Standard Canadian English
Standard Canadian English is the largely homogeneous variety of
Phonetics and phonology
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
lax | tense | lax | tense | lax | tense | |
Close | ɪ | i | u | ʊ | ||
Mid | ɛ | eɪ | ə | (ʌ) | oʊ | |
Open | æ | ɒ | ||||
Diphthongs | aɪ ɔɪ aʊ (ʌɪ) (ʌʊ) |
- Vowel length is a secondary phonemic feature of tense vowels in Canadian English, with the lowered variant of /ɛ/ and the tense variant of /æ/ being distinguished entirely by length for some speakers [citation needed]
- The phonemes /oʊ/ (as in boat) and /eɪ/ (as in bait) behave as monophthongs phonologically, and are often pronounced as such, especially in the Prairie Provinces.
Back vowel fronting
The onset of unraised /aʊ/ is usually low central [äʊ],[6] though it may be fronted before nasals. /oʊ/ usually remains backed [oʊ~o], unlike the fronted values found in the South, the Midland or California. That said, fronted pronunciations of /oʊ/ may exist for some younger speakers. In addition, some younger speakers front and lower /ʊ/.[7]
Unlike most Northern American English, /u/ is generally fronted in Canadian English. In Victoria, where the historical distinction between post-coronal /ju/ and /u/ is often maintained, the latter may be so front as to gain a [j]-like onglide.[8]
Low-back merger
Almost all Canadians have the
Some speakers may not exhibit the merger, especially older speakers and those living in rural areas or in the Prairies.
The standard pronunciation of /ɑr/ (as in start) is [ɑɹ], as in GenAm, or perhaps somewhat fronted as [ɑ̈ɹ]. As with Canadian raising, the advancement of the raised nucleus can be a regional indicator. A striking feature of Atlantic Canadian speech (in the
Words such as origin, Florida, horrible, quarrel, warren, as well as tomorrow, sorry, sorrow, generally use the sound sequence of FORCE, rather than START.
Loanwords that have a low central vowel in their language of origin, such as llama, pasta, and pyjamas, as well as place names like Gaza and Vietnam, tend to have /æ/, rather than /ɒ/ (which includes the historical /ɑ/, /ɒ/ and /ɔ/ because of the father–bother and cot–caught mergers). That also applies to older loans like drama or Apache. The word khaki is sometimes pronounced /ˈkɒki/ (or even /ˈkɒrki/). The pronunciation of drama with /æ/ is in decline, and studies found that 83% of Canadians used /æ/ in 1956, 47% in 1999, and 10% in 2012.[11] More generally, younger speakers tend to use /ɒ/ more than they did before, though there's still quite a bit of variation.[12][page needed] Some words, including plaza, façade, and lava will take a low central phone [ä], possibly distinct from both /æ/ and /ɒ/.[13]
Canadian Shift
The cot-caught merger creates a gap in the short vowel subsystem
Then, /ɛ/ and /ɪ/ may be lowered (in the direction of [æ] and [ɛ]) and/or retracted, but studies actually disagree on the trajectory of the shift.[18][19][20][21] For example, Labov and others (2006) noted a backward and downward movement of /ɛ/ in apparent time in all of Canada except the Atlantic Provinces, but no movement of /ɪ/ was detected.
Therefore, in Canadian English, the short a of trap or bath and the broad ah quality of spa or lot are shifted oppositely from those of the
/æ/-raising
Unlike many American English dialects, /æ/ remains a low-front vowel in most environments in Canadian English. Raising along the front periphery of the vowel space is restricted to two environments, before nasal and voiced velar consonants, and even then varies regionally. Ontario and Maritime Canadian English often show some raising before nasals, but it is less extreme than in many American varieties. Much less raising is heard on the Prairies, and some ethnic groups in Montreal show no pre-nasal raising at all. On the other hand, some speakers in the Prairies and British Columbia have raising of /æ/ before voiced velars (/ɡ/ and /ŋ/, with an up-glide rather than an in-glide, such that bag may almost rhyme with vague.[22] For most Canadian speakers, /ɛ/ is also realized higher as [e] before /ɡ/.
Following consonant |
Example words[24] |
New York City, New Orleans[25] |
Baltimore, Philadelphia[26] |
Midland US, New England, Pittsburgh, Western US |
Southern US |
Canada, Northern Mountain US |
Minnesota, Wisconsin |
Great Lakes US | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-prevocalic /m, n/ |
fan, lamb, stand | [ɛə][27][A][B] | [ɛə][27] | [ɛə~ɛjə][30] | [ɛə][31] | [ɛə][32] | |||
Prevocalic /m, n/ |
animal, planet, Spanish |
[æ] | |||||||
/ŋ/[33] | frank, language | [ɛː~eɪ~æ][34] | [æ~æɛə][30] | [ɛː~ɛj][31] | [eː~ej][35] | ||||
Non-prevocalic /ɡ/ |
bag, drag | [ɛə][A] | [æ][C] | [æ][27] | |||||
Prevocalic /ɡ/ | dragon, magazine | [æ] | |||||||
Non-prevocalic /b, d, ʃ/ |
grab, flash, sad | [ɛə][A] | [æ][D][37] | [ɛə][37] | |||||
Non-prevocalic /f, θ, s/ |
ask, bath, half, glass |
[ɛə][A] | |||||||
Otherwise | as, back, happy, locality |
[æ][E] | |||||||
|
Canadian raising
Perhaps the most recognizable feature of Canadian English is "
Before voiceless consonants, /aɪ/ becomes [ʌɪ~ɜɪ~ɐɪ]. One of the few phonetic variables that divides Canadians regionally is the articulation of the raised allophone of that and /aʊ/. In Ontario, it tends to have a mid-central or even mid-front articulation sometimes approaching [ɛʊ], but in the West and the Maritimes, a more retracted sound is heard, which is closer to [ʌʊ].
In GenAm, out is typically [äʊt] ⓘ, but with slight Canadian raising, it may sound more like [ɐʊt] ⓘ, and with the strong Canadian raising of the Prairies and Nova Scotia, it may sound more like IPA: [ʌʊt]. Canadian raising makes words like height and hide have two different vowel qualities. Also, for example, house as a noun (I saw a house) and house as a verb (Where will you house them tonight?) can then have two different vowel qualities: [hɐʊs] and [haʊz].
Especially in parts of the Atlantic Provinces, some Canadians do not have Canadian raising. On the other hand, certain non-Canadian accents use Canadian raising. In the United States, it can be found in areas near the border in dialects in the
) dialects, but Canadian raising is much less common than in Canada. The raising of /aɪ/ alone is actually increasing throughout the United States and, unlike the raising of /aʊ/, is generally not perceived as unusual by people who do not exhibit the raising.Because of Canadian raising, many speakers can distinguish between words such as writer and rider, which can otherwise be pronounced the same in North American dialects, which typically turn both intervocalic /t/ and /d/ into an
Phonemic incidence
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2022) |
Although Canadian English phonology is part of the
- The name of the letter Z is normally the Anglo-European (and French) zed, and the American zee is less common in Canada and often stigmatized but remains common, especially for younger speakers.[42][43]
- Lieutenant was historically pronounced as the British /lɛfˈtɛnənt/, rather than the American /luˈtɛnənt/,[44] and older speakers and official usage in military and government contexts typically still follow the older practice, but most younger speakers and many middle-aged speakers have shifted to the American pronunciation. Some middle-aged speakers cannot even remember the existence of the older pronunciation, even when they are specifically asked whether they can think of another pronunciation. Only 14-19% of 14-year-olds used the traditional pronunciation in a survey in 1972, and in early 2017, they were at least 57 years old.[44]
- In the words adult and composite, the stress is usually on the first syllable (/ˈædʌlt/ ~ /ˈædəlt/, /ˈkɒmpəzət/), as in Britain.
- Canadians often side with the British on the pronunciation of lever /ˈlivər/, and several other words; been is pronounced by many speakers as /bin/, rather than /bɪn/;[citation needed] and either and neither are more commonly /ˈaɪðər/ and /ˈnaɪðər/, respectively.[citation needed]
- Furthermore, in accordance with British traditions, schedule is sometimes /ˈʃɛdʒul/; process, progress, and project are occasionally pronounced /ˈproʊsɛs/, /ˈproʊɡrɛs/, and /ˈproʊdʒɛkt/, respectively; harass and harassment are sometimes pronounced /ˈhærəs/ and /ˈhærəsmənt/ respectively,[b] and leisure is rarely /ˈlɛʒər/.
- Shone is pronounced /ʃɒn/, rather than /ʃoʊn/.
- Again and against are often pronounced /əˈɡeɪn, əˈɡeɪnst/, rather than /əˈɡɛn, əˈɡɛnst/.[citation needed]
- Words like semi, anti, and multi tend to be pronounced /ˈsɛmi/, /ˈænti/, and /ˈmʌlti/, rather than /ˈsɛmaɪ/, /ˈæntaɪ/, and /ˈmʌltaɪ/.
- Words of French origin, such as clique and niche, are pronounced with a high vowel as in French, with /klik/ rather than /klɪk/ and /niʃ/ rather than /nɪtʃ/. Other words such as foyer (/ˈfɔɪ.eɪ/) have a French-influenced pronunciation.
- Pecan is usually /ˈpikæn/ or /piˈkæn/, as opposed to /pəˈkɒn/, which more common in the United States.[46]
- The most common pronunciation of vase is /veɪz/.[47] Resource, diagnose, and visa also have /z/.
- The word premier, the leader of a provincial or territorial government, is commonly pronounced /ˈprimjər/, but /ˈprɛmjɛr/ and /ˈprimjɛr/ are rare variants.
- Some Canadians pronounce predecessor as /ˈpridəsɛsər/ and asphalt as /ˈæʃfɒlt/.[citation needed]
- The word room is pronounced /rum/ or /rʊm/.
- Many anglophone Montrealers pronounced French names with a Québec accent: Trois-Rivières [tʁ̥wɑʁiˈvjæːʁ] or [tʁ̥wɑʁiˈvjaɛ̯ʁ].
- The pour-poor merger is less common than in GenAm.
Like most other
Like
In addition to that,
Many Canadian speakers have the typical American dropping of /j/ after alveolar consonants, so that new, duke, Tuesday, suit, resume, lute, for instance, are pronounced /nu/ (rather than /nju/), /duk/, /ˈtuzdeɪ/, /sut/, /rəˈzum/, /lut/. Traditionally, glide retention in these contexts has occasionally been held to be a shibboleth distinguishing Canadians from Americans. However, in a survey conducted in the Golden Horseshoe area of Southern Ontario in 1994, over 80% of respondents under the age of 40 pronounced student and news, for instance, without /j/.[48] This glide-deletion is less common in Victoria, though younger speakers front /u/ to such a degree after coronals that some words can take a [j]-like onglide.[8] Canadians do include /j/ in revenue and avenue.
Especially in Vancouver and Toronto, an increasing number of Canadians realize /ɪŋ/ as [in] when the raising of /ɪ/ to [i] before the underlying /ŋ/[49] is applied even after the "g" is dropped, leading to a variant pronunciation of taking, [ˈteɪkin]. Otherwise it primarily is found in speakers from not just California but also from other Western states and Midwestern areas including the Upper Midwest.[50][51] Speakers who use the [in] variant use it only for the underlying /ɪŋ/, which makes taking with a dropped "g" no longer homophonous with taken. This pronunciation is otherwise perceived as incorrect and has been described as a "corruption of the language" by some listeners.[52]
Notes
- ^ The GOAT phoneme is here transcribed as a diphthong /oʊ/, in accordance with leading phonologists on Canadian English like William Labov,[53] Charles Boberg,[54] and others,[55][56] though monophthongal phonetic variants are also common in actual speech.
- ^ The pronunciation with the stress on the second syllable is the most common pronunciation but is considered incorrect by some people.[45]
References
- ^ Dollinger, Stefan (2012). "Varieties of English: Canadian English in real-time perspective." In English Historical Linguistics: An International Handbook (HSK 34.2), Alexander Bergs and Laurel J. Brinton (ed.), 1858-1880. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 1859-1860.
- ^ a b c Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 222.
- ^ Boberg (2008).
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 223–224.
- ^ Boberg (2008), p. 150.
- ^ a b Boberg, Charles. "Boberg (2008) JENGL paper on Regional Phonetic Differentiation in Canadian English".
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(help) - ^ Boberg, Charles (2011) "Reshaping the Vowel System: An Index of Phonetic Innovation in Canadian English," University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 17: Iss. 2, Article 4.
- ^ ISSN 0075-4242.
- ^ a b Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 218.
- ISBN 9783110175325
- ^ Boberg (2020), p. 62.
- ^ Boberg (2020).
- ^ Boberg, Charles. "Boberg (2009) LVC paper on foreign (a) and emergence of a new phoneme in Canadian English".
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(help) - ^ Martinet, Andre 1955. Economie des changements phonetiques. Berne: Francke.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 219.
- ^ Esling, John H. and Henry J. Warkentyne (1993). "Retracting of /æ/ in Vancouver English."
- ^ Charles Boberg, "Sounding Canadian from Coast to Coast: Regional accents in Canadian English."
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006).
- ^ Charles Boberg, "The Canadian Shift in Montreal".
- ^ Robert Hagiwara. "Vowel production in Winnipeg".
- ^ Rebecca V. Roeder and Lidia Jarmasz. "The Canadian Shift in Toronto."
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 221.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 182.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 173–174.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 173–174, 260–261.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 173–174, 238–239.
- ^ a b c Duncan (2016), pp. 1–2.
- ^ a b Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 173.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 238.
- ^ a b Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 178, 180.
- ^ a b Boberg (2008), p. 145.
- ^ Duncan (2016), pp. 1–2; Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 175–177.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 183.
- ^ Baker, Mielke & Archangeli (2008).
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 181–182.
- ^ Boberg (2008), pp. 130, 136–137.
- ^ a b Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 82, 123, 177, 179.
- ^ Labov (2007), p. 359.
- ^ Labov (2007), p. 373.
- ^ Boberg.[full citation needed]
- ^ The Cambridge History of the English Language, edited by John Algeo, Volume 6, p. 431
- ^ Bill Casselman. "Zed and zee in Canada". Archived from the original on 2012-06-26. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- ^ J.K. Chambers (2002). Sociolinguistic Theory: Linguistic Variation and Its Social Significance (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- ^ a b Ballingall, Alex (6 July 2014). "How do you pronounce Lieutenant Governor?". www.thestar.com. Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
- ^ Canadian Oxford Dictionary
- ^ "pecan /ˈpikæn, /piˈkæn/, /pəˈkɒn/" Canadian Oxford Dictionary
- ^ Vase. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
- ^ Changes in Progress in Canadian English: Yod-dropping, Excerpts from J.K. Chambers, "Social embedding of changes in progress." Journal of English Linguistics 26 (1998), accessed March 30, 2010.
- ^ Walker, James A. (2019). "Sociophonetics at the intersection of variable processes: Variable in English (ING)" (PDF). In Sasha Calhoun; Paola Escudero; Marija Tabain; Paul Warren (eds.). Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019. Canberra: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc. pp. 34–37.
- ISBN 0618043624.
Another pronunciation even more widely heard among older teens and adults in California and throughout the West is 'een' for -ing, as in 'I'm think-een of go-een camp-een.'
- ISBN 9780979689505.
Regional Accents ... A distinguishing characteristic of the Upper Midwestern accent is the tendency to turn the 'ing' sound into 'een,' with a cheerful 'Good morneen!'
- ^ "NOT EVEN NETWORK STARS PRONOUNCE WORDS CORRECTLY". Orlando Sentinel. November 7, 1990.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. [page needed].
- ^ Boberg (2008), p. 130.
- ^ Bories-Sawala, Helga (2012). Qui parle canadien? diversité, identités et politiques linguistiques. Germany, Brockmeyer, pp. 10-11.
- ^ Trudgill, Peter; Hannah, Jean (2013). "The pronunciation of Canadian English: General Canadian". International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, p. 53.
Bibliography
- Baker, Adam; Mielke, Jeff; Archangeli, Diana (2008). "More velar than /g/: Consonant Coarticulation as a Cause of Diphthongization" (PDF). In Chang, Charles B.; Haynie, Hannah J. (eds.). Proceedings of the 26th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Somerville, Massachusetts: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. pp. 60–68. ISBN 978-1-57473-423-2.
- Boberg, Charles (2008). "Regional phonetic differentiation in Standard Canadian English". Journal of English Linguistics. 36 (2): 129–154. S2CID 146478485.
- Boberg, Charles (2020). "Foreign (a) in North American English: Variation and Change in Loan Phonology". Journal of English Linguistics. 48 (1): 31–71. .
- Duncan, Daniel (2016). "'Tense' /æ/ is still lax: A phonotactics study" (PDF). In Hansson, Gunnar Ólafur; Farris-Trimble, Ashley; McMullin, Kevin; Pulleyblank, Douglas (eds.). Supplemental Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Meeting on Phonology. Vol. 3. Washington, D.C.: Linguistic Society of America. )
- Labov, William (2007). "Transmission and Diffusion" (PDF). Language. 83 (2): 344–387. S2CID 6255506.
- Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006). ISBN 978-3-11-016746-7.