LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 30.APR.2000 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 30.APR.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Edwin Michael Alexander [edsells at idirect.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 12.MAR.2000 (03) [E]

At 03:42 PM 03/12/00 -0800, Jason Piorkowski wrote:
>Subject: LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 10.MAR.2000 (03) [E]
>Well, a few things on Canadian vs. American English.  I come from
>southern Wisconsin, and many people from further south (florida, etc.)
>mistake my accent for Canadian, and even say it "sounds like Irish".  I
>can begin to understand why they make the comparisons, because we sort
>of "sing" while speaking, our r's are more chewed, and th's often become
>d-sounds.

All this stuff about North American accents always reminds me of Edgar
Allan Poe's The Purloined Letter, wherein the various witnesses claim they
heard several different languages being spoken, whereas it turned out to be

the gruntings of an ape.

>As a Wisconsinite, I enjoy the canadian accents, and can understand why
>it's also considered British English.  They use words there that aren't
>alltogether foreign to us, but sound strange, or different from the
>specific ones that we would choose south of the border.

Such as?  Probably no more different vocabulary than one might find between

the East and West Coasts.  This idea of a "different vocabulary" is often
premised on the false notion that the British colonized Canada directly
from Britain, whereas in fact, until 1780, there were very few British in
what is now known as Canada.  Following the American Revolution, some 30K
refugees fled the American States, having had their homes and lands seized
by the Americans for having been on the wrong side of the civil war (and
for which they were never compensated).  Since the majority of these people

were from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and they completely overwhelmed in
numbers any other English speaking groups in Canada at that time, their
Mid-Atlantic speech and vocabulary (including the famous "eh", also used in

true mid-atlantic speech) became "the" accent of all of Canada, except
Newfoundland.

>   The most stereotypical parts of the Canadian accent that sets them
> apart, are the words STAMP, and ABOUT/OUT, etc.  STAMP, to me sounds like

> stomp, and about becomes ABOOT, and out becomes OOT.

Canadians do not say "aboot" ("abuut").  I suspect what "Americans" hear is

a consequence of the way they pronounce this diphthong - as "abowt".  Mid
Atlantic speech is characterized by a general shortening of mid vowels such

that "police officer" is pronounced "pleece ofsur".  Similarly, the "u u"
in "abowt" is shortened so that it sounds more like a "u".  When Americans
try to mimic this sound, they leave out the "o" sound, so it is no longer a

diphthong, and sounds more like how it might be pronounced in Scots.

By the way, are you sure they weren't saying "stomp"?  To a Canadian, the
way "stamp" is pronounced in Wisconsin is more likely to sound like
"stomp", since the Mid Western dialect is a descendent of the Anglian
dialects (along with Australian, South African, Cockney, and New England)
with its generally longer "a"s and different way of pronouncing ALL the
vowels.

>  There are other very small subtleties that are immediately recognizable
> as uniquely Canadian, but difficult to describe in words.

Oh, great!  Immediately recognizable, but yet indescribable.

Ed Alexander
JAG REALTY INC.
80 Jones Street Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8R 1Y1
Pager: 905-545-0177  Fax: 905-525-6671 Email: edsells at idirect.com
Jag Realty Inc.: http://www.deerhurst.com/jag/
Ontario Ultra Series:  http://ous.kw.net/
Burlington Runners Club: http://www.deerhurst.com/brc/

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