LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.05.08 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 08.MAY.2002 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: "Randy Elzinga" <frisiancow at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2002.05.03 (01) [E]

Gary Taylor wrote:

>Someone made a comment a while back that Canadian
>English was half way between American and 'British'
>English. Although this may be true lexically, I have
>the impression that in some respects Canadian is
>phonetically further removed from British varieties
>than General American.

That was me who made the comment.  I admit I never thought to consider
the
phonetic aspect of the language.  Nevertheless, I've been told that
Canadians sound more like British to certain Americans too, although I'm
not
sure which Americans, and I don't even remember who told me anymore, but
I'm
sure the Americans who said and the person who told me were not
experts.
Judging from other responses to this, not all Americans think so.

In most British accents there
>are oppositions between the vowels in cart, cot and
>caught. In GA the vowels of cart and cot are merged
>(although an opposition is still made with the 'r',
>often absent in British English), however the vowels
>of cot and caught are still in opposition. In Canadian
>English, the three vowels are identical. (I've read
>this and don't have first hand experience - so please
>correct me if I'm wrong).
>Also Canadian has a difference (unique in Canada)
>between the vowels of ride and right, and I think also
>rote and road.

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary makes a disctinction between the vowels
in
right/ride, and also the vowels in house/loud, and feet/feed.  In the
preceeding cases the vowel before the unvoiced consonant is a shorter
version, although not necessarily indentical, of the one before the
voiced
consonant.  The dictionary doesn't represent an opposition between the
vowels in rote/rode, although I think there is a short/long opposition
here
too, and maybe for other vowels too.  Whether the dictionary represents
it
or not, I can't think of any case where two words are distinguished only
by
the length of the vowel.  I think stress also plays a role in the
short/long
pronunciations, but I can't say for certain.  The use of the long
version of
the vowel may be noticed by some, however, when a short one is
appropriate
and vice versa.  Celia Milward, in her Biography of the English
language,
states that, in Canadian English, the first element of the diphthong in
'house' tends to be reduced to a schwa, and thus accounts for an
American's
perception of 'out and about' sounding like 'oot and aboot'

Randy Elzinga.
frisiancow at hotmail.com

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From: Edwin Alexander <edsells at cogeco.ca>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.05.08 (02) [E]

At 01:03 PM 05/08/02 -0700, Randy Elzinga wrote:

  What is meant below by 'clipping vowels'?

I don't know the academic way of expressing this, but it is a general
eliding over or shortening of vowel sounds.  I'm sure
there's probably lots of rules on how and when this actually occurs.
However (not being a linguist), to describe it, I
generally give examples.  In Buffalo, NY, the capital of Ontario is
pronounced "Tor-on-to", while in Ontario speech it's
"Trana".  Likewise, what they call a "gar-age" here is usually
pronounced "grage" (though the General American
pronunciation is generally replacing this).  It's not always the first
vowel that's elided, as in the local pronunciation of the
word "nucle-ar" (i.e. with a diphthong) as "nu-clear" (not as a
diphthong).  Similarly, in classic Mid-Atlantic, it's
"Phildelphya" (eliding the second vowel), and garage is pronounced the
same was as it is here.

Don't know about any differences between Eastern and Western
sub-dialects of "Canadian".  Most people who
consider the settlement history of Canada are amazed more at the
similarities than the differences.

Ed Alexander

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