Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I don't understand this vowel raising lingo. People say I sound like an English Southerner.

Whenever the Americans came over to visit the corp I always felt more at home with them than Canadians from upper management. Maybe we're more direct and confident in our speech?

It reminds me of why I find the CBC so aggravating: I can't stand the Canadian accent! (I grew up listening to American talk radio.)

Having read all the commentary since this post including Kool's, who could tell me to stab myself and I probably would his opinions always seem so correct to me...

But I can totally understand not liking the Canadian accent.

Even in French. There's a four-minutes YouTube ad about Indigenous summer camps on YouTube right now that I've accidentally listened to twice when tabbed out, and the French is just... so Quebecois. So nasal, simultaneously choppy and with a drawl. I don't even speak French and I can hear the difference, and it's negative. And I know a lot of people in the tourism sector here, and that's come up at least a few times - for example, calling over the bilingual waitress to work at a table, and her coming back with a grimace, "They're Quebecois, not French." And, of course, just the act of putting that into words over-emphasizes how it was experienced in life. This is a very minor reaction, but the people who are conscious of it - jeddy1989 is another example (had to stop a Quebecois music video I sent because he couldn't stand the tone of the French) - it's real.

It's the same in any language, really. Spain is perhaps even more strongly divided. Spain has, by FAR, the most unattractive Spanish language accent. By FAR. It sounds like a speech impediment once you're used to smooth, sexy Colombian, or standard, widespread Mexican, or even choppy, vulgar Caribbean Spanish. Every time you watch a Spanish-language music video and the singer pronounces it "TH" instead of "Z" you reach for the skip button.

So these things are real. And I think Canada has done absolutely nothing attractive with either English or French. And I include us in that. I like any Newfoundland accent a bit more than the faux Valley Girl Ottawa Valley CBC one, but I certainly don't think any of them are superior to their regional Irish (Wexford, Waterford) or English (Devon) equivalents. We haven't made anything better. We just haven't made it so bad as ye lol

Canadian pronunciations and... what's the word for flow, the way sentences move and thoughts are committed to word... whatever that is, Canada is atrocious at it.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

...

But I can totally understand not liking the Canadian accent.

...

Except that there isn't any single Canadian accent, I don't have it much. There is that accent to which you refer though, which is thought of as if we all have it in homogeneity. In particular the squeaky "ee" sounds are most bothersome, and some announcers have picked it up, thus perpetuating it. I preferred the old standard authoritative trans-atlantic announcer's accent.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Architype

Except that there isn't any single Canadian accent, I don't have it much. There is that accent to which you refer though, which is thought of as if we all have it in homogeneity. In particular the squeaky "ee" sounds are most bothersome, and some announcers have picked it up, thus perpetuating it. I preferred the old standard authoritative trans-atlantic announcer's accent.

Squeaky “ee”?

[Architype]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Squeaky “ee”?

If it's that hard to explain, maybe only I can hear it.
It's a very closed e sound that is drawn out. Maybe it's the overall Canadian vocal sound that is squeaky.
Canadian vowels go through various weird diphthong formations too.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Another generational linguistic change:

One of my kids was doing homework on the back deck, and just came in saying "Y a trop de moustiques!"

No one in my generation would have said "moustiques". Our word was "maringouins".

I guess it would have very been hard to sell your generation on snowbirding real estate in the Sunbelt town of Maringouin, Louisiana

I could personally use either word, pretty interchangeably. In fact now that you've tainted my mind I can't even say which I'd have used in your kid's exact situation.

[SignalHillHiker]

I've half cut so don't judge, but this website is fascinating. I can totally fake a lot of the various Slavic accents now (and Canadian lol).

• Video Link

[Architype]

You have a typical St. John's modern accent, the vowels are cut short, and are choppy compared to the overall canadian accent. The consonants are very hard and accentuated, especially the C L T and K sounds. It is however clearly enunciated!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Architype

If it's that hard to explain, maybe only I can hear it.
It's a very closed e sound that is drawn out. Maybe it's the overall Canadian vocal sound that is squeaky.
Canadian vowels go through various weird diphthong formations too.

You seem to be describing a vowel shift, but I’m not sure. Is it a long “e”? Vowel shifts are usually more apparent in short vowels, no? Can you give some word examples?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Architype

You have a typical St. John's modern accent, the vowels are cut short, and are choppy compared to the overall canadian accent. The consonants are very hard and accentuated, especially the C L T and K sounds. It is however clearly enunciated!

I was struck by “yehkcent” (accent) and “sne(y)k” for snack.

[urbandreamer]

I also listened (and still listen) to mostly BBC radio and UK-based DJs (eg Pete Tong/Essential Mix, Above and Beyond) so find it amusing that my girlfriend has to use closed captioning to understand UK-based movies and TV shows: drives me crazy so I can't watch them at the same time.

[urbandreamer]

Originally Posted by wave46

English Southerner? As in, the south of England? Or Southern US (you mentioned American talk radio)

What American accent do you like so much? Texas, Boston, Midwest, Minnesotan, etc. etc?

Texan, Virginian, Arkansawyer.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

But I can totally understand not liking the Canadian accent.

Outsiders, yes, I can totally understand that, but anyone's own accent in their native language shouldn't be considered an accent by themselves.

I have no accent; everyone on this planet who doesn't speak Standard Southern Québécois French has an accent.

Same with you - you're speaking the perfectly standard language of where you are, so you have no accent in your frame of reference. That's how the people all speak; makes little sense to like or dislike that. It is what it is.

To me, people who dislike their native accent are weird.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Having read all the commentary since this post including Kool's, who could tell me to stab myself and I probably would his opinions always seem so correct to me...

But I can totally understand not liking the Canadian accent.

Even in French. There's a four-minutes YouTube ad about Indigenous summer camps on YouTube right now that I've accidentally listened to twice when tabbed out, and the French is just... so Quebecois. So nasal, simultaneously choppy and with a drawl. I don't even speak French and I can hear the difference, and it's negative. And I know a lot of people in the tourism sector here, and that's come up at least a few times - for example, calling over the bilingual waitress to work at a table, and her coming back with a grimace, "They're Quebecois, not French." And, of course, just the act of putting that into words over-emphasizes how it was experienced in life. This is a very minor reaction, but the people who are conscious of it - jeddy1989 is another example (had to stop a Quebecois music video I sent because he couldn't stand the tone of the French) - it's real.

It's the same in any language, really. Spain is perhaps even more strongly divided. Spain has, by FAR, the most unattractive Spanish language accent. By FAR. It sounds like a speech impediment once you're used to smooth, sexy Colombian, or standard, widespread Mexican, or even choppy, vulgar Caribbean Spanish. Every time you watch a Spanish-language music video and the singer pronounces it "TH" instead of "Z" you reach for the skip button.

So these things are real. And I think Canada has done absolutely nothing attractive with either English or French. And I include us in that. I like any Newfoundland accent a bit more than the faux Valley Girl Ottawa Valley CBC one, but I certainly don't think any of them are superior to their regional Irish (Wexford, Waterford) or English (Devon) equivalents. We haven't made anything better. We just haven't made it so bad as ye lol

Canadian pronunciations and... what's the word for flow, the way sentences move and thoughts are committed to word... whatever that is, Canada is atrocious at it.

I am not crazy about any of the Canadian accents in French or in English.

The main accent in English sounds extremely banal whereas Québécois is a bit harsh-sounding.

Obviously they're both "normal-sounding" to me.

In fairness to Quebec French in spite of the accent it is a very unique, dynamic and colourful variety of French which has contributed a lot to its richness. It does not really surprise me that French game shows and trivia contests often feature colourful Québécois expressions and ask the French what they think they mean.

Canadian English vocabulary is much more standard, halfway between American and British, leaning way more towards American.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Architype

You have a typical St. John's modern accent, the vowels are cut short, and are choppy compared to the overall canadian accent. The consonants are very hard and accentuated, especially the C L T and K sounds. It is however clearly enunciated!

Our vowels are definitely shorter. I used to tease Ayreonaut when he lived here that I could put on a cup of tea in the time it took him to say "downtown."

But there are a couple of accents in the city (especially Quidi Vidi neighbourhood, all my aunts/uncles) where the vowels are drawn out. There's still a VERY, VERY strong R, but except for that it's almost Brooklyn.

"I'm gonna go paaaaaaaark the caaaaaaaaaar." - it's never "pahk" or "cah", but the A is kind of long for them lol Long enough that I notice it as being longer than my own, at least.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by lio45

Outsiders, yes, I can totally understand that, but anyone's own accent in their native language shouldn't be considered an accent by themselves.

I have no accent; everyone on this planet who doesn't speak Standard Southern Québécois French has an accent.

Same with you - you're speaking the perfectly standard language of where you are, so you have no accent in your frame of reference. That's how the people all speak; makes little sense to like or dislike that. It is what it is.

To me, people who dislike their native accent are weird.

It's because we don't all have the same accent in this country, even in NL the accents are quite different depending on place of origin etc.. SHH sounds exactly like some of my relatives, but it's quite different from those of other areas. I don't dislike it but the various accents stand out now because I don't hear them as often.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

...

"I'm gonna go paaaaaaaark the caaaaaaaaaar." - it's never "pahk" or "cah", but the A is kind of long for them lol Long enough that I notice it as being longer than my own, at least.

Anecdotally, the Kennedys of Conception Bay sound a lot like the Kennedys of Massachusetts. There may be a connection.

[Sarah89]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I've half cut so don't judge, but this website is fascinating. I can totally fake a lot of the various Slavic accents now (and Canadian lol).

• Video Link

Is that you speaking?

Also that's not a good diagnostic test for us Canadias. It doesn't include those pesky ''OU'' vowels.

[Sarah89]

I was in Kitchener three days ago - while it's trying to build it's reputation as a ''tech city'' in recent years most of the inhabitants are really.. umm.. hoseri-sh. They may have the most protoypical Canadian Accent in Ontario as far as I'm concerned. Some of the strongest vowel raising and ''hoser cadence'' I've ever heard.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Having read all the commentary since this post including Kool's, who could tell me to stab myself and I probably would his opinions always seem so correct to me...

But I can totally understand not liking the Canadian accent.

No stabbing! Take care of yourself

But I gotta say, after nearly a decade out of the country, I am starting to find the Anglo-Canadian accent a little jarring myself. I think it's a bit of the uncanny valley, because it kind of lulls you into thinking it's the very common "American TV English" dialect and then all of the sudden there are these unexpected sounds. If the US was a country of 35 million as well, it probably wouldn't stand out like that, it would probably be one of those "Newcastle or actual Scotland"-type things.

The Quebecois accent sounds friendly and warm to me, though. French-from-France is so... Cartesian.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

No stabbing! Take care of yourself

But I gotta say, after nearly a decade out of the country, I am starting to find the Anglo-Canadian accent a little jarring myself. I think it's a bit of the uncanny valley, because it kind of lulls you into thinking it's the very common "American TV English" dialect and then all of the sudden there are these unexpected sounds. If the US was a country of 35 million as well, it probably wouldn't stand out like that, it would probably be one of those "Newcastle or actual Scotland"-type things.

The Quebecois accent sounds friendly and warm to me, though. French-from-France is so... Cartesian.

One can hear friendly and warm, another can hear poverty and ignorance. We allow accents to carry far too much baggage, istm.