LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 14.MAR.2000 (04) [E]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 14.MAR.2000 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Wilf Ratzburg [wratzburg at hotmail.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 13.MAR.2000 (01) [E]

> Jason Piorkowski comments on Canadian speech including
"aboot" for "about."

> I do believe most Canadians, especially in the Niagara
Peninsula say what
> you all represent phonetically by "ab at ut."

I know this is diverging somewhat from the topic of
lowlans-l, but as someone who has grown up and lived in
Western Canada (British Columbia) for the past 45 years, I
must say that I have NEVER heard "about" pronounced as
"aboot", or anything even close to that. Now, I've heard
Americans make that comment on numerous occasions, but I
just can't/don't hear it. "About" is pronounced "abOWt" (as
is wOW, pOW, etc.) around hear. Next time you're up this
way, Ron, you'll have to have a listen. Peter (in Victoria)
and Reuben (in Kelowna), what do you think?

> "out and about" as you indicated, and also by the
pronunciation of "right",
> which I think sends towards "rate" in Canada.

Once again, there's absolutely NO chance of hearing "rate"
in British Columbia. Of course, Canada is a huge country,
and there are bound to be differences in pronounciation. If
I were to characterize ours, I'd say it's a subtle mix of
Ontario and California (much like Seattle, eh, Ron?).

Cheers,
Wilf Ratzburg
out and abOWt in West Vancouver, BC
Canada

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Language varieties

Wilf, you wrote:

> Next time you're up this
> way, Ron, you'll have to have a listen.

As a matter of fact, I will be up there this coming weekend.  However, I've
been up to British Columbia many times, I watch BC TV regularly, and I deal
with Canadians here on a daily basic, most of them from British Columbia
(though a couple of them have roots in the east).

First let it be said that it was not I who has claimed that Canadians say
things like "aboot" [?@'bu:t].  If any of them did, my first inclination would
be to assume that they are originally from Scotland or are speaking some
hitherto unknown Scottish-derived dialect of some Eastern Seaboard place.
However, I do hear quite a lot of Canadians say [?@'b at Ut] or [?@'boUt] with
more duration on the second part of the diphthong.  I have daily dealings with
a British Columbian who says [?@'boUt].  He grew up in BC, but his family
roots are in the east.  (He has a French surname.) His wife, also from BC,
does not pronounce it that way.  Also, I hear many Canadians use long
monophthongs where others use diphthongs (e.g., _great_ [gre:t] ~ [grEIt],
_go_ [go:] ~ [goU] ~ [geoU], the former being not unlike the pronounciation of
people in the northern Midwest of the US, especially in Wisconsin and
Minnesota, and also the pronunciation of many Native Americans in Canada and
the US.

My first and most influencial phonology instructor was a Canadian who grew up
in the east and later lived in British Columbia.  She explained that Canadians
are almost evenly divided between [?@'baUt]- and [?@'boUt]-speakers.  In other
words, about half pronounce it pretty much the way most US residents do.
Apparently, it started off as regional dialects, but the population and their
dialects are all mixed up these days, especially over in the west,
specifically in British Columbia (Canada's California, Oregon, Washington,
Hawaii and Florida all in one).  This is also the case in the US, due to
westward migration; i.e., there are few distinctively western dialects, i.e.,
dialects that the average person identifies as special, though there are some
sociolects, such as the, like, Valley Girl and, you know, dude, Surfer
sociolects in Southern California.  Interestingly, those dialects we consider
"typically Texan" (which are also considered southern) are not found in the
farwestern part of Texas (i.e., in the area of El Paso), and the dialects
there are closely related to the "non-distinctive" ones we also find in
Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and all along the West Coast.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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