Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada - Page 15

SignalHillHiker · #**281** Posted **Mar 11, 2014, 8:47 PM**

I actually don't really watch it that often now but when I was living on the mainland and watched I thought the accents were often overdone but the expresses and ways of speaking were far more mainstream than you'd ever encounter in St. John's.

They'd have scenes where a drunken woman at a bar might say something like, "You looks some good tonight, my buddy!" with a super thick accent, and that's authentic enough, you could hear that any night out - but here you'd still be more likely to get less of an accent but a good, long rant with local expressions - something like, "Don't s'pose you wants to drag off, d'ya love? 'Cause buddy you're the gear. No need for to ask me to spread'em, wha, sure they're spring loaded. Come on now we goes."

Or maybe it's just George Street.

But, I'm exaggerating. In all honesty, though, they do mainstream it up a bit. I suppose they have to for it to be understood.

This is how the cast really sounds - it's not that different from the show. They just tone down the expressions and vulgarity for it:

• Video Link

GlassCity · #**282** Posted **Mar 11, 2014, 8:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I actually don't really watch it that often now but when I was living on the mainland and watched I thought the accents were often overdone but the expresses and ways of speaking were far more mainstream than you'd ever encounter in St. John's.

They'd have scenes where a drunken woman at a bar might say something like, "You looks some good tonight, my buddy!" with a super thick accent, and that's authentic enough, you could hear that any night out - but here you'd still be more likely to get less of an accent but a good, long rant with local expressions - something like, "Don't s'pose you wants to drag off, d'ya love? 'Cause buddy you're the gear. No need for to ask me to spread'em, wha, sure they're spring loaded. Come on now we goes. I knows how to wet a d**k."

Or maybe it's just George Street.

But, I'm exaggerating. In all honesty, though, they do mainstream it up a bit. I suppose they have to for it to be understood.

This is how the cast really sounds - it's not that different from the show. They just tone down the expressions and vulgarity for it:

Yeah, I had a feeling it was toned down. If I don't listen closely I sometimes don't even notice the accents. I guess the dialect can be too different for the rest of Canada to understand sometimes.

SignalHillHiker · #**283** Posted **Mar 22, 2014, 5:43 AM**

lol Nope.

ue · #**284** Posted **Mar 22, 2014, 6:26 AM**

One thing I've been noticing more lately is the subtle aboat thing. I never really noticed it much in Western Canada (though in Southern Ontario it was more pronounced), but now I can't stop hearing it. It's definitely there, though in most people, it's very subtle.

middeljohn · #**285** Posted **Mar 24, 2014, 2:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ue

One thing I've been noticing more lately is the subtle aboat thing. I never really noticed it much in Western Canada (though in Southern Ontario it was more pronounced), but now I can't stop hearing it. It's definitely there, though in most people, it's very subtle.

Really? When I went to Edmonton last month I tried to he attentive to speech differences vs Southern Ontario and you guys all seemed to say abowt.

What I did notice though is that you guys are much better at pronouncing Ts properly instead of making them sound like Ds, for example in the word "literally". Also, I noticed a lot of people there tend to raise the pitch of their voice towards the ends of their sentences, which you don't really find here.

kwoldtimer · #**286** Posted **Mar 24, 2014, 3:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ue

One thing I've been noticing more lately is the subtle aboat thing. I never really noticed it much in Western Canada (though in Southern Ontario it was more pronounced), but now I can't stop hearing it. It's definitely there, though in most people, it's very subtle.

The "aboot/aboat" thing so needs to die. What Canadians don't say is "Abahwt", as they do in the USA. The issue is theirs, not ours.

SignalHillHiker · #**287** Posted **Apr 3, 2014, 3:39 PM**

An example of the dialect in a small village on the west coast of Newfoundland, with full glottal stops.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203476495972630

SignalHillHiker · #**288** Posted **Apr 3, 2014, 3:45 PM**

An explanation of the accents of the British Isles.

The Dorset and Dublin accents are the closest to what one would find in Newfoundland. Specifically, Wexford and Bristol are identical to certain parts of the province. People from those cities would never believe the Newfoundlander speaking is not from there as well. There's an example of that in the Canadian Media and Entertainment thread,

. Irish people arguing whether the Newfoundland family in a video an Irishman posted is actually from North America or moved there from Ireland.

• Video Link

My personal favourite is the Liverpudlian accent. So unique compared to the rest, and they go up at the end of their sentences like many mainland Canadians.

Acajack · #**289** Posted **Apr 14, 2014, 8:20 PM**

I chuckled this morning when the sports guy on my local Radio-Canada station and the host were talking about the Masters golf, and both pronounced the winner's first name (Bubba Watson) "boob-ah".

Neither of them picked up on the mistake! And there are guys who work in Ottawa! (Though I am pretty sure they live in Gatineau.)

kwoldtimer · #**290** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 1:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

I chuckled this morning when the sports guy on my local Radio-Canada station and the host were talking about the Masters golf, and both pronounced the winner's first name (Bubba Watson) "boob-ah".

Neither of them picked up on the mistake! And there are guys who work in Ottawa! (Though I am pretty sure they live in Gatineau.)

Boob-ah. I like it! Like buffet or smog, it just sounds classier in French!

someone123 · #**291** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 1:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I've heard people from Nova Scotia say "ahnt" and it seems to be the standard pronunciation in the States.

Blue is "ant":

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_1.html

kwoldtimer · #**292** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 1:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

Blue is "ant":

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_1.html

That map surprises me. People I've know from the States have said "ahnt" and it seems to be what you always hear on TV, so I assumed it was widespread.

Trevor3 · #**293** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 2:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

Blue is "ant":

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_1.html

One of the strangest encounters I had as a child who moved from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia was how I pronounced "aunt". All the other kids said "ahnt" and I said "ant". It was irritating, the "ahnt" thing always sounded goofy to me.

someone123 · #**294** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 2:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

That map surprises me. People I've know from the States have said "ahnt" and it seems to be what you always hear on TV, so I assumed it was widespread.

There was a time when the upper class East Coast accents were fashionable and tended to dominate the US media but that seems to be mostly over now. They have been replaced by California-style accents.

I don't know where "ant" came from but the other form is a vestigial English thing. There are a bunch of others in NS, like "arse". That is the tip of the iceberg in that you can find older people with non-rhotic accents, etc., but those have faded a lot in recent years.

As far as NS goes, it's also incorrect to say that there's one accent as has been suggested occasionally on here. In the Maritimes there's a dominant range of accents that's common in the cities but there is still quite a bit of variation in speech patterns around the region. A significant number of Maritimers don't even speak English, and about 1/4 of NSians are descendants of Gaelic speakers, not English speakers:

Source

The people who live in the previously predominantly Gaelic-speaking areas (Northern NS) tend to have different accents from the English, French, or German speaking areas.

casper · #**295** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 3:24 AM**

This video was developed by RaceRock 3D for training of Hibernia staff and it is done in Newfoundland dialect. Neat video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh25gTlMtYc

SignalHillHiker · #**296** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 10:02 AM**

That's Buddywasisname, a Newfoundland comedian. It's not that much of a caricature, but it is somewhat - it'd be a bit like having a talking beaver give the educational video for folks in Ontario. Very cute idea, though! I'm sure folks were delighted to see him.

Here's what Buddywasisname is really like:

• Video Link

The Independent (separatist) does the interview, but he's a passionate federalist so it's not that type of piece.

SignalHillHiker · #**297** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 5:27 PM**

Oh my...

A story from northern Alberta.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153949424920062

kwoldtimer · #**298** Posted **Apr 15, 2014, 6:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Oh my...

A story from northern Alberta.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153949424920062

"Coverhalls"

Bcasey25raptor · #**299** Posted **May 27, 2014, 8:54 AM**

I grew up in Kelowna BC but now Live in Vancouver.

I think my accent is very very neutral and americanized.

• Video Link

rousseau · #**300** Posted **May 27, 2014, 2:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

I grew up in Kelowna BC but now Live in Vancouver.

I think my accent is very very neutral and americanized.

That you think this is standard, classic Canadian myopia.

Your accent is broadly Western Canadian. People from Winnipeg to Vancouver tend not to elide consonants as much as Ontarians (and Americans, of course). Various words stand out:

Water: You enunciated the T in water. You didn't say "wadder."
Coupon: You said "cyoupon" with the vowel in "cute," not the American "coopon" (another one Canadians don't realize we say differently is "stupid," which Americans pronounce "stoopid").
"Runners" and "running shoes" are Canadian. Brits say "trainers." Americans say "sneakers."
You pronounced every vowel clearly in "go to the beach." You didn't say "godu tha beach."
You clearly pronounced the T in "do it." You didn't use a glottal stop.
Again, you clearly pronounced the D in "grandma" and "grandpa," you didn't say "granma and granpa." You also used the flatter Western Canadian A, not the longer A that Americans and Ontarians use.

Etcetera. You have a distinctively Western Canadian accent. Going across the border there to Seattle should make that abundantly clear to you.