I was wondering if Canadians could distinguish the accent in the Southwestern US (e.g. California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.) on a phonological basis. I'm not talking about individual pronunciations of words like "sorry", etc., but the overall phonology of it. It is cot-caught merged, with a tendency towards the Canadian vowel shift. The California vowel shift is spreading as well which is the same as the Canadian vowel shift except it includes some extra features. /u/ and /o/ are fronted by some. In California, [IN] becomes [iN] for many speakers. There is no Canadian raising on /aI/ or /aU/. Do you think that those features would be very noticeable, or ignored by most people?
Can Canadians distinguish the Southwestern accent?
I don't know much about the accents of the Southwest, but from what I've read, they seem very similar to Canadian ones. The most obvious difference for me is the use of /A/ in 'sorry, tomorrow' etc. but you said not to count that... The absence of Canadian Raising is something that I might not notice right away, but I would be more likely to misinterpret 'writing' as 'riding' for example. If the [IN] to [iN] shift occurs in the Southwest, I would definitely notice that.
''Can Canadians distinguish the Southwestern accent?''
I like Pamela Anderson's accent (BC meets CA) ;)
I like Pamela Anderson's accent (BC meets CA) ;)
''The most obvious difference for me is the use of /A/ in 'sorry, tomorrow' ''
Many Canadians pronounce TOMORROW as [t@'mArou]
especially those from Windsor (Ontario) and Atlantic Provinces.
Tara (the Weather girl from CBC news at six (Windsor) never pronounces it with /Q/... Since TOMORROW is always used in weather forecasts, one can hear it pronounced with both pronunciations, by CBC Weather people.
Both pronunciations are used:
in Canada: dollar [dQl@r, sometimes: dAl@r], tomorrow [t@'mQro(u), sometimes: t@'mAro(u)]
in the US: [dQl@r] can be heard in Valley Girl accent, and ['t@'mQro(u)] in some regional accents...
I don't know why Canadians are so exclusive:'' -or spelling is American, -our is ours; tomorrow is never pronounced with /A/ in Canada blablabla''
in Canadian Preries, -or is more used than -our, and many Canadians DO use ''American'' pronunciations like [dAl@r] (instead of dQl@r) and
[t@'mAro(u)] instead of [ ['t@'mQro(u)]...This ''wanting to be different from US'' movement in Canada started in 90ies, I believe...All of a sudden, Canadian ''new'' identity is born...Unique identities don't have to be compared with another identities...Zee or Zed? Who cares? It's just a language. Communication.
Many Canadians pronounce TOMORROW as [t@'mArou]
especially those from Windsor (Ontario) and Atlantic Provinces.
Tara (the Weather girl from CBC news at six (Windsor) never pronounces it with /Q/... Since TOMORROW is always used in weather forecasts, one can hear it pronounced with both pronunciations, by CBC Weather people.
Both pronunciations are used:
in Canada: dollar [dQl@r, sometimes: dAl@r], tomorrow [t@'mQro(u), sometimes: t@'mAro(u)]
in the US: [dQl@r] can be heard in Valley Girl accent, and ['t@'mQro(u)] in some regional accents...
I don't know why Canadians are so exclusive:'' -or spelling is American, -our is ours; tomorrow is never pronounced with /A/ in Canada blablabla''
in Canadian Preries, -or is more used than -our, and many Canadians DO use ''American'' pronunciations like [dAl@r] (instead of dQl@r) and
[t@'mAro(u)] instead of [ ['t@'mQro(u)]...This ''wanting to be different from US'' movement in Canada started in 90ies, I believe...All of a sudden, Canadian ''new'' identity is born...Unique identities don't have to be compared with another identities...Zee or Zed? Who cares? It's just a language. Communication.