Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by middeljohn

After one month in Alberta, my Southern Ontario accent has been pointed out to me a couple times. Biggest differences I've noticed so far:

1. "sorry", I say SAW-ree, people here say SOAR-ee
2. "literally", I say pronounce the T as a D, whereas I've heard a few people here pronounce the T as it's spelled.
3. "probably", I say PROB-blee, whereas people here pronounce the A as well.
4. "about", I say A-bowt, here people tend to say A-bawt, although I've heard some variation of this as well.

Generally I find people here tend to dictate their words more properly than back home. I've also noticed that people tend to put emphasis on the end of their sentences rather than the beginning of the sentences as I do. Generally my way of talking is a bit flatter than born-and-bred Edmontonians.

GlassCity, I remember you saying a few months ago that you speak similarly to me, but I think I talk a bit flatter than you.

What do you mean by flatter? Less intonation?

There might be some differences, but it's a lot more similar than someone from Alabama compared to a New Yorker.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

She loves the word "scoff" for a meal.

My dad uses that one here in NB. "We had a great scoff of smelts."

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

"What are you saying" definitely is. I had never even heard of this expression until a friend of mine went to Queen's and told us all about Ontario slang.

I'd normally say "what are you doing" or "what are you up to"

"What are you sayin?" (never "saying") is common in Halifax too. Often shortened to "You sayin?" or "You sayin, bro?"

I don't think I've ever heard anyone over the age of 30 say that though. It could be an Ontario import, but a lot of Ontario slang ("Guy! That's jokes!") never really catches on here, and is only really heard when groups of Ontarians are talking.

I might do one of those videos when I have time (next couple days). Where's the list of words/questions?

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Hali87

"What are you sayin?" (never "saying") is common in Halifax too. Often shortened to "You sayin?" or "You sayin, bro?"

I don't think I've ever heard anyone over the age of 30 say that though. It could be an Ontario import, but a lot of Ontario slang ("Guy! That's jokes!") never really catches on here, and is only really heard when groups of Ontarians are talking.

I might do one of those videos when I have time (next couple days). Where's the list of words/questions?

I used these: http://yttalk.com/threads/accent-tag-questions.9943/

[Hali87]

Sweet! Thanks.

I'm surprised "either" and "nuclear" aren't on the list of words. "Aluminium" makes me cringe. Looking over the list, there are several words that I would pronounce differently depending on context.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Hali87

It could be an Ontario import, but a lot of Ontario slang ("Guy! That's jokes!") never really catches on here, and is only really heard when groups of Ontarians are talking.

It's cool that you get enough to even notice their slang. I couldn't tell you an Ontario slang term with a gun to my head. Except, of course, "that's jokes", which I just learned.

[Hali87]

In a lot of ways, (edit: non-Northern) Ontarians are to Halifax as Newfoundlanders are to Alberta, particularly in the 18-30 year old demographic. Dal is probably somewhere between 30-50% students from Ontario (a lot of the faculty are from Ontario as well) and King's College, where I did my first couple years of undergrad, is probably well over 50% Ontarians some years. A lot seem to come for navy/coast guard related jobs as well.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Hali87

"What are you sayin?" (never "saying") is common in Halifax too. Often shortened to "You sayin?" or "You sayin, bro?"

I don't think I've ever heard anyone over the age of 30 say that though. It could be an Ontario import, but a lot of Ontario slang ("Guy! That's jokes!") never really catches on here, and is only really heard when groups of Ontarians are talking.

I might do one of those videos when I have time (next couple days). Where's the list of words/questions?

This is really common here too especially when I was in high school, then some guys decided to take the "modern Newfoundlander" thing to the next level (myself included) and we stopped calling ourselves the boys and went to "Da Byz" and changed the phrase to "What's all the byzzz sayin?" despite the fact not one of us ever used the word "bys" in conversation.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

This is really common here too especially when I was in high school, then some guys decided to take the "modern Newfoundlander" thing to the next level (myself included) and we stopped calling ourselves the boys and went to "Da Byz" and changed the phrase to "What's all the byzzz sayin?" despite the fact not one of us ever used the word "bys" in conversation.

You guys are another world out west.

I don't think I ever said "boy/boys" until I was an adult living on the mainland. It was always "b'y/b'ys", however rarely it came up.

Most common for me would be in greeting. "How are ye b'ys?"/"How are ya b'y?". I say that, and always have, at least a few times a day.

And when I was younger I used to copy my father and say "B'ys oh b'ys" all the time. But that was back when I thought landwash was spelled lemwash because that's how I said it.

[Hali87]

Landwash?

[SignalHillHiker]

I was just going to say "beach" but decided to look it up. Glad I did; it's more specific than that.

From the NL English dictionary:

The sea-shore between high and low tide marks, washed by the sea; occas the shore of a pond or river; foreshore.

[Hali87]

Cool. I've only ever heard of that referred to as the "intertidal zone" (it doesn't come up in conversation very often).

[Trevor3]

I've heard the term landwash but had no idea what it meant. If I had to guess, I would have said it probably was a dirty word for a mainlander

[AllBlack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

But that was back when I thought landwash was spelled lemwash because that's how I said it.

Thanks Signal, brought back fond memories of weekends and summers in Fortune Bay. We spent many a day down on the "lemwash" in St. Bernard's.

[SignalHillHiker]

That's MartyMcFly's hometown. :-D I've probably been there but don't remember. His pics from there are gorgeous.

[RRoome]

I'm Newfoundlander as well, as I've noticed a lot of variety in accents throughout the province. My family is almost entirely English (Devon area), and have very ingrained west country-influenced Newfoundland accents. If you have a look at this site, you can listen to the various dialects of England by clicking on the person icons and listening to the audio samples. A lot of dialects of western and southern England are very similar to modern Newfoundland English, though Newfoundland has a lot of Irish influence.

For example, my mom's parents sound very much like these folks:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/england/portesham/

Some things to note:
The guy in the clip says "B'yler instead of Boiler". This is probably the origin of the common use of the word "B'y" instead of "Boy". This pronunciation is very common.
Corner -> Carner (the "or" sounds is "ar")
Lots of "Y'See"s
Verbs are often pluralized. Ex: "If you goes out, grab me something at the store."
H's are very often dropped, and H's are put onto words that don't normally have them. For example: "Ave you seen my H'Earrings?".
D's are often dropped as well: "Let's go for a drive aroun' the harbor"
People often say "Gurt" instead of "Great".

This song illustrates Newfoundland English that is heavily influenced by West England. We just farm a lot less here...
• Video Link


On the other hand, my girlfriend's family from down Burin way speak very different again, such as these folk: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/england/melksham/

I'm not at all used to this accent, and some of the things I find peculiar are:
"Tot'ly" as abbreviated from "Totally"
"Town" is changed to "Touun" with a heavy extended "U" sound (almost like "toon").
"International" is changed to "In'er-national". "Isn't it" to "Innit". Lots of dropped consonants.
"Here" is occasionally pronounced as "Yur". This one is less consistent between people.
You also see a reverse "I" to "Oye". As in "Oye'm not used to hearing this dialect".
Tuesday -> Chewsday. I hear this in other words too, but I cant think of any right now.
A very iconic bit is where he says "we didn't get lifts to school like dey do d'day". Again, I can't come up with a rule of this part of the speech, but I immediately think of the area when I hear it.
Uniform -> "You-Nee-Form"

Again, I'm not a scholar on this stuff, but these accents are found in older communities in Newfoundland, very similar to the old English accents.

[Architype]

^ As a child growing up in Nfld. I wondered why we didn't sound very English, or so I thought. It was because the accent was specifically from Dorset and the surrounding areas in the 1700s (although there was still a wide variation).

It is important to note that the video you've shown is actually an English group from England, and not from Newfoundland.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

I've heard the term landwash but had no idea what it meant. If I had to guess, I would have said it probably was a dirty word for a mainlander

"Landwash" is actually a really neat and descriptive word, it means where the land gets "washed" by the sea, and where I grew up it was pronounced the same way it's spelled.

[SignalHillHiker]

There's nothing we say that can't be directly traced back to Ireland or England, excluding local terms and slang phrases. Depending on which local accent you have, you can win bar bets in Wexford or Bristol. People won't believe you're not from there.

I was disappointed and happy to discover that. Instantly removed any sense of shame from being teased about my accent on the mainland, but also made me feel less special lol

[freeweed]

Oh I dunno about that. The amount some Newfoundland accents sound like Irish is bound to get you teased in England, as well.