Canadian English

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Template:English dialects Canadian English is the form of English used in Canada, spoken as a first or second language by over 25 million Canadians (as recorded in the census of 2001). Canadian English spelling is a mixture of American and British. Canadian vocabulary is very similar to American English, with some key differences and local variations.

Pronunciation of the English language in this country is overall very similar to American pronunciation, which is especially true for Central and Western Canadians. The Eastern provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have a maritime accent which overall sounds more similar to Irish (Hiberno-English) pronunciation than American. There is also some French influence in pronunciation for some English-speaking Canadians who live near, and especially work with French-Canadians.

Contents

Spelling

Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American rules. Most notably, words that in American English end with -or and -er, such as color or center, are colour and centre in Canadian and British writing. In other cases, though, Canadians and Americans stand at odds with British spelling, such as in the case of words like tire and draft, which in British English are spelled tyre and draught. In addition, -ize endings (organize) are significantly more common than -ise endings (organise).

English words which were originally imported from the French language in previous centuries, such as theater and catalog, are usually spelled following French spelling rules in Canadian and British English, and so are spelled theatre and catalogue; however, American spelling of these words is also acceptable, as is often the case with alternative American spellings.

A business-history explanation for some Canadian spelling rules is possible. For instance, the British spelling of the word cheque probably relates to Canada's once-important ties to British financial institutions. Canada's car industry, on the other hand, has been dominated by American firms from its inception, explaining why Canadians use the American spelling of tire and American terminology for the parts of a car. In fact, a major Canadian retail hardware and home goods chain is known as Canadian Tire. Many of the Commonwealth spellings are kept in order to form constructions such as CITY CENTRE-VILLE in which the former two words can be interpreted as English, and the latter two as French. This makes use of the relative position of adjectives to the noun in both languages.

British spellings which include digraphs (or their two-letter equivalents) are beginning to disappear from Canadian spellings. Words such as encyclopædia, dæmon, fœtus, and pædiatrician are spelled encyclopedia, demon, fetus, and pediatrician, although many Canadian dictionaries offer both spellings as an option and medical journals still include ligatures. Manoeuvre (instead of the U.S. maneuver) is still the more common spelling in Canada, though.

A plausible contemporary reference for formal Canadian spelling is the spelling used for Hansard transcripts of the Parliament of Canada. Many Canadian editors, though, use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2004), often along with the chapter on spelling in Editing Canadian English and, where necessary (depending on context) one or more other references (see the section "Further reading").

Pronunciation

Main article: Phonemic differentiation

The primary aspect of the Canadian English accent is a feature called "Canadian raising", where diphthongs are raised before voiceless consonants. For example, about will be raised from [əˈbaʊt], as it is in the American Atlantic dialect, to [əˈbʌʊt], a higher vowel, or nearly even [əˈboʊt] in some dialects. The stereotypical aboat pronunciation, lampooned in the American television series South Park is unusual; the stereotype may derive from an interpretation of the aboot pronunciation as heard by someone who is used to the much lower abawt pronunciation, or from a misinterpretation of the spelling of the "word" aboot. Ironically, a monophthongized pronunciation of aboat is quite common in parts of the U.S. Upper Midwest, such as Minnesota. Anecdotally, the abuhwt vowels are heard in Ontario and further west, and the aboot vowels are heard in the Eastern provinces.

Diphthong raising is shared with many American dialects in the words writer and rider, pronounced (approximately) as [ɹʌjɾəɹ] and [ɹajɾəɹ] (in IPA transcription). Note that Canadian English shares with American English the phenomenon where /t/ and /d/ become [ɾ] after a vowel and before an unstressed vowel. Canadian raising preserves the voicelessness of /t/ and the voicedness of /d/ where it is etymologically appropriate, even where the contrast is lost in the consonant itself.

Also heard is the variation in the pronunciation of the word can't, in Ontario, it is said almost as canned, whereas in the west, it becomes more like kahnt. The Northern cities vowel shift that is happening in Michigan also is heard to an extent in Southwestern Ontario, for example, Andy is pronounced [eəndi] or [ɪəndi].

A recently identified feature (1995) found among many Canadians is a chain shift known as the Canadian Shift. This is not found in the Atlantic Provinces, east of Quebec; it is only found in Ontario and further west. For people with this shift, cot and caught merge in rounded [ɒ] position. The /æ/ of bat then moves down to [a], while the /ɛ/ of bet becomes [æ], which is short-a in other accents. This shift is still a relatively new phenomenon, so not all Canadians have it. Of the ones that do, not all have the last stage. Canadians without the Shift typically pronounce cot and caught as an un-rounded [ɑ], as in the western United States.

There is a tendency to monophthongize the long a and o sounds, resulting in [beːt] for bait and [boːt] for boat (though this occurs usually in rapid speech). Finally, the broad /ɑ/ of foreign loan words in words like drama or Iraq are usually pronounced like the short a of bat: /dɹæmə/, /ɪɹæk/.

Like American English, Canadian English is largely rhotic. This means it maintains the pronunciation of r before consonants. Rhoticity has been largely influenced by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English.

Americans sometimes claim to be able to recognize some Canadians instantly by their use of the word eh. However, only a certain usage of eh (detailed in the article) is peculiar to Canada. It is common in southern Ontario, the Maritimes and the Prairie provinces. In some parts of the United States, American English exhibits features of Canadian English, including Canadian Raising and the use of eh. Canadian accents are sometimes detected among Michiganders, Minnesotans and their northern fellows.

Other variations

Canada shares similarities with English English in pronouncing words like fragile, fertile, and mobile. While American English pronounce them as [fɹædʒl̩], [fɝɾl̩], and [moʊbl̩], Canadians pronounce them as the British do, sounding like /fɹædʒajl̩/, /moʊbajl̩/ An exception is missile, where the American and British versions are almost equal; the American pronunciation of fertile is also becoming very popular in Canada, even though the British pronunciation remains dominant.

In American English, words like semi, anti, and multi are often pronounced as /sɛmaj/, /æntaj/, and /mʌltaj/, whereas the British pronounce them like /sɛmi/, /ænti/, and so on. Canadians tend to prefer the British pronunciation of these words, though American pronunciation has made headway.

Vocabulary

Where Canadian English shares vocabulary with other English dialects, it tends to share most with American English. For instance, automotive terminology in Canada is entirely American. Canadians may prefer the British term railway to the American railroad, but most railway terminology in Canada follows American usage (eg., ties, as well as cars rather than sleepers and waggons), although railway employees themselves say sleeper.

Spoken Canadian English and American English are mutually intelligible with each other and much more readily understood and less fraught with differences than British English is to either of them. However, some terms in standard Canadian English are shared with Commonwealth English, but not with American English. These include:

  • Tory for a supporter of the federal Conservative Party of Canada, the historic Progressive Conservative Party of Canada or a provincial Progressive Conservative party; the use of Tory to mean the Loyalists in the time of the American Revolution is unknown in Canada, where they are called United Empire Loyalists.
  • solicitor and barrister for lawyers (although in Canada, a lawyer is usually referred to as a barrister or a solicitor only in formal and professional usage; lawyer, or counsel predominates in everyday contexts, and sometimes the American usage attorney is encountered. In the British system, the solicitor and barrister are two different people; in Canada, the same lawyer occupies both roles but will often use terms like Barrister and Solicitor, or QC [Queen's Counsel, an honour given in some provinces for a certain level of experience] as formal or official titles.])
  • Back bacon: called in the US Canadian bacon
  • bum for the American butt (the two words coexist in Canadian English, and bum is most commonly used as a polite or childish euphemism)
  • tin (as in tin of tuna) rather than can.
  • arse is commonly used in Atlantic Canada. West of the Ottawa river, ass is more idiomatic.
  • serviette: a table napkin

Several lexical items come from British English, such as lieutenant (/lɛf-/) and light standard (an obsolete British word for lamp-post). Several political terms are uniquely Canadian, including riding (a parliamentary constituency or electoral district).

Like other dialects of English that exist in proximity to francophones, French loanwords have entered Canadian English, such as:

Canadian English also has its own words not found in other variants of English. In 1998, Oxford University Press produced a Canadian English dictionary, after five years of lexicographical research, called The Canadian Oxford Dictionary; a second edition was published in 2004. It listed uniquely Canadian words, words borrowed from other languages and surveyed spellings, such as whether colour or color was the most popular choice in common use.

In Canada, the word premier, as meant to be the leader of a provincial or territorial government, is pronounced prem-yare, preem-year, or preem-yehr in most places, as opposed to the United States, where it is pronounced prem-ear. Premiere, meaning the first showing of a movie, is pronounced the same in Canada as the rest of the world.

Uniquely Canadian English words include:

  • Allophone: a resident of Quebec who speaks a first language other than English or French.
  • Biffy: outdoor toilet usually located over a septic tank
  • Blochead: (derogatory term) a member of the Bloc Québécois
  • Brown bread: elsewhere called Wheat bread
  • Butter tart: a single serving, sweet pie, often with raisins; very like pecan pie, minus the pecans
  • Chesterfield (also Northern Californian English and British English): a sofa, couch, or loveseat[1]
  • Dayliner: a Budd Rail Diesel Car, a self-propelled diesel passenger railcar
  • Double-double: a cup of coffee with two creams and two sugars (especially, but not exclusively, from Tim Hortons)
  • Dipper (or 'kneedipper'): a member or supporter of the New Democratic Party
  • Eavestroughs: grooves or channels that attach to the underside of the roof of a house to collect rainwater. Known to Americans as a gutter.
  • Family Compact: a group of influential families who exercised substantial political control of Ontario during part of the 1800s
  • Garburator: a garbage disposal unit located beneath the drain of a kitchen sink
  • Gettone (in Toronto and environs): foosball; pronounced roughly as in Italian
  • Grit: a member or supporter of one of the federal or provincial Liberal parties (but not the Parti libéral du Québec)
  • Homo milk: whole (homogenized) milk
  • Joe job: a lower-class, low-paying job. Not to be confused with the American term joe job.
  • Keener: an enthusiastic student, not necessarily a positive term
  • Kraft Dinner: often shortened to KD, known elsewhere as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
  • Lane way: a driveway of a house. In Canada, the word 'driveway' refers to the portion of land in between the sidewalk and the street.
  • Loonie and toonie: Canadian one- and two-dollar coins
  • Nanaimo bar: a confection named for the town of Nanaimo, British Columbia
  • Parkade: parking garage
  • Quiggly hole and Quiggly town: remains of First Nations underground houses in the Interior of British Columbia
  • Robertson: a Canadian square-headed screw or screwdriver. While this is used outside of the country for that screw head type, the screws are much less common.
  • Shit disturber: a person who tends to create controversy or chaos
  • Ski-Doo: a brand name now used generically to refer to any snowmobile. Can also be used as a verb.
  • Snowbird: a Canadian who spends the winter in the States (often Florida). Often retired.
  • Timbits: a brand name of doughnut holes made by Tim Hortons that has become a generic term
  • Trousseau tea: a reception held by the mother of a bride, for neighbours not invited to the wedding
  • Tuque: a thick winter hat that covers the head and ears (usually called a Beanie in American English)
  • Whitener: powdered non-dairy additive for coffee or tea

There are a few meaning differences between Canadian and American English; for example, to table a document in Canada is to present it, whereas in the U.S. it means to withdraw it from consideration. Also, a 'rubber' in the U.S. and Canada is slang for a condom; however, in Canada it is also another term for 'eraser'.

Canadians mostly use the term 'gasoline', rather than the British term 'petrol'. Gasoline prices require some awkward translation between Canadian and American figures. Even before the metrication efforts of the 1970s, the translation of "dollars per gallon" required not only replacing Canadian vs. American currencies but also a conversion between Imperial (4.5 L) vs. US (3.8 L) gallons.

Often native French Canadian speakers will use calques of French idioms, so in Quebec it is relatively common of for both Anglophones and Francophones to "close the light" or to "open the light", meaning to turn on or off the light in a room. This was especially common in the Gaspé, where until recently Anglophones and Francophones lived in mixed communities for generations.

When pronouncing letters of the alphabet, Canadians will almost invariably use the Anglo-European (and French) "zed" rather than the American "zee" for the letter Z. Canadian students add "grade" before their grade level, instead of after it as is the usual, but not sole, American practice. For example, a student in "10th grade" in the USA would be in "Grade 10" in Canada. (Quebec anglophones may instead say "sec 5" (secondary 5) for Grade 11.) It should also be noted that in Canada, the specific high school grade (eg. Grade 9 or Grade 12) or university year is stated and not the American terms "freshman" or "sophomore". Also, while in the United States the term "college" refers to post-secondary education in general, the term "college" has a different meaning in Canada. It refers to either a post-secondary technical or vocational institutions, or to the colleges that exist as individual institutions within some Canadian universities. Most often, "college" is a community college, not a university. In Canada "college student" might denote someone obtaining a diploma in plumbing while "university student" is the term for someone earning a Bachelor's Degree.

Past participles also tend to be used differently in Canada and the United States. In general, Canadian English speakers will tend to say (but not spell) "the cookies are burnt"; Americans will say "the cookies are burned."

There is also greater resistance to turning nouns into verbs in Canada. Until recently, many Canadian teachers rejected the verb to contact.

Adoption of metric units is more advanced in Canada than in the US due to governmental efforts during the Trudeau era; while Canadians still often use pounds, feet and inches to measure and weigh themselves, outdoor temperatures, food packaging, fuel and highway speeds/distances are almost always metric.

The Bob & Doug McKenzie "Take off to the Great White North" comedy routines, popular in both countries in the early 1980s, drew heavily on linguistic differences such as pronunciation (such as Trona for Toronto or brudle for brutal) as well as once-obscure historical terms such as hoser or hosehead (originally used to refer to gas siphoning on the prairies in the depression era).

Regional variation

Toronto

The English spoken in Toronto is closely related to the midwestern American accent, but with a more literal interpretation of long o sounds, such as in gone and fog. One regional accent which differs from the rest of the city, though, is the North York slur; some residents of that part of the city have a slightly larger tendency (though it is by no means a rule) to slur their words than those who live in the southern portions of Toronto. Slang terms used in Toronto are unanimous with those used in other major North American cities. There is also a heavy influx of slang terminology originating from Toronto's many immigrant communities, of which the vast majority speak English only as a second or minor language. These terms originate mainly from various European, Asian and African words. Many Torontonians have also adopted the Newfoundland English convention of using buddy (without a capital) as equivalent to that man (I like buddy's car.).

Ottawa Valley

The Ottawa valley has its own distinct accent, known as the Ottawa Valley Twang.

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island has a distinct dialect due to settlement by speakers of Acadian French and Scottish Gaelic. See Cape Breton accent.

Maritimes

Maritimer English quirks include the removal of pre-consonantal [r] sounds, and a faster speech tempo. It is heavily influenced by both British and Irish English.

An example of typical Maritime English might be the pronunciation of the word "battery." In American English (and also Western Canadian English) the word would be pronounced "bad-der-y", but "bat-try" in the Maritimes which follows the British pronunciation. The letter "T" is strongly pronounced in general, but always lightly. It is rare for the "T" at the end of a word to receive a "D" pronunciation.

While the stereotypical Canadian interrogative "Eh?" is used more often in the Maritimes than it would be in the US, it is actually quite rare compared to Western Canada. Alternatively, one might hear the interrogative "Right?" which is in turn used as an adverb (ie "It was right foggy today!") as well.

The second syllable of "about" is pronounced [ʌʊ] rather than RP [aʊ]. The main distinction between Canadian (Prairie) pronunciation of this diphthong is in its resolution. Namely, an American pronunciation resolves the a-sound [ɶ] (or, alternatively, the schwa sound ([ə])) , whereas the Canadian pronunciation resolves with an oh-sound [ɔ] (a bah oh t). One might hear the term "Out and about" being pronounced as "Oat in a boat" in the Maritimes.

British terms are very much still a part of Maritime English, although slowly fading away in favour of American or Western terms. "Chesterfield" and "front room" are examples of this.

Newfoundland

The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which was an autonomous dominion until March 31, 1949, has its own dialect distinct from the rest of Canadian English. See Newfoundland English.

Quebec

Among Montréal-native anglophones, there is a distinction between /æ/ and /a/, unique in Canada, so that Mary and merry are not homophones.

Among Eastern Townships-native anglophones, syrup is often pronounced as sir-rup.

A short a is used in words like drama; in common with most Canadians, Québecois and Ontarians pronounce words of foreign origin (Datsun, Mazda, etc.) as if the vowels are French.

Ontario

The Canadian raising is often quite strong in Ontario. Many speakers in Ontario and the provinces further west have a new chain shift called the Canadian Shift.

In southwestern Ontario (especially rural areas), some speakers also have aspects of the Midwestern US accent, e.g. not sounds like naht (/nɔt/ → /nat/), combined with Canadian raising (see USA below). The accent is slightly modified to signify sarcasm or emphasis: not becomes a heavily stressed nat, for example, and hockey may sound like hackey (with an æ).

The use of the interrogative "Eh?" is widespread.

The intervocalic s – is more frequently voiced in words such as resource.

A short a is used in words like drama; in common with most Canadians, Québecois and Ontarians pronounce words of foreign origin (Datsun, Mazda, etc.) as if the vowels are French.

Many Ontarians do not pronounce the second t in Toronto (hence, Toronno).

In Central Ontario (that is, the region around Toronto) in particular, the voiced th and d are often not distinguished, the two pronunciations frequently appearing together ("Do you want this one or dis one?", for example). Sometimes (particularly in North York, see the above section), the th is dropped altogether, resulting in "Do you want this one er'iss one?" Most accents, of course, are quite subtle, and most immaterial to detailed speech.

Prairies

A strong Canadian raising exists in the prairie regions.

See also

References

External links

Further reading

  • Canadian Raising: O'Grady and Dobrovolsky, Contemporary Linguistic Analysis: An Introduction, 3rd ed., pp. 67-68.
  • Canadian federal government style guide: Public Works and Government Services Canada, The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998).
  • Canadian newspaper and magazine style guides:
  • Canadian usage: Margery Fee and Janice McAlpine, Guide to Canadian English Usage (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2001).af:Kanadese Engels

de:Kanadisches Englisch he:אנגלית קנדית

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