LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.05.03 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 03.MAY.2002 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Edwin Alexander <edsells at cogeco.ca>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2002.05.03 (01) [E]

At 07:17 AM 05/03/02 -0700, 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. 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 general theory is, to put it one way, that Canadian English is a
branch of Mid-Atlantic English, and came to Canada
with the refugees who were for the most part driven out of their homes
and farms following the First American Civil War
(which they call the American Revolution).  Since the majority of these
were from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, this
became the dominant accent.  Interestingly, this accent holds sway in
every province except Newfoundland, even though
the majority of setters in the Canadian West came first from the US, and
then directly from places like the Ukraine.

If I am mistaken, this accent developed, generally speaking, from
accents in the southwest of England.  Your remarks
about the vowels of "cot" and "cart" sound more like those of New
England and New York, which derive more from the
speech of Anglia.  My one brother who went to Harvard told me that one
time he needed an extra bed for a guest and
phoned a furniture store for a cot.  "How many wheels do you want?" was
the reply.

Personally, I found almost no difference in the way people talked in
Philadelphia where I lived before I came to
Canada.  The local football team was known as the Fildelfya Iggles.
Here we have the Trana Arganots.

Nice try, though, eh?

Ed Alexander
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

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