accent immediately shift at the border between Washington and British Columbia, or is there a transitional accent? If so, how big is the transition? Is there any difference in accent between Blaine, WA and Tsawwassen, BC? And what about Point Roberts, which is part of Washington, but can only be reached by air or by driving through British Columbia, and whose residents do most of their shopping, etc. in Tsawwassen, BC. Does their English sound more like Seattle or Vancouver English?