LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.11.06 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 06.NOV.2002 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Criostoir O Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.11.05 (05) [E]


Dear all,

I've a set of more historical questions about Canadian English.

1) Has the Canadian accent and variant of English always sounded similar to
United States versions, or has more recent (post-war) North American English
homogenisation (or Americanisation) via United States immigration and media
spillage led to the two varieties becoming almost indistinguishable to
outsiders?

2) What impact, if any, has Canadian French had on Canadian English? And to
what extent has this effect distanced Canadian English from United States
English?

3) A contributor a while back mentioned an archaic "British-sounding"
Canadian accent and dialect that was considered very bourgeois. Has this
accent always been around in Canada or was it merely an affectation to sound
more "British", developed in response to a perceived Americanisation of
Canadian speech in the 20th Century?

4) Is the "Irish" accent of the Newfoundland coast still in existence? If
so, does this accent actually derive from Irish immigration or through a
fossilisation of older England-English phonologies and lexical variants?

5) One final, but crucial, question: seeing as though Ontario, Québec and
the Maritimes were largely (re)populated by United States War of
Independence refugees ("Loyalists") between 1775-1820, did this population
movement eradicate (through "Americanising") or displace an extant,
peculiarly Canadian speech (phonology, grammar, lexicon)? If so, what did
this speech form sound like?

It's amazing what the Penguin History of Canada can make one think about.

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Críostóir.

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